Fastest hands @ Heavyweight ever

Eh?:huh

 

You must surely mean here in the thread

:yep

 

Fine with me. Your sniping has become part of my ESB Classsic comfort zone.

Some boxers are more articulate and precise than others. Occasionally, an anomalous performance will result in a misleading evaluation. Thus, Archie Moore said Yvon Durelle hit him the hardest of any competitor he remembered getting punched by, while Cooper said Patterson's handspeed was superior to Ali's. Is this literally what Cooper meant, or did he lack the articulateness to distinguish between speed and quickness that Stan Ward expressed when describing Greg Page?

Patterson's handspeed may indeed have been superior to Ali's when Cooper lost to Floyd. Henry did make Muhammad miss in both their contests, while he seemed unable to get away from Patterson's blows. Then again, Floyd shot out shorter punches in close, while Ali generally stayed at long range. Also, Muhammad did telegraph at times, where Patterson might be more likely to strike without warning.

Assuming that Patterson was indeed faster against Cooper than Ali was, I'm not aware of a consensus among other common opponents of both Floyd and Muhammad agreeing that Patterson had consistently superior handspeed, and they had plenty of common opponents who boxed both when each were in their primes.

Earnie Shavers is a very different matter. Holmes, Lyle, Ali, Caldwell, Norton, Young...too many prominent and well-qualified heavyweights have agreed on the supremacy of Earnie's punching power for this claim to be cavalierly dismissed.

Jimmy Ellis claimed not to be impressed with Earnie's power, but just as when Gene Fullmer was kayoed by SRR's "perfect" hook, the footage indicates that Ellis never knew what hit him. (Hence, my emphasis on how hard these boxers say they remember getting hit.) Jerry Quarry claimed immediately after his win over Shavers that Earnie never hit him, but Shavers confirmed that he did connect, a fact verified for Jerry only when he saw the footage. Even after seeing the truth on videotape, Quarry said he just didn't remember being struck hard. (Perhaps in swarming Earnie, Jerry closed before Shavers could generate substantial leverage and momentum behind his attack.)

Leroy Caldwell's lucid and clarified description of Earnie's punching power has not been contradicted by other more or less well expressed accounts conveyed by others who shared the ring with Foreman, Lyle and Shavers. What Caldwell stated is hardly an isolated happening. How do you dispute the opinions of Holmes, Lyle, Norton, Ali, Caldwell, Jimmy Young, and numerous professional eyewitness analysts and observers, etc, etc....that Shavers was indeed the hardest puncher in heavyweight history?

 

HUH!

And for the Top Heavyweight hand speed
1. Floyd Patterson
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Mike Tyson
4. Michael Dokes
5. Larry Holmes
6. Tony Tubbs
7. Joe Louis
8. Evander Holyfield
9. Jack Dempsey
10.Corrie Sanders

 

Muhammad Ali, though Greg Page, Michael Dokes, Mike Tyson, Tony Tubbs, and Mitch Green are not that far behind.