Which powers were more powerful hitters, and why? Max Baer or George Foreman? Earnie Shavers or Frank Bruno? Oscar De La Hoya or Felix Trinidad? Rocky Marciano or Bert Cooper? Floyd Patterson or Jersey Joe? Sonny Liston or Jack Dempsey?
****, this isn't easy. I'd say: Foreman - Deadly with both hands. Shavers - Bruno could whack no doubt, but for one single punch, maybe Earnie was the supremo. Trinidad - Oscar had power, but I fancy Trinidad and by some margin. Marciano/Cooper - I dunno, tough one. 50-50. Patterson - Old Joe could crack, but I fancy Patterson's leaping left hook was slightly deadlier than anything Walcott had. Liston - More of a clubbing hitter, but I'd say he hit ever-so-slightly harder.
Baer quite possibly hit as hard or harder than Foreman with an overhand right, but Foreman had serious power in both hands and in all of his offensive punches, so I think he has a firm advantage. Both of these guys had frightening knockout percentages, but certainly Shavers has a considerably more impressive resume of knockouts and knockdowns against top opponents, with the blow-outs of Ellis, Young and Norton and the near-KO of Holmes. This is a difficult one. Trinidad has been a more aggressive, knockout-oriented fighter, more of a guy you think of as a puncher, but De La Hoya did stop Vargas and Mayorga more quickly and required less bludgeoning than Trinidad did. Certainly Marciano. Cooper never knocked out an elite fighter in numerous attempts, while Marciano knocked out literally every single one he fought and needed only one shot to take out several of his top-tier opponents. This is a tough one, much like Trinidad and De La Hoya. Patterson was a much more aggressive guy than Walcott, but he did often require long bludgeonings before he could put down/stop opponents, while Walcott seemed able to put down anyone with a single shot in any round when he caught them with a clean power shot. On the other hand, Patterson does have the famous leg-twitch knockout over Johansson, which was even more devastating than Walcott's KO of Charles. Another tough one. I think Liston probably packed a harder single punch, though Dempsey had an overall more irresistible and devastating offense.
Marciano Frazier killed it, I agree with his opinions completely. Though I think Dempsey/Liston is a real pick em, they both could really bang, and without too much footage of Dempsey it's hard to really gauge how hard he really hit.
Name a time when Cooper ever landed a punch as deadly as that single right hand of Marciano's that ko'ed Walcott in the 13th. Review some comments made by Ezzard Charles, Joe Louis and others regarding Rocky's power, and stop the revisionist crap that makes Bert Cooper a so called better puncher than Marciano.
Bert Cooper quit when the going got tough, he had power but no where in the class of Marciano who could ko you with a tap (Layne) at least it looked like a tap...I dont think anyone with any boxing sense would think Cooper would last vs Moore,Charles,Walcott...Cooper would shoot his load and fold when the going got tough and then back to the crack pipe
Yeah, I'll take it as I will, and that's to be very sceptical about a fighter's comparing the power of one fighter to another. Their "opinions" as such are many times rather self-serving, such as when a guy like Shannon Briggs says that George Foreman hit him harder than Lennox Lewis did, you know, the ol' Fighter A knocked me on my ass, and Fighter B didn't, even though 'B" can punch. So "B" hit me harder than "A". The purpose of crap comparisons like that is to make the guy who fought A and B look better and discredit the guy who put him on his ass at the same time. Now, I know that McCall has sparred with both men, but maybe McCall had a grudge against Tyson, so what better way to diss Tyson, than to say that Cooper hit harder than Tyson? Also, just for the record, I'm aware that neither man was able to deck McCall in these sparring sessions, but boxers are notoriously less than honest about evaluating the relative power of their opponents. Also, Cooper had the glass-chinned Moorer down in their fight, but failed to finish him, and got ko'ed himself. Can you imagine a prime Mike Tyson not knocking Moorer cold? Can you imagine Rocky Marciano not doing the same? So much for Cooper being a harder puncher than either Tyson or Marciano.
Foreman hit harder than Baer Shavers over Bruno Oscar with the left Tito with the right.. Overall at WW i give the edge to Tito, and at JM he hit alot harder than ODLH....PFP at LW ill take ODLH power over Titos. Marciano for his time but to be honest.. ID say Cooper could crack harder for one punch. Slight edge to Jersey Joe over Patterson Liston over Dempsey... LIston is the first hw that would have been a devastating HW puncher even today.
Power is the most over rated atribute in boxing. On its own, it is worth two buckets of warm spit at world level. Cooper might well have hit harder than Tyson.