That was a livershot, if he hit the left side of his body and he KO'd him like that it would be insane. But a livershot is even more painful than getting hit in your balls, your legs just stop working at all. Pacquiao has also been KO'd by a quick livershot.
After the Butterbean fight Holmes claimed Butterbean possibly hit him harder than Shavers... I've also read he was on his way to KO Tyson with an uppercut until his hands got caught in the rope. (According to Holmes himself) It's why I don't take boxers seriously when they rank each other.
All kinds of good points. My one quibble: That was loaded. That was so loaded as to almost be telegraphed. Gerry hit like a truck. Top flight power, but that hook had shoulder, hip, and thigh behind it. Perfect mechanics. The shot he needed to land repeatedly against Larry Holmes, but just wasn't smart or skilled enough to make it happen.
He was a harder puncher than Shavers, certainly. Hardest puncher of all time? Impossible to say. Gun to my head I'd say Tua, but when you get to that level of power it just becomes pointless quibbling. Gerry looked incredibly heavy handed, and got a lot of weight behind his shots. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been hit by him.
Absolutely not,,,,,,, Yes, a very hard puncher, but not the hardest. My friend Joe Giardella used to spar with Gerry in Huntington. He was never felled by Gerry, and Joe was a 6' 1" 200 lb. amateur.
For anyone, surely. There is no "hardest puncher ever," or at least no way to quantify it. Odd question, really.
How can anyone designate who was the hardest puncher ever ? Can't be done, and is meaningless...In baseball for example ,a Dave Kingman hit a ball as far as ANYONE, but was a low average hitter...Give me a Joe Louis who absolutely stunned you with the first punch and obllterated you with follow up combinations, IF NEEDED...As a Ray Robinson did...For example a Julian Jackson had crushing one punch power but was NOT a great middleweight...Cooney for example looked AWESOME when he kod Ken Norton, but as later proven was not a great fighter...But I think he had a better left-hook to the body than anyone including Joe Frazer, but lacked Frazer's resolve and toughness...