Rank these Fighters in terms of Punch Power

First of all, enormous respect for anybody taking a serious shot at compiling lists like this. "The Book of Lists" was one of my favorite pieces of idle reading growing up. Personally, I'd never chance anything like it. Please continue this. They're enjoyable to assess and pick apart. However I may criticize your placements, inclusions and omissions, you're a far better man than I for composing them to begin with!:good

Having said that, I'd like to nonetheless comment about the top of these heavyweight rankings.

George Foreman and Earnie Shavers had six common opponents. These were Leroy Caldwell, Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle, Ken Norton, Muhammad Ali and Charlie Polite. ALL six of them unequivocally stated that Shavers was the hardest puncher they were ever hit by. [Ali's comment to this effect is on youtube, as is the late Lyle's rating of Shavers over Foreman with respect to punching power.] Caldwell said Lyle's power was comparable to Foreman's while Shavers "hit harder than Foreman and Lyle combined." Ron himself said when Earnie hit him, "The floor came up." [Foreman, for his part, does consistently rate Lyle over Cooney, Morrison, Briggs and all others he faced when pressed for a definitive answer to this question.]

I'm not sure why these types of ratings frequently continue to place Foreman over Shavers, as the unanimous consensus of their half dozen common opponents should make this overwhelming in favor of Shavers. Opinions vary of course, but not where common opponents of Earnie and George are concerned.

Shavers and Tyson had two common opponents, Larry Holmes and James Tillis. Both leave no doubt that Earnie hit them harder than Mike.

Tyson and second career Foreman had a number of common opponents to derive an interesting opinion base from. It's an era where further comparisons could also be made not just between the two of them, but Lennox and Ruddock as well by common opponents. Tua might also be worth investigating as a potential replacement for one of his contemporaries on this list.


I don't know that I'd place Rosario and Arguello at one and two on the LW list, but I absolutely agree that Edwin should be placed over Alexis. Immediately after losing his first match to Rosario, Ramirez made it very clear that Chapo hit him much harder.

Among the light heavyweights, only Eddie Davis [over 12], Qawi and Mustafa Muhammad went the distance with Michael Spinks in title competition. Pierre Fourie did this two consecutive times with Bob Foster, and Ray Anderson also heard the final bell against Bob, as did Jorge Ahumada in their draw. Bob went the 15 round distance in his final three LHW defenses, and Chris Finnegan pushed him into the 14th. I just can't see Michael Spinks getting pushed to the 15 round limit three or four straight times at 175.

On the basis of Dick Tiger and Mike Quarry alone, the temptation to reflexively place Bob at top within 175 can feel overwhelming, but he was too effective a puncher for me to overlook Anderson, Fourie I & II, Ahumada and Henry Hank II. If Michael Spinks had never moved up from 175, and had title fights remained with a 15 round limit in place, I think very few would be placing Bob at the top of these lists today. He's sometimes there only because he utterly failed at HW where Michael historically succeeded.

 

Based on your picks

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1. SUGAR RAY ROBINSON (Put solid middleweights on the floor)
2. THOMAS HEARNS (154 is a different story)
3. SUGAR RAY LEONARD (The left hook was up there with Robinson)
4. HENRY ARMSTRONG (was weight less that 147 backing up middleweights)
5. FELIX TRINIDAD (serious, serious snap in that left hook)
6. ROBERTO DURAN (combinations and hard counters were his bag at this weight)
7. SHANE MOSLEY (Hit hard but not against fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard and Carlos Palomino)
8. OSCAR DE LA HOYA (solid hook)
9. JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ (old)

 

Based on your picks.

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JOE LOUIS
GEORGE FOREMAN
SONNY LISTON
JACK DEMPSEY
MIKE TYSON

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SAM LANGFORD
BOB FITZSIMMONS
BOB FOSTER
ARCHIE MOORE
ROY JONES JR.

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THOMAS HEARNS
RAY ROBINSON
ROCKY GRAZIANO
JULIAN JACKSON
ROY JONES JR.

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HENRY ARMSTONG
ALEXIS ARGUELLO
JOE GANS
ROBERTO DURAN
SHANE MOSLEY

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ALEXIS ARGUELLO
SANDY SADDLER
MANNY PACQUAIO
HENRY ARMSTRONG
WILFREDO GOMEZ