I was watching the Muhammad Ali-Ernie Terrell fight again the other day, and I noticed that Terrell had a good rally in the 10th, putting some great shots to Ali's midsection. I forgot what a great puncher Terrell was in close. He did that kind of work real well against Doug Jones and early in the fight vs. Thad Spencer. I yield that Terrell was a mild dirty fighter, and that his victories were not usually clear-cut, AND that he was a spoiler, but considering how long-armed he was, he was very effective inside to the body (they used to call him "Octopus"). I actually think if when Terrell fought Ali, if he had focused on staying inside, he could have dictated the clinches with his superior size and weight, and done some fine work on Ali's body,and Ali never did do so well against body punchers. For that reason I would give Terrell a slim chance of beating Ali back in '67.
If we’re going with truly underrated then I’d say Larry Holmes — who is regarded as never being a body puncher — deserves consideration. Look at his fights against Evangelista and Bonecrusher, as well as the crippling shot against Truth Williams, and you’ll see he was very effective at it when he chose to employ body punching as a tactic. I think he blistered Leon Spinks as well a few times but I’d have to look. He wasn’t a guy who concentrated his attack on the body but when he did go downstairs he was effective at it.
Half of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai's arsenal is downstairs and no-one mentions him in these discussions. Best body puncher today for my money, right there with Inoue.
Martinez is a wicked body power, absolutely crushing power. I like how he shifts into whatever stance he needs to get to that liver, sternum or kidney or whichever target he wants. Danny Zaragoza had an awesome straight left to the body. Kevin Kelley could break someone down with them too.
