Jack Dempsey vs Joe Louis in Punching Power

I would be minded to say Dempsey hit harder with his left hook than Louis did because he comited to his punches more.

Impossible to say really. They both inflicted sickening physical damage on oponents.

 

Extremely close.

Louis with the right, Dempsey with the left hook ...

 

But then Louis took many a man out with the left hook, too. Lee Ramage II is my personal favourite left hook knockout of Louis'.

 

Potential punching power: I would go with Louis. Who hit harder: I would go with Dempsey.

 

This is a close one. Louis relied more on his combinations to ensure knockouts, but he could hurt you with a single punch as well. It's a tuffy, but I'll give Dempsey a slight edge.

 

Louis was the best power combination puncher with Killer instinct. Dempsey was a heavy handed and mean spirited man, great power in a single punch, both beat men as big as they get with the likes of Jess Willard, Primo Carnara, Buddy Baer, Louie Firpo,Fred Fulton, I think Louis hit as hard as anyone but alway hit you with more than one. He had perfect balance and threw the most perfect compact punch. Dempsey had natural raw power....Louis was the more effective against all styles and had better success with boxers and usually got the KO

 

Defintley Joe Louis. Louis knocked out much better opponents, more durable opponents, and Louis iced rated durable men with 1 punch while dempsey needed many knockdowns and a non neutral corner rule to put away most of his foes. Louis is a level above Dempsey as a puncher. If Louis got to hit Willard as many times as dempsey did, Louis would be thrown in jail for Manslaughter.

 

both were dangerous punchers, but more punching power goes to louis.

 

Dempsey may have had more pure natural power, but Louis was undoubtedly the better puncher all things considered.

 

It doesn't really matter who hit hardest, power means nothing if you can't land it and against better fighters you're very unlikely to land your biggest full blooded hayemakers anyway.

Accuracy, compact punching, handspeed and combinations are all equally as important as raw power and when it comes to that combination Louis is the top dog of the 2

 

Both gys were monsters. Both could take guys out with single shots. Perhaps the biggest right hand shot in heavyweight history was the single right cross Louis crushed the never before KO'ed Uzcuden with in their bout. Louis absolutely crushed him. Writers wrote that they never saw a harder punch in their life and Uz had a Chavalo like chin. The problem, like with many Dempsey bouts is that there is no known film.

 

A couple of questions might be worth asking:

Who do you think was more durable between Jess Willard and Max Baer?

If Max Baer was more durable then by how big a margin in your opinion?

Could you imagine Louis or indeed Dempsey needing four rounds to put Willard away without a neutral coprner rule?