Hardest hitting non elite heavyweights

Shavers, Foreman, Wlad, Tua, Liston, Lennox, Tyson, Bear, Louis - these guys are being considered by boxing fans among the hardest hitting heavyweights of all time. There are some guys like Ruddock, Lyle, Sanders, Morrison and Cooney that are considered huge punchers as well. One thing they have in common is that they have been considered elite heavyweights (top 5) at some point of their careers. But I feel some heavyweights might have had a very underrated power just because they never were among the top fighters in the division. I'd go with two of them from my favorite era (90s) - Bert Cooper and Lionel Butler.

Bert Cooper was very hard puncher - he was the first man to knock granite-chinned Evander Holyfield down. That's the thing that Mike Tyson couldn't do in 14 rounds and Lennox Lewis couldn't do in 24 rounds. Cooper faced prime version of Holyfield and badly hurt him with punches to the head.

Cooper was also the only man who stopped granite-chinned guy Anthony Wade who went the distance against Ruddock, Sanders and Ibeabuchi. Oliver McCall once said that nobody hit him as hard as Bert Cooper did in their sparring, and McCall was a man that fought Lennox Lewis twice and sparred tens of rounds with a prime Mike Tyson.

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Another one unsung puncher of 90s was Lionel Butler. He was grossly overweight, definitely not the most skilled guy, but men, could he hit! He KTFO'ed Tony Tubbs in one round and James Smith in 3. And here is report on his fight with Oliver McCall from the Oklahoman newspaper which says he hurt granite-chinned McCall in the seventh round:

"Oliver McCall of Chicago scored a 10-round split decision victory over Lionel Butler of New Orleans in the first round of the Fan World Heavyweight Invitational Tournament on Monday night at Central Plaza Ballroom.

McCall was the aggressor early, working his left jab enough to inflict swelling under Butler's right eye by the fourth round.

Soon after that Butler came to life and began backing McCall to the ropes and using his strong left hooks. In the seventh round, Butler landed three consecutive left hooks to shake up McCall, but Butler soon tired.

Two judges favored McCall 98-97 and 97-95. The third judge scored it 100-97 for Butler."

Can you name some other unsung punchers from different eras? Fighters that could probably hit harder than ATG punchers but aren't considered among them because they just never reached the highest level?

 

Oh, Tshabalala himself was a very hard puncher as well. Although not as proven as Williams at the pros

 

BoxRec says 72-1 with 72 KO's - https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Courage_Tshabalala

 

David Rodriguez had one of the most padded records in boxing history, but he could really crack with that left hook

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Yes, I believe Helenius was considered top 5 HW in 2011, prior to Chisora fight in which he was exposed to some extent. Haye was officially 'retired' then and Helenius was considered 4th best heavyweight after Wlad, Vitali and Povetkin with KO wins over Brewster, Peter and Liakhovich in his resume.