Experts rank the hardest-hitting heavyweights (RING, 1981)

From a Bill Gallo writeup in the October 1981 issue (starting on page 24).

Gallo consulted with a group of experts consisting of Harry Markson, Gil Clancy, Don Dunphy, and Ray Arcel, and had them assess and rank a handful of the top heavyweight hitters from the past 50 years. Gallo summarized their takes as:

1) Joe Louis: A mastercraftsman who could make openings…His left jab had great snap to it, even used it as a knockout weapon on occasions…Never wasted a punch… A great finisher once he had his man hurt…The most "correct puncher" with power in either hand.

2) Rocky Marciano: Clumsy puncher but good leverage…Had a lot of weight behind every punch…Best conditioned of all fighters and most determined…Could stop a man with one punch from either hand but the right was best--Like the perfect right he caught Walcott with in their first fight.

3) Max Baer: A colorful puncher but could only hit with his right…Probably the hardest right hand of all time...A harder right hand than Louis or Marciano, but not as accurate...Had he been serious about boxing he could've been one of the all-time greats...Tremendous power caused death of two opponents[...]"

4) George Foreman: At his peak in the first Frazier fight, didn't show anything after...Strong puncher with the right but had to wind-up…Couldn’t hit a moving target… Had habit of wearing out in a fight--remember his fight with Ali?--but showed some signs of knowing how to punch...When he beat you, he beat you with brute strength.

5) Sonny Liston: A clubber. Good puncher with both hands but short on boxing ability…A plodding type who would hurt you with the weight of the punches but not the snap…A mauling type sometimes effective with his style…

The Ring then apparently reached out to fight historian Arthur Susskind Jr. and somehow came up with a top ten list (in order):

Louis
Dempsey
Marciano
Baer
Jack Johnson
Foreman
Tunney
Liston
Johansson
Frazier

 

Old-timers say the craziest things...

 

Not sure who exactly voted for Tunney but for what it's worth, the writeup on Tunney was: "To say that Gene Tunney was merely a very good boxer is not telling the whole story...Any time his name comes up in discussion with old tiers, they put him up there with not only the boxers but the hard hitters as well...Look at his record--77 total bouts and 42 knockouts..And, he knocked out some good ones--Tome Heeney, Tommy Gibbons, George Carpentier, and, what has long been forgotten, had Dempsey on the seat of his pants in both of their fights."

 

Indeed.

Brewster, Rahman, Cooper, Ortiz, Sanders, Ibeabuchi...the list goes on.