The Greatest Middleweight Puncher Of All Time

Freddie Steele deserves at least an honorable mention.

Eugene Hart no doubt deserves a spot near the top of the totem pole for pure power.

Bennie Briscoe was a damned good puncher. Only man to ever hurt Monzon very badly. Take a look at the rarely distressed Monzon in a very bad way in my avatar.

 

I believe it is Jackson. There are many middleweights that would rate much, much higher but if you are looking for one punch to end the fight in an instant, Jackson must be the guy. I am sure all of you remember MANY fights in which jackson knocked his man out and made their body go completely stiff. jackson had peoples nerves shut down and muscles short-circuit. AND he could do this with either hand. Tommy Hearns is the best at welterweight but his body of work at middleweight falls far short.

 

Jackson hits hard, no doubt.

But there are guys out there who are more skilled punchers at mw or who have proven ability to hurt and ktfo guys much bigger than them while at or around the middleweight limit

 

Fitzsimmons.

Wether or not he was the hardest middleweight puncher of all time, he must surely be the best finisher of the lot?

Even among the heavyweight champions, his finishing ability rates among the upper teir.

Would you say that most of the following heavyweights were better finishgers for example:

Jeffries
Johnson
Willard
Tunney
Schmeling
Carnera
Walcott
Patterson
Ali
Frazier
Holmes

 

It is not an uncomon phenomenon that a fighter becomes more destructive as they move up in weight, Pacquiao being a recent example.

Of course the initial thread question does not say that only punching at middleweight is considered.

Fitz is harder to guage as a midleweight puncher, because so much of his resume is obscure. His heavyweight opponents resumes have undoubtedly matured better than his middleweight opponents.

Nice avatar by the way.

 

I am of two minds on this!

Fitz undoubtedly had issues making the mw limit (basicaly junior middleweight today), and he was probably over 170lbs for most of his heavyweight fights (when you scrutinise it).

On the flip side of the coin, his mw resume has clearly lost a lot of lustre. The surviving records of heavyweights of the period are much more complete than those of middleweights, due to the greater coverage of heavyweight fights in the press. This point is forced home powerfully in a few cases.

There is always the suspicion that the true value of his mw record and the fighters he beat at that weight has been lost!

 

http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/smith-h.htm

Harry Smith
(Harold Anthony Smith)
(the "Harlem Thunderbolt")

BORN October 28 1907; Kingston, Jamaica
DIED September 19 1933; Chicago, Illinois
HEIGHT 6-1
WEIGHT 155-175 3/4 lbs
MANAGER Dave Brown
Smith was a devastating hitter who could handle any man his size and most larger men; His right hand was deadly; As a result of his skills, most of the top men avoided fighting him; Those who did paid the price

Harry had an awesome amateur record and had lost only one professional fight (by foul) up to 1931; He won the Colored Middleweight Championship of the World in 1929 and may have won the major one if given the chance

During his career, he defeated such men as William "Gorilla" Jones, Jimmy Francis, Osk Till, Yale Okun, Babe McCorgary, Fred Lenhart, Frank Rowsey, Billy Alger, Homer Robertson, Jack McVey, Pal Silvers and Sandy Garrison Casanova

Al Lippe once wrote that Harry Smith was the most ferocious puncher he ever saw and thought he could knock out any middleweight or light-heavyweight in the world. An imposing figure with fearsome power in his right hand, Harry Smith was the scourge of the middleweights for a brief time in the early thirties. His difficulty in getting top-flight middles to face him was summed up best by Ed Hughes of the Brooklyn Eagle: "Harry Smith is the worst kind of opponent: a colored boy who can sock."

Harry's list of victims included Title Claimant "Gorilla" Jones, the venerable Jack McVey, Osk Till, Yale Okun, Fred Lendhart and Joe Anderson. But what may be more impressive than those whom Harry actually defeated is the list of fighters who refused to face the "Harlem Thunderbolt". Maxie Rosenbloom, twice refused Smith as an opponent in 1930 and so too did Mickey Walker whom reportedly turned down a guaranteed $50,000 offer from Jess McMahon to fight Harry for the title at Ebbets Field in the summer of 1930. Black fighters wanted little to do with Smith as well. Light heavyweights Larry Johnson and Billy Jones both turned down bouts with Smith in Pittsburgh citing other obligations. But no prospective opponent was clearer in his or her unwillingness to face Harry than middleweight Tiger Thomas, a decent fighter and stable-mate of George Godfrey's. When asked by the Pittsburgh Courier's Rollo Wilson why he had turned down a proposed match with Harry, Thomas stated, "cause I don't think my momma would want me dyin' in Philadelphia."

Harry's reign of terror was brief. After moving to the West Coast in 1931, his love of wine, women and cabaret's took their toll. He was knocked out by journeyman Jimmy Hannah (who Smith had beaten a few months earlier) and never regained his form. He made an unsuccessful sojourn to Europe in 1932 and after several defeats, returned to America a has-been.

On October 19th, 1933 Harry Smith died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Chicago en route to California. He was to have been married two days later.

© 1998 Kevin Smith

 

Was Sam Langford actually missed ?

He and Fitz by far ...

 

Hard to argue against Ketchell. Did any middle have his equal with a right hand? Can't say Robby, Graziano, or Jackson did.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKC4VjyeHbU[/ame]

 

:deal