Stanley Ketchell is one of the biggest punchers and best finishers in history

People talk about bob Fitzimmons. Ketchell rates on par with Fitzsimmons as a puncher

 

Whose the biggest guy Ketchel knocked cold?

Do you think Ketchel could take out Sharkey with one punch?

 

I dont think Ketchel hit as hard as Fitz.

 

Ketchel might have hit as hard as Fitz, but I don't think he was such a polished finisher.

 

Ketchel's explosive power flattened the LH champion whom outweighed Ketchel, Phil. Jack O'Brien with one punch that lifted O'Brien head into a resin box for a savage knockout...Tis a shame that today we must judge Ketchel by
2 films in existence. His 20 round decision over the tough Billy Papke in their last bout, and the curious fight with the powerful Jack Johnson who outweighed Stanley by at least 40 pounds...Ludicrous to judge him on these 2 bouts instead of the FORTY NINE opponents the Michigan Assassin flattened.
If we saw films of these knockouts, we would probably agree with the famous
boxing writer who wrote after Ketchel's shooting. " After seeing Ketchel fight we can see no other middleweights "...

 

Obrien did not outweigh Ketchel.

 

I Agree. Fitz his much harder.

Ketchel either has the misfortunate of his lone two filmed fights being at or near his worst or is very over rated. The truth might be somewhere in the middle.

On film I see a wild swinging smallish middle weight with terrible defense, and little creatively offensively speaking in the ring.

IMO he's an over rated old timer who has a legacy because he died young, and had Nat Flelisher's pen leaking ink about how good he was for decades after his death.

 

If we saw films of Fitz conceding40/60lbs to top heavyweights and turning their faces into raw hamburger,[ those that he didn't knock senseless like Ruhlin and Sharkey,] I think we would be even more impressed.

 

K, You are correct...I have an old biography of Stanley Ketchel written by Nat Fleischer who saw the fight between Ketchel and
O.Brien in 1909, and they both weighed 160 pounds for that bout. I stand corrected...

 

In the primary source you've seen, would you rank Ketchel in the Top 3 middleweights ever in terms of punching power or is the myth greater than the actual man?

 

"After being upbraided by the "Michigan Assassin" for beating a horse on the morning of October 14, Dipley decided to get even with Ketchel by robbing him. The following morning, Smith seated Ketchel at the breakfast table with his back to the door and Dipley, armed with a .22 caliber rifle, came up behind him and shouted, "Get your hands up!" Ketchel stood up and as he turned around, Dipley shot him. The bullet traveled from his shoulder into his lung and Ketchel fell to the floor mortally wounded. Dipley then took Ketchel's handgun and smashed Ketchel in the face with it. At the same time, Smith rifled Ketchel's pockets for his money." wow

 

Ketchel was one of the most courageous fighters ever to live. Completely I afraid of any man. One punch ko power and a chin of iron.

 

In researching my book about the aftermath of the MW division after Ketchel died you come to realize something. What Ketchel did was really quite impressive. I think some aspects of him are overrated. I think he was hopeless at HW and that he was carried by Johnson, the knockdown faked, etc. Those things have made him look like he was more of a P4P great than he was. But what is really impressive is that he came into the division when it was basically wide open. Just as he made a name for himself several talented fighters emerged to challenge for supremacy of the division and he basically cleaned it out. It came down to him and Papke and when he beat Papke the first time he had really established his claim. At that point there was no doubt that he was the best MW in the world. Then Papke came and knocked him out, he knocked out Papke in the return, they fought again in a very unsatisfying fight that many thought Papke had won. I really think that the guy was like a shooting star. He was the best in the division but it was a very short time period and after the Johnson fight he was basically done. He admitted that he would never be able to beat Johnson despite publicly pretending he would challenge him again. He told people that it took months to recover from that beating and that he experienced intense headaches from it nearly up until his death. When he hooked up with Wilson Mizner his career basically became a sideshow featuring fixed fights, fake fights, and ballyhoo, in order to keep the gravy train rolling. I think if Ketchel hadnt been killed if he had continued his career (and thats a big "if" because he told people close to him that he was finished with boxing) I dont see him being the same dominant fighter when the fight is fought on the up and up. Within a couple of years of his death you had some very very talented all time great fighters hit the scene that I think Ketchel would have had a very hard time beating. Klaus, Dillon, McGoorty, Jeff Smith, guys like that. I think a hard life, ring wear, and a short shelf life would have spelled the end for Ketchel regardless of whether he was murdered or not.

 

I agree with this,Ketchel was smoking dope and had a venereal disease. Mizner paid a few guys to take a swim for Stanley , he was a comet who soared high and had begun its return to earth . A lot of good men were about to appear when he was murdered its very possible he would have been toppled from his perch had he stayed around.