can a case be made for Lewis being the hardest hitting heavyweight of all time?

My own answer: HELL YES a case can be made.

On pure power alone - it's tough to confidently pick someone over him. Maybe Shavers. Foreman? Definitely Lewis. You MUST consider effective clubbing power (not effective overall punching as in the case of Louis or Tyson). Foreman did not always hit as hard as Lennox for one shot because Foreman threw arm punches. BIG DEAL! The one advantage Foreman had was a granite chin allowing him to sit down and recklessly wail away whereas Lennox always had to be on his toes & mobile and would sit down only when the opponent was beaten (Tyson) or neutralized. Lennox's technique was FAR better than Foreman's. The torque / leverage on his punches were as good as any. He had a great repertoire of punches and my favorite thing about him is that he had fast hands for a big man his size, good angles and he could land a punch out of nowhere e.g. Rahamn KO or the uppercut on granite chinned, iron willed Vitali Klitschko.

Pure power (tough to confidently pick one over him - MAYBE Shavers but NOT Liston, Tyson, etc - they MAYBE equal or SLIGHTLY less -gotta agree with Chris Pontius - at this level it becomes pointless) is EXCELLENT. Technique is excellent. Leverage is excellent. The record & highlight reels against legit opponents are THERE.

Damn right a case can be made for him.

 

A case could be made, but it should be lost. Any fighter considered the heaviest hitter of all time must show devastating power in all his punches, something so evident even the disinterested bystander would take note of.

The wily Lewis, a big man, would set you up for the crushing blow, and that is what made him devastating: he was a chess player with big power. He poleaxed innocent lambs like Rahman and Grant, yet never even came close to flooring the savvy Holyfield over 24 rounds.

Lewis, then, is an uncommon and winning combination of a powerful puncher with good technique, who thinks well in the ring. But he is not the heaviest hitter of all time. His record is 41 wins, with only 32 knockouts. Hardly the stuff of legend, any way you slice it.

My votes for heaviest hitters go to George Foreman (76 wins, 68 kayoes), Mike Tyson (50 wins, 44 kayoes) and Earnie Shavers (74 wins, 68 kayoes). The stories on them ARE the stuff of legend, with good reason.

As far as individual blows go, the Shavers right just may be the most powerful punch of all time. Just look at the way Holmes and Ali reacted to it; look at his knockout percentage; listen to the stories. But a boxer has two hands and this one-trick pony never hit the big time.

Foreman regained the heavyweight crown by knocking out the man who had beaten the man, a 27-year-old proud champion, at the amazing age of 45, with nothing but one power shot, and for a ten count! That speaks for itself. The heaviest hitter of all time should have legendary clout in both hands, and Big George had equal power in both fists, with several bombs in his arsenal: the jab, the hook, the uppercut.

The fact that Mike Tyson finished Larry Holmes’ challenge with one fantastic, long-distance, charging right, is not to be belittled. Holmes was ready for the kill after just one punch and Tyson didn’t let the resourceful professor get away, as a top KO artist should. Signature fights: tough, durable, champion Berbick, ten count (Lane prevented a fourth tumble); Holmes, 45-second count; undefeated, “rightful heir” Spinks, ten count. Best puncher of all time: fast, surprising, accurate, powerful. When asked directly, and in Tyson’s presence, Ali fell all over himself praising Tyson over Shavers and proclaiming him the greatest, something AT LEAST with a grain of sincerity. Despite his later rants and claims, a just-defeated Holmes called him a great champion. I’ll take these moments of candor for what they are.

By the way, this is Ring Mag’s ranking of greatest punchers, but I still like my top three.
1. Joe Louis
2. Sam Langford
7. Jack Dempsey
8. Bob Fitzsimmons
9. George Foreman
10. Earnie Shavers
14. Rocky Marciano
15. Sonny Liston
16. Mike Tyson
22. Max Baer
32. Jim Jefferies
33. Lennox Lewis

 

George Foreman's KO percentage is drastically inflated due to all of the bums that he knocked out during the second phase of his career. I'm sure Lennox Lewis - at any age - would have stopped all of the guys that George stopped in his comeback. While I concede that George Foreman was a tremendous puncher, I highly doubt that he occupies some special place for power punchers in the fistic universe that no other fighter has access to. Gerry Cooney, Razor Ruddock, Tommy Morrison, David Tua, they all have(had) dynamite in their fists. Who's to say that none of them ever threw a punch as hard as George Foreman or Earnie Shavers? Who's to say that they never threw a punch harder than Foreman or Shavers? Is it possible that Razor Ruddock or Tommy Morrison could have starched Ken Norton or Ron Lyle as George did? I think it's highly possible.

 

Earnie Shavers broke some poor guy's back! :shock:

Carefully examining his punches ROUGHLY indicates to me that he hit the hardest. Hearing what all his opponents had to say (and seeing Holmes compare Shavers fighters in 80s & 90s) make that ROUGH thought into a finer one. None of those guys you mentioned would have done to Frazier what Foreman did or no one beat up a heavy bag like Big George. Only with great caution would I put someone above George.

I don't have a source but I recall Holyfield saying that Foreman hit him the hardest (and I don't think this is the mentality where the fighter picks the guy he beat). It isn't easy to dispute that.

 

1. Hasim Rahman is not renowned for being a "durable" heavyweight - His chin is actually pretty average, he's been brutally stopped on more than one occassion.

2. Size doesn't equate to punching power. Joe Louis said himself the 270lbs Primo Carnera couldn't punch for ****. Granted Lewis is not Carnera, and Lewis can punch, but would you say that a 320lbs Nikolay Valuev hits harder than Lewis? Afterall, he's about 80lbs heavier.

3. Foremans KO percentage before his retirement in '77 (off the top of my head) was remarkable. As was Tysons. And Marciano's. Heck, Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir have a better KO % than Lewis. I know this is not an absolute indicator of punching power, but it is part of my argument.

4. Shavers has a number of PURE one punch knockouts. Certainly more than any fighter I've paid close attention to. Although Marciano did leave a few fighters down for a 60 count, let alone ten.'

Shavers is not the best puncher in the history of the heavyweight division, but for raw one punch power, there really is too much evidence to dispute Lennox Lewis hit harder. There are a shitload of accounts from fighters who have felt his power naming him the hardest hitter ever.

 

What some of you are missing is that Lewis did not need to RELY on his one-punch power. He had a fairly complete arsenal, unlike a Shavers, and the key word in boxing is "effectiveness" not desperation. Lewis' punching arsenal was amazingly effective but it had many facets, countering, angles, speed, a bit of deception, rather than just trying to maximize his very formidable power. Were he more limited in other facet (and thus had suffered more losses), I imagine keyboard-honks would be waxing sublime over his great power.

 

Look at the thread title - This isn't about who had the best "arsenal" or the most efficient punching, it's asking if Lewis could be considered the HARDEST HITTING.

Obviously being able to throw a very hard single punch doesn't make you the best puncher - That's not what this argument is about.

So learn to read before you unleash your condescending tirade.

 

You may be right. I can't fault you for having your beliefs. But there's so many variables that can come into play when analyzing who hit the hardest, or who was the bigger puncher. The quality of opposition means alot, the durability of certain opponents means alot, whether a guy has a good defense or a porous one; there's so many things that can come into play.

In response to your statement about Holyfield's statement regarding George Foreman; I remember reading an article in GQ magazine that was actually an interview with Evander Holyfield prior to his first fight with Lennox Lewis. The interviewer asked Holyfield who the strongest puncher he ever faced was, and Holyfield replied, "that's easy, Riddick Bowe"! He said Bowe was the hardest hitter he had faced, and he said that Larry Holmes was the slipperiest, craftiest fighter that he had ever faced.

 

As I stated in my post, I didn't say that being bigger makes you a bigger hitter. But it can mean that! And I would have disagree with you on the basis of Hasim Rahman's durability. He think his durability and the strength of his chin is good; maybe not great, but he's certainly not a fragile heavyweight. He took alot of good shots from David Tua - in both of their fights - and stood up to most of them - not counting the punch he got hit with after the bell during their first fight. He took alot of heavy shots from Sanders, Maskaev, e.t.c.

 

You try to defend his durability by mentioning fights where he was stopped..? :nut

Rahman is a safety first fighter, he tends to hide behind his long, powerful left jab - Hence him breaking the record for most jabs in a round. He's actually very, very good at this as you can see in his second fight with Tua. Against Monte Barrett he pressed the action but clearly was not committing to making an effort to stop him because he was afraid of being clocked. I'm not blaming him for it, but he is certainly not durable.

 

Yeah, I can easily make the case that Hasim Rahman is a durable fighter by mentioning fights that he got stopped in. It wasn't like the guy took a few taps on the chin and went to sleep. He didn't get grazed and then go nite nite. Besides, getting stopped by fighters who have a big punch is not something to be ashamed of. David Tua, Lennox Lewis, Oleg Maskaev; they all have big punches! And, even durable fighters normally make an effort to avoid getting hit if they can. It's not like a guy who has a solid chin is going to go out and say, "Gee, let me give this guy all of the free shots he wants at me so I can prove my durability"!

 

No