Rank these MW based solely on punching power

Pretty difficult when you are talking about fighters who wore different weight/type of gloves.

 

Weird bunch.

 

Well I think that some of these are clearly below so it won’t make for too much debate.

If you eliminated Robinson and Ketchel and instead included say....Valdez and Hostak you might get a bit more debate.

As it stands I’d say Robinson is clearly no.1. Then Ketchel, based on reports.

Then the rest....

 

Were middles in the 50`s lighter?

 

I don`t think Robi hit harder than McClellan aside from the iconic shot landed on Fullmer, and every punch that Benn threw at middle was a potential fight ender whereas Robi`s average punch punch wasn`t as hard, he knew when to pick his moments, like his wicked right hook that did LaMotta in eventually in their brutal final fight. Benn didn`t put as much into his shots at super middle though.

 

Nothing weird about McClellan or Benn, at middle they were both lethal and Kethel dropped Jack Johnson.

 

I was referring to the weight of the gloves but yes they were lighter in the ring than today also.

 

McClellan No.1
Ketchel No.2
Graziano No.3
Robi/Benn No.4
GGG No.5

 

OK, how many pounds lighter were Robi and Graziano? Would they have been light middles today?

 

It is hard to answer that for sure but i'd guess that prime Graziano and the prime middleweight version of Robinson (1949-52) was only between 152-160 pounds in the ring, basically a welterweight in today's standard. They both routinely wore 6 and 8 ounce horsehair gloves, their speed and power would diminish with today's 8 and 10 ounce modern foam gloves.

 

The welterweight limit now is 147lbs, the light middle maximum is 154lbs, the middleweight limit is 160lbs.

 

A welterweight today is not 147 in the ring, he is usually between 150-160.

 

Oh, you mean after the weigh in.