Tiger had one of the most misleading records of all time when it came to his punching power. Tiger was a solid puncher, yet his KO% is very low compared to most fighters. This speaks more about the class of the competition he faced as well as his conservative style than his punching ability. Tiger scored knockouts over some of the toughest fighters of his time, such as the fight below against the strong Jose Monon Gonzalez whom Tiger flattened with a left hook during a punching exchange. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IskbXC4FSYw[/ame]
Gonzalez took the best punches from some of the most feared left hookers of all time, Hurricane Carter, Cyclone Hart, Florentino Fernandez, but it was Tiger's left which put him out.
Nice vid. I'm a little peeved tho, just paid for this one three days ago...couldn't you have uploaded it sooner? Haha. Anyway. Thanks. Tiger as a puncher, no question if you try to rate him via his record you are going to get it very very wrong. Downes described getting hit as him as more numbing than concussive, like "getting hit with a bag of coal". That there is a great punch landed with torque right on the point of the chin. Maybe not a purely power ko, in fairness?
I'm only around on weekends nowadays so I don't upload as much footage as I used to. I thought this one was up on youtube already but after a search I saw that it was not, and I decided to put it there. Not enough talk of the Tiger on these forums either. Hopefully this will spark some debate, maybe not. Gonzalez never saw the punch coming, but he should have with the way Tiger was constantly trying to land the punch. Eventually the work paid off.
He was a legitimate contender. Wins over Joey Archer, Rubin Carter, Florentino Fernandez, not to mention (an aging) Luis Manuel Rodriguez and even Eugene Hart while in his mid 30s prove his ability. A spoiler who was physically a very strong fighter. He only lost to the best and usually made the fights close, such as when he lost a majority decision to Emile Griffith.
I just don´t put Tiger as top 10 middleweight because I just think he was a bit inconsistent.... Tiger had an underrated jab and footwork in my opinion....
Well, with who he messed though and he was learning by doing. During his peak he only lost to top class technicians like Giardello, Archer or Griffith. No shame in that.
