The hardest punches don't hurt?

I've read somewhere that someone said Joe Louis' punches didn't hurt, but they just paralysed the fighter so he couldn't physically move, before Joe inevitably knocked him out. I can't for the life of me remember who said it tho.

 

Holyfield said as much at 8:05

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lec5g6RHd7g[/ame]

 

Punches, on the whole, dont "hurt" like we typically think about pain.

Slaps "hurt" more than punches.

Most painful I've ever been hit, though, I must say, was Big George. Every shot felt like it was rearranging my face.

Wladimir Klitschko's jab hurt the same way at times, but his big punches didn't really feel like anything but a bee sting with a sledgehammers impact behind it.

Klitschko is the only guy to ever knock me out completely. I don't recall much after losing control of my functions and falling down, which means I must have hit my head.

 

Vaguely remember a quote, I think from a guy that Joe Louis had put down, when the referee asked him if he was ok to continue - he said something pretty close to "can I go take a walk on the roof"?? Seem like a pretty kind of high thing to say like he'd been smoking pot or something - always made me laugh - sounded like he wasn't in pain - more that he was in a 'better place'

 

Jamie Moore once said to me on here that he was hit hardest by a journeyman in sparring.

Considering he fought a fair few heavy handed fighters, like Ryan Rhodes and Matt Macklin..... strange how that sometimes happens.

 

I can't remember if it was Gunboat Smith or Harry Wills who talked about how painless Sam Langford's shots were. Said that you just went to sleep, woke up and were fine. Like, "What happened?"

There's lots of talk about Joe Choynski being such a hard hitter. Sure he hit hard, but I think he was more of a hurtful puncher than a hard one. He could produce a sleep inducer shot, but I think his blows tended to cause more pain than scrambled senses. The opponents stayed awake so they were able to comment later on about the pain of taking it. If that makes sense.

 

Wow, thanks for those great comments... and sorry to hear about that knock out. When did you spar with both ?

 

I also remember hearing that story. Don't remember who the fighters involved were, but I believe the ref thought the groggy fighter thought the ref was a woman he was trying to pick up.

 

All this is to explain why it was more merciful to be ko'ed by Bob foster than a Joe Frazier or a Mike Tyson or scores of fighters who didn't hit as hard as those two, who would club and batter you cruelly round after round with so many punches.

 

I think this is true. I remember the sportswriter Jim Murray comparing the punching of Joe Louis and Max Baer. He said that Baer was a killer, really damaged guys, because he clubbed them so hard, so often, whereas Louis hit so concussively hard that he just knocked them out.
Tim Witherspoon had a humorous comment about how hard Bonecrusher Smith hit him in the fight Smith won by 1st round tko. He said that he'd been hit so hard that he had visions of little blue mice smoking cigarettes.

 

Well, I think it stands to reason that if a punch knocks you cold, you won't feel it. You're out.
You won't remember it either, or the sequence of events leading up to the KO.

I've read many accounts of guys saying they don't remember the punch that knocked them out, and also they remember nothing of the fight at all, or very little.
Most guys who were cold-cocked also only regained full conciousness many hours after the fight. They may seem lucid enough and may talk okay after a KO, but they're not really aware of things.

Lennox, when he was knocked cold out by Rahman, can be clearly seen mouthing the words "what happened?" to Manny Steward after the fight, but before his interview.

From personal experience, I can say that getting knocked out is wierd. Ironically, it didn't take place in a boxing ring. I was pulled off my bike when I was a kid by a bigger kid, and I hit the back of my head on the tarmac.

I regained consciousness about three hours later. It felt a bit like waking up after a night's sleep. Funny thing is, is that I was told that I picked up my bike and sobbed all the way home, but I didn't remember any of it. To this day I don't.
Full conciousness only came many hours later.
It must have been pretty painful, but I don't remember.

I imagine it's the same for a fighter getting knocked out clean.

(Sorry Matt, reading it again I don't think I answered your question. )

 

One fighter also asked the ref for a dance once...can't remember who though.

 

:deal...excellent phrase rocky!

 

This is so true.