Fighters who weren't big punchers but had high KO %

The more I look at it the more I come to the conclusion that KO% is not a reliable indicator of power.

If anything it is more a reflection of level of competition.

 

Aaron Pryor.

 

Sal Sanchez
Ike Quartey(arguable though)

 

Aaron pryor

Edit: beat to it.

Vitali Klitschko

 

Vitali is the very best example IMO.

 

Freedie Steele is the perfect epitome of the opposite case: a fighter with purportedly gruesome one punch power with a deceptively middle of the road kayo percentage.


I never thought much of Kelly Pavlik's one punch power. He only knocks guys out by landing zillions of well-placed shots. Yes he was reasonably heavy handed, but not nearly as much so as his record suggests.

 

Vitali was my first thought.

He doesn't have one shot KO power, but he has heavy hands to the point that you don't shake it off when he hits you, you carry it with you for the rest of the fight.

 

I am not sold on the idea that he dosnt have top end power.

It is a case where it is hard to be sure.

 

Might say more about finishing ability than power.

Briggs looked like he had been through the mill with Dempsey!

 

Vitali's power has decreased with age. He's stiff and has bad knees and shoulders. The fluidity and transfer of power just isn't there anymore.

The first one that came to mind, tho he is just borderline, is JCC. Like McCallum he had good power but not great. But opponents, and very good opponents, were stopped for often than not.

 

:good


Opponents wouldn't be blown away by Chavez, but more often than not they'd be broken down.

 

Vitali, anyone who disputes that doesn't know how to throw a punch. He's a strong heavy handed arm puncher, he has never been a powerpuncher, that's why it takes about 1000 connects to stop an opponent on his feet.

That's not really a knock on him, he's great in many ways just not a KO puncher

 

It's a reflection of a number of things, but primarily a fighter's attitude towards a fight.

 

That's true, though even when Vitali put his whole body into shots like he did against Sanders, Briggs and Arreola, he was still unable to knock them down. He's a very good example of a heavy handed but not devastating puncher.