Greatest punching variety in boxing history

Good lord you’re right he never gets enough credit for anything… he’s a combination puncher with ATG body work around here with underrated timing / accuracy, underrated boxing too he just didn’t need it or have to display it ever… a secret SHW and HUGE beyond his measurements probably the strongest HW ever despite being 40lbs lighter then modern guys (wow can we rate him higher P4P now?)… Iron chinned (100%) but also the greatest ring cutter of all time at HW, the hardest punching HW champ AND you’re right his punch variety is impeccable he throws things I don’t even recognise on any other fighter (besides maybe Wilder) GF punches at @ss level, behind his back, behind his head, slaps, cuffs etc like I’ve never seen before another forum quality to add to his resume thank you for your service DMT o7.

 

1. Sugar Ray Robinson

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2. Jose Napoles

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3. Joe Louis

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4. Alexis Arguello

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I'd have these four at the top of this category. SRR's variety and creativity with his punching is off the charts. Louis and Arguello are probably the most technically "correct" of them all but SRR and Napoles have more variety if that makes sense.

 

Ashamed that no-one has mentioned Roman Gonzalez yet. We're talking about punch variety, not punching technique, and Chocolatito has better variety than anybody. He whips hooks to the head and body to land uppercuts and vice versa, he throws the right hand to shift weight for his left hook, and he was the most creative and capable combination puncher I have ever seen. Sublime fighter.

 

It was a little funny

 

The lack of Eder Jofre here scares me,Jofre had good technique even past his best,good jabs to measure distance,great hooks and his uppercuts were so good George Morikawa had to reference it in his manga.

 

Can we cut out the “I’m disappointed” “surprised xyz has had no mention” type posts on like the 3rd page not everyone has had there say yet and there’s only like 40 people here in classic… SURE if we were on a 10,000 person platform and nobody said Joe Louis in this discussion you’d be shocked but really? Haha

 

Yeah, but I'll be honest, I love that Jones style knee kick. Anything about destroying limbs (in a competitive sense not a permanent one), I just absolutely love. @Ioakeim Tzortzakis has a particular fascination with punches to the heart, but I think it's just the Greek romanticism.

Id also say as a point to Duran over Robi, when watching him recently, he threw more uppercuts to the chest (while shifting backwards) than any fighter I've ever seen. Specifically against Barkley, Palomino and Cuevas - likely as a way to stop their pressure in their tracks.

 

Same, but with a Muay Thai and grappling background and still not happy with Tong Po for what he did to weight bearing pillars and spinal columns, there's something in me that doesn't appreciate deliberately pulling moves that can end someone's career and way of putting food on the table.

Again, there's the hit me hard and I'm gonna catch you and suplex you into oblivion in me that thinks if you know it's coming, you gotta deal with it. It's a fight, not a game of cricket.

Punches to the heart - wish I could see the likes of Fitz in 4k at his peak.

Duran was a more comfortable/natural fighter on the inside and the uppercuts to chest are a brilliant tactic at negating forward pressure but also punching the fight and stamina out of an opponent. Robbi's much more likely to look to land the liver and kidney and then punch to the head.

Hmmm, I'm not sure that Duran is a better puncher than Ike Williams and there are some that say Napoles is his equal and probably greater.

JMM is a beautiful puncher and I'm a fan of Jofre and Ezz. Personally, Pep is a much better puncher than his KO record shows but hey ho, prize fighting - gotta knock people out more time.

 

Man I love that film, kickboxer is an absolute must watch martial arts film. And yeah, that's my only issue with dirty moves - even the legal ones - is that at the end of the day, you wouldn't drive a forklift over a colleague's leg, no matter how late he was. But in most cases, if a guy's fouling you and the ref isn't doing anything, foul right back. There was a moment in Gomez vs Zarate where Gomez hit him after the bell for a second time and I just thought "just kick him in the nuts If it's so badly bothering you, he won't do it again" and if you get DQd, it is what it is. But yeah, the highest level of competition in martials arts probably isn't the place for decisions like that.

Ike Williams is an absolute great mention - Napoles too. I actually kinda like Holyfield for punch variety too, even if he was a little left hook happy.

I'm all for the Ezz shouts, I really need to a deep dive on the footage we have of him.

 

Brilliant film and one of my faves along with Bloodsport but yeah, JCVD would get absolutely peppered - he didn't train clinch, didn't train to check kicks and throw elbows off a collar tie and ragdoll.

Man, Evan Fields is one of the most complete of the HW ATGs. Only thing he lacks is genuine true one shot KO power but that doesn't stop Ali or Holmes from being up there as ATGs.

The version of him that was matching up with Bowe before he got super left hook happy was a nice fighter to watch, really crisp, well schooled combinations with underrated footwork.

Hmmm, speaking of fouls - I still don't understand how Duran beat Buchanan on a low blow. He would've won anyways but a title should never change hands like that.

 

In recent times maybe Mikey Garcia?

Canelo is up there as is Chocolatito of course.

 

It is an indictment upon each and every one of you that no one has mentioned Philip Holiday yet.

 

It’s going to be played out here, but it has to be Mike Tyson if we look at punches he scored KD’s with. Unless I’m missing something, the only punches he didn’t score a knockdown with would be a left/right jab or left cross. And I’m confident that had he thrown some left crosses, he’d have scored a knockdown using them; same goes for if he’d had longer arms and jabs.

probably the best overall two fisted puncher the sport has produced. Always seemed like any punch a man could throw, he could generate big power with.

George Foreman was similar.

For modern day, shout out to Bakole? He seems to have that weird quality Foreman did of throwing what look like arm punches but that land with big power.

 

not that familiar. Can you recommend a few of his best fights?