I've been watching some fights of him again lately and comparing his left hook to other great left hookers it just seems when his landed it just did so much more damage than other fighters that have great left hooks, is his the greatest left hook ever ? In terms of just brute strength and power.
His left hook is hard core, still had spice on it late or desperate like his late kos of izon, makaev, nicholson and Oquendo.
Definitely up there. Hard to judge, considering form, power, speed, delivery, effectiveness. It was Tua's "out punch" just as it was Tommy Morrison's. My personal favorites Tyson, Morrison, De La Hoya Cooney, Frazier. Cooney possibly the most powerful. Morrison very compact and fast, devastating power. Tyson and Frazier had a lunging hook with devastating Power. De La Hoya in his prime was so fast and powerful with the left hook he really surprised people with his speed. Anyway I wouldnt say Tua flat out had the best but one of the best, power, good speed. However I believe Tua had trouble landing it on Lewis, but then again so did Tommy. But a tall guy with movement could avoid Tua.
My favourite is Morrison, so compact and insanley powerful the sound of the impact it made was crazy. Frazier, Louis, Dempsey and Tyson are all up there too.
One of the hardest left hooks for sure. I'll never forget the triple left hook he landed on Darroll Wilson. But I think Joe Frazier executed the left hook better than anyone else.
In terms of brute strenght and power its certainly up there but i would probably still rate Frazier's left hook above Tua's i think it was harder to keep away from Frazier's hook than Tua's.
It's a bit of a myth Tua was a 1 handed banger, allot of his KO's came with short rights As a raw power puncher Tua rates very high at HW. A pity other facets like stamina, being overweight and his height lets him down so much. A great left hook, very quick too, Frazier had more variety with his though, although I Tua's had to be harder He's also generally underrated because of his short prime
You could actually see that in his early fights Tua was a pretty good body puncher and had a bit more varied arsenal. Ruiz' easy destruction changed Tua's approach. More headhunting, even more left hook-oriented style.
In terms of raw power, sure, I'd have no hesitation putting Tua at the top of the heap. His left hook was just sickening when it landed. It looked like it turned fighters' brains to mush. Very fast as well, surprisingly so considering Tua's stockiness. And he kept his power into the later rounds, which made it a danger punch at any stage in the fight. In terms of his ability to land it against top opponents, however, I'd say no. He was just too short, limited, and slow of feet to land it against the very best. Though he spun Lennox head with a few nifty leaping hooks. He wasn't that slow of foot.
Frazier's punching power gets a bit underrated generally, but I still wouldn't consider his left hook as fight stoppingly powerful as say Morrison's, or Tua's. Much better as an overall weapon of course.