Did anyone in history punch harder than David Tua ?

Tyson is certainly in the argument. He did have a few one punch KO's, Spinks and Botha come to mind. He was just so damn fast and at his best threw such great combo's that he usually hit a guy three times before he fell, so it's kind of more difficult to tell punch for punch how powerful he was. A common comment from his opponents was that his speed really hurt them, that second and third punch landing. Again, he is certainly at the top level.

Regarding your comment on Foreman, I agree, what he did worked for him. However, the thread is not about effective punching but who punched the hardest. Shot for shot, I would take Tua just given the evidence of what he did to his opponents. Again, we are talking about two murderous punchers so maybe trying to fine tune these distinctions is a bit pointless.

 

Fitz and Choynski. Both were knocking out guys who outweighed them anywhere up to a 100lbs!

 

there are many heavyweights that hit harder than tua, fighters such as liston, foreman, shavers, and even joe louis come to mind. do these fighters hit MUCH harder than tua is the better question IMO. i think you have to look at the effect these fighters punches had on their opponents which is how i base punching power. tyson for instance, had such immense punching power he would literally send his opponents flying across the ring, clearly one of the most devastating punches ever thrown in the ring. foreman was just a straight bruiser, his punches would thud against his opponents with the force of his strikes moving his opponent from spot to another. tua's punches would seperate you from your sense, knocking you out before you even hit the ground. its purely a matter of opinion on who is the hardest heavyweight hitter. as their punches have had different effects on their opponents.

 

Foreman's "word" is worth jack ****. The guy contradicts himself every other sentence.

 

Here's what Ron Lipton, a guy who referee'd a couple of Tua's fights, said about his left hook:


"Trust me on this,

I boxed with Joe Frazier, saw all his fights, mostly ringsisde and I travelled to do so. Saw him in Philly all the time in the gym and we stayed friends for years. Those of you that have my tape saw footage of this.

Anyway I refereed David Tua twice, against Dan Morgan and Rick Hunnicut. Frazier's hook was applied in relentless fashion in combos and in single blasts and levelled the best and wore down the best and it was just stupendous. One of the best of all time.

David Tua's left hook in one shot was the most heavy punch in the ring a human being could throw. It does not land cleanly much of the time. When it lands cleanly on the chin, people go unconscious. It is a frightening heavy dangerous knockout shot. The way he gets his awesome shoulder structure and tree trunk legs into it is just beyond belief when it lands. The sound of it on the head says it all. He almost killed both of the guys I mentioned and I had to use all my speed to get there to prevent just one more punch."

 

Yeah love Big George but he tells some Tall Tales. And the quote-repeated on Letterman-was that Cleveland Williams, Lyle & Cooney hit the hardest, most numbing shots.

CONTINUALLY folks are confusing punching EFFECTIVENESS & results with pure one punch power! People, Once Again, with Feeling:

Power is ONE component amongst many in what has a devastating effect upon opponents. Who you hit, how often, how accurately, what COMBINATIONS in what time period, if the shots are partially seen, blocked or rolled with...

So. ALL these guys hit very hard indeed, in pure power, even for Professional HWs.

But from film & testimony, if we could MEASURE the force & effect of single punches on the human body & ISOLATE the other factors above, I think...

I would have Shavers, Foreman, Liston Tua. Then close to Tua's level-& possibly a guy or to at the same level-Baer, Galenta, certainly Butterbean...Near this level a Ruddock, Bruno, Morrison left hook...A Satterfield, Bonecrusher nearby. Lewis, Tyson, Kilitchko...Marciano at over 200, THEN a Dempsey, Frazier, Louis...These last 3 were amonsgt the very best, but not quite the same pure force as some elite bruisers, even if their more limited SKILLS made them also-rans.

The 2 oldsters mentioned who fought ~ 170 may have hit as hard as a the last 3, & hit P4p as hard as anyone (except likely a mutant very low weight class boxe or 3). The old formula for strength must translate for power, that basically mass cannot rise proportionately to power, so the top superheavyweight lifters are much stronger in an absolute sense than a guy at, say, 180, but not nearly as p4p strong.

It is hard to know exactly, so my order is rough & descending. But Tua must have hit amongst the hardest ever, I doubt the very hardest, but may well have been top 5.

Anything NEAR that level is hard for us to fathom. We see a big muscular guy we know & would be impressed with his power. That is akin to seeing someone at a County Fair, the BEST guy over some daaaaze throwing up to the mid 80's. When an average MLB pitcher can hit 90, & the BEST approach or go OVER 100 MPH.

And the EFFECT & subjective impressions of that last 15% or so of force/speed over a top amateur seems almost exponential.

 

I totally agree!! Jeez, I can think of a lot if guys who fought in Tua's era 95-2010 that hit just as hard as him or probably harder
Lennox
Wlad Klitchko
Tommy Morrison, left hook
Tyson
Foreman
Ike Iberechi "spelling
Corrie Sanders

Hell what about the monsters from the 70's Shavers, Lyle, etc.
Hell even Cooney hit harder than Tua..
Tua is built up like a God on this forum, and he doesn't even belong in the HOF, if and when he becomes eligable..

 

Tua also couldn't box, had no :goodjab, lousy ring generaliship, and was predictable, and didn't have fast hands..
I think I'll dig up the old Chris Byrd fight, where Byrd treated him like one if his sparring partners..

 

Yeah that's why Chris Byrd was crying right after that fight.

 

Brewster had a ton of brutal 1 punch left hook ko's himself. And he had a pedigree from his amateur background as well. But he's a guy that doesn't get the love of a Tua.

By the way, how many of you guy's backed up the Tuaman against Lennox with cash?

Thanks.

Even bigger thanks to the folks who backed David to 7-1 over the Byrdman. I absolutely loved that that one and lots of folks sure jumped off the Tua bandwagon after that one. Just like the Ruddock fans and Morrison backers and all the other hitters really--when they lose they tend to lose badly. Real badly. And lots of folks jump ship and give up real quick on guys they already had into the hall of fame when they cracked the top 10.

 

ok forget the Fitzsimmons comment, even if that's true, lol, as far as Tua, he hit hard, especially when he was younger and in shape that he never maintained thereafter.

Am I 100% certain that Tua hit harder than everyone else ? Not really, however, I would bet Tua would be right up there with the hardest hitters of all time. That does not mean every punch he threw was full force naturally. That as well doesn't mean that Tua was better than he was. It just meant he was a vicious puncher.

 

Louis
Liston
Foreman
Tyson
Lewis
Bowe
Cooney
Sanders

I believe Tua is in the same tier, incredible punching power in the left hook,
didn't Lennox eat one? Haha

 

Flawed as a he was, you have to give him credit for having truly massive power. Folk can say that Moorer or Ruiz weren't iron chinned, but nobody ever did that to them, before or since. Not in such brutal fashion.
I don't think Tua was especially good at always landing his hook flush, but when he did, there was always a reaction from his opponent. His right hand wasn't half bad either.

 

Anyone mention wilder yet?

He's certainly no floyd mayweather

 

Everyone on here is a little clueless not to give Smoking Bert Cooper his just due...He went to hell with Corrie Sanders and many others like Evander Holyfield ect ect. Please look up some of his fights and his fights with no notice to be ready to go to war with his next WAR and give them pure Hell....He was a real bad MOFO!