Hardest Hitting Heavyweight

:deal while shavers may have hit harder (we honestly don't know) he didn't bring the same, 'I don't give a **** who you are, I'm gonna walk through your punches and batter the **** out of you' attitude that George seemed to have.

 

I don't give a crap what Holmes said, at the end of the day it was Tyson who KOed him, not Shavers. And Tillis, like a lot of Shavers's opponents, not only withstood Shavers's vaunted power, but got up to beat his ass. Fair enough, Holmes and Lyle I can let slide, but not Tillis or Mercado. Those guys should have been gone the first time Shavers landed flush, if he truly hit as hard as his reputation says he did. When did anyone ever get up from a Tua KD to win the fight? Only once, to my knowledge, in the final fight of his career when he was old and shot. Shavers had it happen to him throughout his career.

 

Earnie was too lovable. After he shaved his head, he looked like Curley Neal of the Harlem Globetrotters. Devoted to his eight daughters, and so close to his loyal trainer Frank Luca, he couldn't intimidate anybody with his persona if he tried, not with that sweet southern accent. The problem came when the bell rang, and he actually connected on the other guy. That's when Norton started shitting bricks, but by then it was too late.

 

Exactly. Seeing what he did to Norton and Frazier, etc. ****ing scary man, I couldn't even imagine what Ali had to have thought.

 

Holmes was peak for Shavers. Tyson was peak for Holmes, but Larry was also 38 years old and coming off an 18 month retirement. Earnie also takes Holmes out in that situation. This isn't about the final result, but what Larry experienced in the way of power from the best prepared versions of Shavers and Tyson to compete.

Quick did well to recover as he did. He was stopped 11 times, but the record indicates he was never counted out. If true, nobody came closer to actually achieving this than Earnie.

Nobody's questioning that Mike was the more effective puncher, and a vastly superior boxer, but Earnie did more damage to James with a single face planting right than all the punches Tyson landed on a fading (and by then thrice stopped) Tillis put together.

Tillis came back from the dead, but he was running on all cylinders by that stage of the bout (neither cold nor exhausted), and it was a single, albeit monstrous shot which very nearly did do the job. James was once beaten (by Weaver over the championship distance) and peaking, about to turn 25, trained by Angelo Dundee. First rate conditioning and youth can go a long way towards being able to recover from a single monster shot. (Tyson needed far more that that to stop Holmes, who came within five seconds and a caught right uppercut in the ropes of surviving round four. Mike needed 45 seconds between knockdowns two and three to finish an obviously rusty and misfiring Assassin.)

Mercado was a huge, deadly puncher who the record indicates was never counted out. He would stop Prater in 12 his next time out. Less than a year earlier, Bernardo had starched Berbick in one (a repeat of an amateur win the Colombian held over Trevor), and he'd just retired Henry Clark via ten round decision. That was the best, most resilient version of Mercado (just turned 28) to ever step in the ring against an aging Shavers (now pushing 35). He had the necessary youth and conditioning to recover from a single shot like that.

I have never compared Earnie's power to David's, and don't know that there's a recipient of punches from both qualified to make that assessment. With Tyson and Foreman, the testimony of common opponents is available.

No question Tua was much the sharper and more effective puncher with better placement. That's readily apparent from clips of him in action, but I was no longer a fan of boxing by the time David came along.

 

Gerry Cooney wih the left hook. George said on an old
Letterman that Lyle,Cleveland,Williams and Cooney
were the hardest he faced. Gerry with the left hook.
Ive only seen the Louis fight, but many say Shmeling had
A dynamite right hand. Off the top of my head Tyson-Botha
testament to Mikes one punch power when he was past his best.
Lewis vsGolota Ruddock Biggs, Grant, Briggs Lewis loved
bombing out superheavies. Bowe Gonzalez. Foreman vs
Frazier, Norton, Cooney Moorer. Tommy morrison with
the left hook as well, though not as powerful as Cooneys.
I love Joe Louis kos many one punch KOs if Im not mistaken.
Baer literally rattled brains so thats pretty hard.

 

What about Bruno?

I know he was clumsy and rarely landed cleanly, but, damn, what a puncher.

 

Yes! He rocked Iron Mike back in the day. Bruno posessed
advanced boxing skills and a devastating right hand. Powerful
jab as well. I might disagree 5 years ago, but you gotta throw
Wlad in there jab and big time right hand.

 

Foreman got touched. He had a mini Rahman goiter that would have been far worse if not for those damn clauses!

 

That's because he'd likely get his ass stopped before he KOed another top fighter.

As for the bolded... Uh-Huh. :deal

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLuV0vCWs_A[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlS82LC3fTo[/ame]

 

Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier.

 

David Tua could land one hell of a shot that's for sure.

 

Anubis has nailed this subject throughout this thread. His views make excellent, interesting reading - I take my hat off...:good

 

Not true at all ... his left was brutal on it's own ... look at the single hook that almost took Lyle's head off ... it was a nasty shot ..