Hardest Heavyweight puncher in history (with poll)

Foreman

 

It's Foreman of Shavers for me. I lean toward the incredible testimonies toward Shavers but man Foreman was a wrecking ball. I'm partial to the Lewis right hand as well.

 

Shavers, Foreman and Marciano for me followed by Max Baer, Sonny Liston and Mike Tyson.

 

Where's Tua?

 

Shavers/Liston/Foreman

Wilder and Zhang are probably up there as well.

 

Probably Wlad Klitschko - most overrated puncher is Liston by far.

 

Can't go wrong with that trio.

 

I think Foreman is the GOAT but the evidence speaks for itself here. The reason that Wilder and Fitz were outweighed that much is they were weighing less on purpose because they were so confident in their power that the mobility benifitted them.

On the other hand Fitz deserves no P4P consideration because he was able to take HW power to MW.

I'm not trying to knock Foreman or Liston so much as say the evidence says these guys hit harder.

 

Most overrated ? The dreadful damage Liston inflicted on Chuck Wepner ( when Liston was well past his best ),
Liston removing seven of Wayne Bethea's teeth by one punch,and various testimonies advocating that Liston
punched harder than Foreman is sovereign,overwhelming evidence that Liston punched with nuclear, freakish
power.
At the very least,and I do emphasise ' very least ' ,Liston is one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight
history.

 

He punched hard sure… lots of guys do but who did he KO? Did he prove his power against anyone any good? No - Broken teeth and beating up Chuck Wepner ain’t a feat, my uncle has knocked teeth out lol he’s a nothing in fighting terms. Wanna know something? Boxers say stuff all the time, Frazier was said to hit harder then Lyle and Foreman a guy interviewed by Roger Mayweather forget his name… I try to go by what they did.

 

Every common opponent of Shavers and Foreman said it was easily Earnie. Leroy Caldwell said Foreman hit about the same as Lyle, but that Shavers hit harder than both George and Ron put together. Foreman said Lyle should've been outlawed for how hard he punched, then also said, "Never fought Shavers, thank goodness.

All Shavers opponents who remembered being hit by him said it was Earnie. Ellis claimed not to be impressed, but nobody else ever did that to Jimmy, and only peak Frazier otherwise ever floored him. On the footage it's clear. Ellis never knew what hit him.

Jerry Quarry claimed immediately after to Don Dunphy that Shavers, "never hit me!," only to be shocked that Earnie did when he viewed the tape the next day. (Shavers did say he landed on JQ very hard shots. For his part, Jerry told Dunphy immediately after Mac Foster that, "He can hit like heck! WHEW!!!" He needed a plate after that one.)


Chuck Wepner said on camera that Liston was by far a harder puncher than Foreman, and Chuck took on both several months apart. Both stopped Wepner on cuts, but Sonny bulled him onto his backside with a fifth round right to the body. (I've seen that clip. No foot contact. It was a clean KD.)

But the only common opponent of Liston and Shavers, Henry Clark (who went far more rounds with far more punchers than Chuvalo) said it was definitely Earnie.

Everybody who faced both Louis and Max Baer clearly said Maxie was by far the harder puncher, including Uzcudun, who went 20 rounds with the Larruper and years later was dropped by the hardest punch of the Bomber's career, ending Paulino's own career.

The second hardest punch Louis ever threw was the knockout blow on Braddock. By Jimmy also said Max Baer hit harder. (The difference is that Louis was a vastly superior combination puncher, the best in HW history.)

The only common opponent of both Louis and Dempsey was emphatic that it was the Mauler, and the footage of both with Sharkey does support this. Prior to the controversial knockout of a peak Gob, Dempsey did far more with far fewer punches than a very highly motivated Louis did to a completely past it Sailor Jack.


Dempsey should be on the list. He repeatedly sent the young Foreman sized Firpo skyward like a jigging string marionette, and lifted the 245 pound Willard several inches into the air with a short inside hook to the body near the end of round three. Foreman did nothing like that to Frazier. Joe was trying to stay on his feet after the last punch in Jamaica, and in failing, hopped down to a knee in a delayed reaction. There was no delay in what Dempsey did to Willard and repeatedly to Firpo. (Tyson was probably referring to the same motion film strip frame by frame and super slow motion footage I grew up watching on a movie projector and screen when describing Dempsey as an animal, although the Willard film is also frightening.)

Everyone who faced both Louis and Marciano said Rocky hurt more with one shot than Louis did with four.


While I think Foreman's probably the physically strongest HW Champion in history (and repeatedly shoved back the heavily roided Morrison repeatedly), there's no reason he should have a single vote according to anybody familiar with the unanimous consensus of actual opponents.

Lyle doesn't belong. While Bugner admitted that he was beaten raw by Ron over 12 rounds, Joe made it clear that it was Shavers for him.

The only common opponents of both Tyson and Shavers have said that Earnie was the harder puncher, and the footage supports this. Shavers himself said he dropped Larry with the hardest punch of his career, while Tillis can be seen and heard on YouTube in extremely colorful language saying that Mike "hit me like a HOMO!" (In fact, Quick is right. Tyson clearly never hurt him, the knockdown was a flash KD, and I had Tillis the winner, 6-4. But Larry was hit by Mike at Tyson's peak. He's clearly more than qualifed.

Mike Weaver took on hard shots from a number of noted punchers (including Lennox), and said Mercado hit him the hardest. Indeed, Bernardo uniquely one punched the durable Berbick in a single round, and Trevor rated the big Columbian over Tyson, something which rings true since Trevor was quickly beaten by both, and was able to get up the first time against Tyson.


I can't speak to Corrie, Deontay or Wlad, but Shavers is clearly tops of the rest on that list. And for the Louis era, Max Baer should clearly be the representative.

As for Marciano, immediately following their match, Moore said, "He's the strongest fighter I've ever fought [physically]. I don't know that he's the hardest hitter I've ever fought, but he certainly hits hard enough." In September 1955, the Mongoose was probably thinking of somebody like Satterfield, Leonard Morrow or Hatchetman. (Sheppard, for his part echoed what many others from the postwar era through the 1950's, that the Mongoose himself was boxing's hardest puncher regardless of division. Whitehurst rated Moore over Liston, and in fact went the limit with Sonny twice while Archie knocked out Bert twice, the second time a month before Whitehurst initially took Liston the distance. What was Sonny like between Whitehurst I & II? We have the Bethea blowout for reference.)

Following Moore's career, Archie was able to specify EXACTLY what the hardest punch he was ever hit by came from, and it was no fellow African American. It was the first punch Yvon Durelle decked him with, which referee Jack Sharkey also said was the hardest punch he ever witnessed within the ring in his long career as a referee, and the old Gob said Archie was cross-eyed on the floor before he unbelievably got up as Sailor Jack was expecting to count him out and transfer the LHW honors. We've been seeing and hearing that shot for years. The young Cassius Clay wouldn't go anywhere near Moore when he registered his first big win. (He later got caught by Cooper because there was no indication Enry was capable of being that dangerous at the world class level. In their 1966 rematch, Ali took Cooper MUCH more seriously than he'd even taken Liston.)

 

The obvious reply !! lol.

 

Hmm....your uncle sounds like a formidable man,but did he knock those teeth out while wearing boxing gloves and his victim's teeth had the protection of a gum-shield ? Could your uncle have inflicted seventy-two stitches on Wepner ?
How many other heavyweights could have inflicted such damage on Wepner ? Not too many !
Muhammad Ali was adamant that Liston punched harder than Foreman.A pretty strong testimony indeed.
By all means it is reasonable to argue that a tiny number of heavyweights punchers may have punched
harder than Liston.
But ' most overrated ' ? No....simply no.

 

Boxers often pick unheralded opponents as having hit them the hardest.
Louis named Al Delaney!
Neither Moore,Charles,Lastarza ,or Cockell,picked Marciano as the hardest puncher they faced.
Of the names selected by the OP ,I go for Shavers.

 

When Floyd Patterson (and this is an oft repeated story) was asked if Ingo or Sonny hit harder, he replied Johansson. When disbelievingly pressed about this, he smiled and joked, "Ah, but you see, I BEAT Johansson!"

However, Ali beat every hard puncher he ever fought. And guys like Caldwell, Bugner, Clark, Norton, and Young were beaten by Earnie. Opponent consensus is crazy here.