Yeah, a perfect placed punch can do wonders. Especially if a fighter doesn't see it coming or gets countered. Bonavena probably was in complete state of focus and awareness to Frazier's bombs in their 24 rounds. Against Ali, he was completely caught off guard it looked. That can play a factor.
As far as one punch sopping power goes. Compared to other heavyweights. His is not as good. If you look at his record he has a good amount of stoppage wins. Espicialy before 1967. Bit how many are 10 count knockouts?
:roll::roll::roll: I can't take you seriously with comments like this. Muhammad Ali stopped Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson, Archie Moore, Bob Foster, Ron Lyle, Oscar Bonavena, Jerry Quarry all inside the distance. That is a lot of hall of famers and durable top contenders who didn't last the distance with Ali. Ali was a great finisher. He could also pop with that right hand, especially when he doubled up the right hand. Ali is God. Muhammad Ali is one of my all time favorites. Thank god no one ever criticizes him. Never have to come to his defense.
McGrain...interesting opinion on Ali hitting harder than Walcott. Do you also think Ali hit harder than Schmeling, Patterson? I personally think Walcott had one punch knockout power in both hands.
Ali's left & right paws' from 1962 to 1975 were fast enough and hard enough to command respect, but neither paw was ever filled with wicked power..... By late 1976, Ali was pushing his punches more than ever to try and get full power behind his shots..... Them last few yrs were tuff on Ali's skills, power and health.... Overall, I rate Ali's power a solid 8.....bbb MR.BILL:hat
Earlier today, I reviewed him flooring Bob Foster with hooks multiple times. Many years after retirement, ESPN did an update on Ali. Along with an interview, they showed him messing around with a heavy bag. At one point, he whacked it with a hook and snarled, "How'd you like THAT upside your head?!" Dundee really worked with him to shorten it up, and it paid off.
A 'good' puncher, with the word 'good' falling more on efficiency rather than weight of punch, if you follow. When Ali did look to step it up he could really hammer his man; the left uppercut worked in harmony with his cross when he opened up. It was his characteristic 'flicking' and 'blinding' tactics that put a veil over his strength. A great part of his plan was to pester which has attached a feather-fisted quality to his type of fight.
Walcott's punches were more generally unexpected. He could dump anyone by sneaking a shot out at them in any angle. Ali threw more straight punches that were hard but not entirely unexpected. I think Ali certainly had more out and out punch power. Ali hit harder than Patterson but not Schmeling.
Who do you think hit harder Schmeling or Walcott? I think Walcott did. Walcott needed only one right hand to knock Louis on his ass 3 times..Schmeling needed 50 flush right hands to finally put Louis away. Schmeling was a better finisher than Walcott, but in terms of one punch power..I like Jersey Joe.
I rate him a 7-8 7 on his toes 8 flatfooted,foreman,rocky,tua,tyson,dempsey,were 9s and 10s,dempsey was prob. a 9 like tyson but a diff. kind of power than the 10,s of foreman they were explosive power,i think ali,s power was kind of neither,my coach says just throw with speed and the power will be there u dont have to try and throw hard-thats what it looks like ali does
Walcott could sneak anyone onto their ass with fewer, but Ali (or Schmeling) had harder one-punch power.
There wasn't much between them power wise any way you put it and Walcott had moves that neither Ali or anyone else had. He's an absolute delight to watch and ahead of his time. A fighter where the word "artist" couldn't be more well deserved. So his KO's of Foreman and Bonavena are anomalies? That would make him quite lucky since these anomaliese weren't repeated against either fighter, ever. And how lucky he must have been to have been one of precious few to stop Quarry, Ellis, Liston, Frazier and Lyle, and the only one to stop Wepner on anything other than cuts. Either the man was blessed by the gods with special luck or we just have to, at some point, come to the conclusion that his punches could cause bad damage to very hard, durable men. Neither Walcott, Holmes or Holyfield have nearly as many good/great stoppages. And since they all were fast and very skilled Ali can't be lagging them very much, if at all, in power, can he?
I think there's enough between them to make the distinction. Anomalies is probably not the best word. Even if you want to call them that, they're good ones. And the Foreman one wasn't an anomaly. I was just making a point, I guess I failed. I know no else did so, I mentioned that it was specifically great. No he's not lagging much at all. I think Ali, Walcott, and Holmes are relatively close on a power plane. I actually think those three hit harder than Holyfield. Let's be honest though, he had a rare sort of circumstance with some of those KO's. Liston... Foreman beat the count, Quarry had cuts, Frazier was blind, etc. He gets credit for them all, though. But we just can't list them off and take them at a completely face value. It's not the same as testimony from a fighter that says "He hits harder than anyone else." In my view...
True, but neither has anything such been said about Walcott as far as I know. (And Quarry was not cut when stopped in the rematch). But at the end of the day we can't have more than an opinion about this and I can see where yours are coming from. As for the thread question I think we all seem to be on the same page more or less, actually. He wasn't a devastating puncher, but when he planted his feet he could bang and that combined with his precision and finishing instincts made him quite dangerous.