How do you guys measure power when comparing different fighters?

Sometimes you can build up a fairly clear picture based on testimony from common opponents/sparring partners.

When three or more say the same thing, I think that you have to take it seriously.

I have never been a fan of KO% as an indicator, because I think that it is more directly correlated with a fighters level of opposition.

If a fighter continues to knock people out when they step up in competition, and is stopping fighters renowned for durability, then that makes me start to take notice.

I place some weighting upon the eye test.

If a fighter does not even have to hit people cleanly to shake them, then you are looking at a guy with serious power.

 

I think it`s the nature in which their opponents are knocked out, Julian Jackson`s opponents looked like they were suddenly electrocuted when caught, there`s no harder power than that, Herol Graham was out before he hit the ground vs Jackson in their WBC world title clash at middle back in the 80`s the same way that Duran was out before he hit the floor vs Hearns. I think Wilder as a boxer overall is overrated with many untested flaws and I didn`t get what all the fuss was about but then I saw a knockout highlight reel and his foes just drop like they`ve been shot, that`s pure power if nothing else.

 

There are a lot of guys who hit a lot harder than people realise. You only get to notice their power if they have the ability to create the opening against guys who do not want to get hit. No matter how hard a guy hits the timing has to be there too.

There are real bangers who barely need to apply much effort or force knocking guys out because they have the positioning and momentum perfect at all times. They have the knack of being close enough for the hardest arch of a punch to reach the target at the optimal moment.

But if the guy he’s hitting is good enough to second guess and react accordingly he won’t get hit.

Durability is related almost entirely to anticipation and conditioning so the more gifted athletes are harder to knockout because they tend to see a lot more of what is coming their way, can react to it and are conditioned more deal with it.

So it’s all about level of opposition. Rating only the fights that count not just a highlight reel of stiffs going over who made technical errors walking into shots that better fighters would not.

 

Testimony from people they fought or sparred
K.o. percentage
How their shots rock opponens, especially if it' a durable fighter

 

I think the the testimony of sparring partners is a joke as definitive proof.
I always disputed the consensus of shavers being the hardest puncher ever and i still question it.
He was among the top for sure but saying that he is the undisputed hardest hitter ever there is no real proof about it .
Let's to see his opposition closely.
Who did he actually knock out?
A green jimmy young in 1973 and it was not a knock out actually a tko. After of that he could not stop young.
Even a nobody like ron stander took his punches and then stopped shavers..bob stallings had him down for the count of 9 and he had no problem taking his power.george chuvalo knocked out clean a prime quarry and shavers could not even hurt a 1973 quarry, 1 fight later joe alexander dropped quarry and 2 fights later frazier Stopped quarry.
Shavers stunned some durable guys like a zombie ali and holmes but at the end of the day he could not stop them,bugner got stopped by cut ,shavers dropped him but a post foreman joe frazier also had bugner drunk... Ron lyle was down he could recover and stopped shavers badly.
In 1979 Norton was finished,plus he never did well against any real puncher.
Shavers stopped pure garbage...
All you got to support his reign as the super hardest puncher ever are words... Ali said.. Holmes said...Lyle said.... But the end of the day no real proof about that.. Just blahblahblah

 

It can be tough, but the film, quality of opposition stopped, and how many landed punches it took to finish them should be considerations. A KO percentage and stopping guys who were never or seldom stopped I think has some value.

Finally, skills should be separate from power. Everyone knows Tua hits hard, but the question is can he land it with his limited skills and short arms?

 

no obviously he could not.there is no evidence of this
besides being one of the most brutal punchers im history and nearly killing people in the ring

 

Punching power is kind of difficult to rate.

Some guys like Wilder hit freaking hard, I mean, you can see it with the eye test and the KO percentage, but their technique s so abysmal that their power is not always brought to bear properly. Speaking of bears, "poppa bear", Max Baer is another of these, as well as Sam Peter.

There's other guys like Wlad and maybe Lennox who could hit every bit as hard as Wilder & co, but they generally employ a more conservative approach because they don't want to lose form and leave themselves open to counters. Thus "on average" their punching power is less, but when they really sit down on their shots, they can cave the roof in on their opponent. Cue the shot that Wlad landed on Pulev to stretch him out.

Then you get guys like Sanders and Povetkin that can hit really hard, but prefer to time their opponents for maximum effect. Sanders in particular liked for the other guy to lunge in so that he could zap them with his left straight which was a torpedo of a punch when he landed it right.

At the other end we have a guy like Vitali who has a ridiculous KO % and yet is not as heavy a puncher as his brother Wlad. That's because even though he arm punches, his size and weight ensures that everything that lands is hurtful, though not shattering. Over a long fight a guy like this piles up more damage than the real punchers and can end careers. Some argue that Marciano was of this ilk, although I personally think he was a puncher/grinder rather than just a grinder.

 

Good question. Some people hit extremely hard but don't win consistently. A good example was "Memphis" Al Jones, (11-35-2). He didn't have a good record, but he knocked Jerry Quarry down twice, and knocked out Boone Kirkman, and Tony Longoria, but most of the time Jones didn't win and he got knocked out. I've never seen him fight on video. He fought a lot of name fighters and apparently he was dangerous. Makes one wonder why the name fighters took the risk of fighting him?

 

Not really. It only took one shot to put Walcott away. Not sure how he can be any more a grinder than Wladimir Klitschko, who took 12 rounds to put Chambers away. Even though he clearly one punch KO’d him.

A grinding puncher in the purest sense, to me, is someone like Henry Armstrong. He’s not trying to take your head off every punch, rather he’s landing pot shot after pot shot to slowly break you down and grind you away.

The Marciano “grinder” narrative is clearly a ploy to downgrade his power. We all see through that. Sure you can find one or two opponents who indicate that he may have been a grinder, but then you have guys like Walcott who say he had more one shot power, and was more of a one shot artist than Joe Louis.

If you’re watching the Moore fight, I can sort of see how one could call him a grinder. (Even though the replays show thudding shots that toss his body aside as he grabbed the ropes.) But if you watch every other fight, he clearly is a one shot kind of guy. Has Frazier ever put a class opponent away like Rocky did against the rematch with Walcott? What kind of grinding was that? It was like the first punch.

At best, I can see a fair description being that Rocky was an extremely hard one punch hitter, who often used his power to grind people down by hitting them everywhere and keeping the pressure up.

This narrative is like calling Liston a grinder for how many punches it took to finish Whitehurst. Have you seen that fight? If you have, you might find the Marciano grinder theories rediculous. What about Foreman vs Ali? A critic could argue that Foreman was grinding away at Ali unsuccessfully. Bet we can find some Tyson grinding fights as well, where he lands power blow after power blow, only for his opponent to be still standing up.

Always people trying to downgrade Rocky lol. He has some of the most iconic, hard hitting knockouts in the history of boxing. And now some people want to brainwash others into thinking he was a decently powered grinder? Lmao

 

1.Go by the actual knockout stats themselves that bring DOWN knockout percentages.....
That IS weight of opponents.

2. Ignore ridiculous articles they have no bearing of actual real life.


3. Then go by percentage of Knock outs.

4. Then go by what the actual punch impact effected and how many were landed.


5. Also go by similar opposition if its there as well as TIME periods of when the fight was.


6. Visual perception of the actual fighter and who gets maximum force on the punch which requires much more than arm punching.


Some fighters just have short relevant careers. Many top guys who possess the best knockout percentages fight no bodies...

Go look up Shavers record from fight 1 to 40.........he's actually got a worse resume than Wilder up to that point.

All in all everyone's going to put the fighter they want and think hits harder. Only a few can do this without bias and it also helps being power puncher yourself and knowing the mechanics of a punch.

 

I’ll cut through as much fat as I possibly can.

Although the answer is a result of the combination of a web of elements that have developed over the years of studying the history, there is one primary factor I use, and that is film observation.

And the main indicator I use, is the amount of exertion in the fighters punch, versus the physical effect it has on the opponent.

Is his pawing jab snapping heads back?
Do his short body punches that he sits on cave the opponents body, even if they’re covering up?
Are setup punches forcing them backwards and staggering them?
Do they possess a “mule kick punch,” in which slow looking punches that seem to float in the air produce very heavy impacts?

There are fighters who can pin point ‘sweet spots’ with accuracy and timing, and some power, to score great KO’s. And that’s different.

The most powerful punchers have that mule kick punch, where they don’t have to twist their bodies, or make strenuous faces when they deliver a huge punch. They string power punches together with unique dynamic range of situational positioning with very little effort or cost to stamina.