Fighters with deceptively low KO%

Difficult to believe Freddie Steele's KO ratio was under 42% -

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Jimmy McLarnin. He knocked out Young Corbett III in arguably the single best 1st round KO ever, and was a renowned puncher. He also has a 38% KO rate.

 

Ike Williams is the first to come to mind. He was a killer puncher but with a 48% KO ratio.

 

Jeff Chandler. A little over 50%, but he only had two amateur fights. Got into boxing late and early on, wasn’t punching correctly. Willie O’Neal tweaked his punching technique a little when he was like 10-0-1 (1) and then he stopped the majority of opponents.

 

It’s still amazing that Thomas Hearns was like 155-8 in the amateurs with only 11 KOs. Emanuel Steward, who trained him as an amateur and pro, said in some interview that he realized when Hearns turned pro that he wasn’t closing his fists when he punched — he was slapping guys with a dead fish instead of hitting them with a rock. He corrected that and … well, we all saw what a difference it made.

 

Just wondering why he didnt have more kos.

 

Williams was the first Fighter I read about throwing the, "Bolo", punch. Took Ronnie James apart with it in Cardiff. UK Boxing writers had never seen the shot before. Neither had poor Ronnie !

 

Pat Cowdell. Can't give you the stat's but Pat was a really spiteful puncher when he held his feet. Pat didn't turn pro until he was 23 and the habits of a great amateur career stayed with him but later on he was a vicious hitter. I was there when Pat stopped future IBF World Champion, Kelvin Seabrooks, in seven rounds. Pat was knocking holes in him. It was years before anyone stopped Kelvin again.

 

1st one to pop in my head was Emile Griffith.
While he wasn't punching like Thomas Hearns,
He wasn't Floyd Mayweather Jr. Either.
Some believe the Benny Paret fight affected him.
Said he stopped punching full power because of his death.
Possible, but he also fought a lot at Middleweight against men who were naturally bigger.

 

Dick Tiger hands down. He had a sub 50% KO rate but he was a guy that really hurt his opponents. You know you are pure hell when a guy like Gene Fullmer says "I wouldn't even trade stamps with Tiger let alone punches.

 

Some recent examples were Hozumi Hasegawa, Lee Selby and Jean Pascal.

 

Jack Sharkey at 35%
Had old Dempsey backing away dazed very early into the fight (2:29 in video)
Also knocked out Loughran which was no easy feat.

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Herol Graham. Had more knockouts than decisions once he got used to the pros.

 

Ezzard Charles had more sherbert than his percentages indicates. He was often content to do just enough. The death of Sam Baroudi may or may not have affected him.