Most power punchers are aware of their power and stalk their opponents, let loose whenever they can. They're powerful, and therefore confident. But what fighters did the opposite? Didn't throw enough punches and or seemed unaware of their ability as punchers? Or just couldn't put a guy away due to lack of commitment and aggression. Jose Luis Lopez was a unbelievably hard hitting welterweight. How well his power stayed with him as he moved up in weight was almost mythical. He fought at low as 119 pounds, and was probably at his best, most mature weight as a welter. He fought all the way up to light heavyweight and while shortly there KO'd extremely durable Leroy Owens in 1 round, something no one else ever came close to duplicating. Owen's had 49 losses and only 9 stoppages. But, Lopez at times moved at glacial speeds. He dropped the iron chinned Ike Quartey with single punches twice, but failed to capitalize. The very same against James Page. So, who else?
That division had other guys that were similar---James Page. Milt McCrory to a degree was another. Quartey would hurt guys and not finish them but you can contribute an underdeveloped right hand to that as well. A classic example would've been the LH Eddie Mustapha Muhammad. That's why you analyze a fighter's finishing abilities in there & not just punching power. And most of the big hitters just don't get the ko's anyway once they start fighting top 10 opposition on a consistent basis. Or get stopages over the top notch defensive guys or the concrete chins.
Chris Eubank. While not a huge puncher, after the injuring of Michael Watson he changed his gameplan drastically, holding back and for the most part losing his killer instinct. In the last half of his career he only notched 5 of his 23 knockouts following that fight. A more modern day example might be Wladimir Klitschko. Since joining with Steward he no longer lets loose the same way he once did, unloading those massive straight rights. Many have lamented how cautious he fights. Nobody can doubt Wladimir's power, proven throughout the majority of his career, however he rarely uses it anymore, preferring instead to rely on the clinical use of his jab and only the occasional conservative power shot.
Agreed. Eubank altered that style and I'm fairly certain he would've won that Collins bout > the knockdown if he wasn't carrying around that Watson aftermath. Also agree wholeheartedly of Wlad. Most folks haven't seen all that many fights of his prior to the Steward involvement. Maybe they saw a few here and there but not watching his career development. I think he's taken a fairly big step backwards from the Sdunek days and doesn't fire off anywhere near as many nasty left hooks. And he waits far too long anymore for that perfect right hand opening. He created those openings much better and faster with Fritz and I don't think Steward has led the guy to any better record than Sdunek would've.
