Frank Bruno apparently punched at over 1400 pounds pressure..

Boilermaker, when the measurements say that the 5'11" Bob Fitzsimmons (who began his career as a middleweight) punched harder on a stationary target than the 6"3" Frank Bruno (who started as a heavyweight and had access to steroids), it casts doubt for me, and I begin to question wether these can be compared directly at all with any reliability.

Purely on an intuitive sense, Frank Bruno should punch much harder on a stationary target than Bob Fitzsimmons.

The old fighters fought much more often, and I can along with the fact that because of that their craft was higher than current fighters, but punch harder? Difficult to believe given the emphasis of physicality in todays game (as opposed to craft and experience fighting good fighters).

Look, everything else aside, George Foreman would be a massive puncher under any circumstance or upbringing and Muhammad Ali would be lightning fast under any circumstance or upbringing. So monsters get born in any era, and a lot of their quality is genetic.

But a former middleweight punching harder than Frank Bruno on a stationary target? I don't see it, and I don't believe it.

 

I dont think that Fitz is a good example. Fitz had a much better KO record than Bruno though of course he did not fight the super heavys like bruno did. Though he did fight fighters as big or similar size to say mike tyson. Mike, who was the best ko man of modern times was not a huge fighter though also admittedly not a middleweight either.

I think you are correct to be suspicious of these recordings from machine to machine and in any case they dont mean that much anyway. But still they must mean just a little bit. Even if there is not full accuracy, they must be reasonable accurate. if the measurage was out by fifty psi, it still means fits hits harder than Bruno. It is safe to say that a good shot from Fitz has to be at worst on par or close to on par with a good shot or at least a poor shot from Bruno.

The same could not be said of Usain Bolt and old time runners. Even if we cant prove that old stop watches were as accurate as todays timing. I believe the reason is because of training habits but that is a separate question.

What is also interesting is that modern superheavys do not appear to hit all that much harder in these tests than modern middleweights or light heavys. This is surprising. Old timers believed once you hit a certain size you carried enough power to ko a man, this was enough, which is why Dempsey louis and others didnt need to be giants. If we suggest that one thousand psi is a good solid punch that if landed clean will KO your opponent why do fighters need to sacrifice speed or stamina to hit at twelve hundred PSI.

If Light heavys still hit as hard as heavys or close to it, and when we consider that nearly every world light heavy champion who fights at heavy becomes a top ten contender, i really do wonder if size is overated in the heavy division.

This is off topic, but it astounds me that an ancient Antonio Tarver, who years ago was shown up by an equally ancient middleweight bernard hopkins is now a top ten contender. I cant believe he is a better fighter now, than when he was in his prime as a light heavy and he was a good fighter but no out and superstar or anything. So surely he could still be a good fighter if he was a light heavy campaining at heavy. This backs up what i think these machines are showing in that light heavys hit nearly as hard as super heavys. I was going to start a separate thread about this, but imagine if the cards fall in a way that Wlad gets old on the night he fights Tarver. That would certainly shake up modern thinking.

 

I believe it Frank Bruno probably had one of the heaviest single punches in heavyweight boxing history the only problem was he didn't have the speed or fluidity to put his punches together enough against top opposition to get the knock out. One thing that can be said for Bruno is he got real far and was a force to be reckoned with just on being and big powerful guy not too many other fighters are able to do that....

 

By the way shake,

i think i stated it earlier, but i agree that bob fitzsimmons hitting a stationery target harder than Frank bruno is surprising and hard to believe. But if it is true, it changes conventional thinking. Evidence suggests it is.

 

He must have hit almost half as hard as Marciano then, or am I being fanciful?

 

Don't worry you are in the overwhelming majority, despite what some may pretend.

 

Might not be the same thing bit this skinny rapper Machine Gun Kelly had the record on ESPN's Sportsnation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2WfbR8Pi4c

 

It was hard to explain in PM but to post the videos, you take that code after the "=" sign and put [yt] before it

c2WfbR8Pi4c

 

... then put [/yt] after it.

 

[yt]c2WfbR8Pi4c[/yt]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[yt]qUTGQ47Qwrs[/yt]

 

Bruno DID ko all but two of his opponents, and one of those was Oliver Mcall.

 

Frank Bruno could be the long reigning dominant champ in today's era.

All he would need to do is pop a jab and power right hand - granted he has the benefit of corrupt officiating which entitles him to shut down any form of inside boxing he is not comfortable with- this would enable him to jab , hit , hold ...rinse and repeat till the opponent gives up or loses wide on the cards.

As it was, in his own time Bruno played by the rules and was forbidden from any illegal tactic. Most notably the Tyson rematch- thus rendered knocked out in early rounds.

 

Being a great puncher is more than just about force but the delivery of the punch. Bruno clearly hit hard, he was an imposing physical specimen and knocked out a lot of guys but he didn't have the tools to go with the raw power.

He was a good fighter though, out boxing Witherspoon and Lewis prior to losing.