I’ll continue with some revised lists I made in the past about this era. I do plan on making a non heavyweight list in the future. Criteria: 1. One Punch Power 2. Overall Punching Skills 3. Finishing Ability 4. Strength of Opposition Knocked Out 1. Joe Louis- 2. Sonny Liston- 3. Rocky Marciano- 4. Max Baer- 5. Max Schmeling- 6. Ingemar Johansson- 7. Floyd Patterson- 8. Jersey Joe Walcott- 9. Archie Moore- 10. Ezzard Charles- 11. Elmer Ray 12. Hatchetman Sheppard- 13. Bob Satterfield- 14. Turkey Thompson- 15. Buddy Baer 16. Cleveland Williams 17. Lem Franklin 18. Clarence Henry 19. Tony Galento- 20. George Godfrey 21. Eddie Machen 22. Tommy Gomez 23. Nino Valdes 24. Lee Savold 25. Charley Retzlaff 26. Henry Cooper- 27. John Holman 28. Harry Bovo 29. Lou Nova 30. Earl Walls 31. Lee Q Murray 32. Rex Layne 33. Mike Dejohn- 34. Pat Comiskey 35. Abe Simon 36. Primo Carnera 37. Bruce Woodcokk 38. Al Hart 39. Leroy Haynes 40. Tami Mauriello 41. Fitzie Fitzpatrick 42. Tiger Jack Fox 43. Sid Peaks 44. Joe Bygraves 45. Buddy Walker 46. Hein Ten Hoff 47. Dan Bucceroni 48. Rusty Payne 49. Obie Walker 50. Lorenzo Pack
This is a solid effort on an almost impossible task. The top three would be my top three. Considering that punching power per punch is almost impossible to rate, I myself would have moved Marciano to the 2nd spot because he knocked out more top men (for example, 4 of your top 10), but this is a minor quibble. Another minor quibble, I might flip Ray and Thompson. Seems to me Thompson stopped more good men. Godfrey--He seems to belong to the 1920's rather than the 1930-1960 era. Tommy Gomez--should drop a few notches. It wasn't his fault, but he was a white fighter campaigning in the South at a time mixed matches weren't allowed. I believe he only fought two black fighters, Walcott & Satterfield, and lost to both of them. His KO record is good enough to earn him a place, but I might flip him with John Holman, who had KO's over Ezzard Charles, Elmer Ray, Bob Satterfield, Boardwalk Billy Smith, and Cesar Brion (the only one to stop Brion). Few mere contenders can match that list. The bottom line with Gomez is I don't think his victims stack up with the victims of Holman, Valdes, and Savold, and I think he should rate behind all of them. The guys down near the bottom of the list are interesting. Joe Bygraves is a good pick. He always seemed able to pop back up with a surprising KO win when he seemed finished. All I can say is I can't think of anyone who should have made this list and didn't. It will be interesting to see how your putting Carnera on this list will play with the rest of the board. He did win the title by KO'ing a champion.
People of that era rave about Gomez as a puncher. He actually made the ring magazines top 100 punchers of all time list I’m not sold on carnera as a big puncher with all of the alleged fixed fights and him pushing his punches a lot on film
Great list! Like ed said, it must’ve been a very difficult task, and it’s interesting to look through so thank you for your effort. I ask this because I feel like Carnera has his own set of standards: Are there other boxers you can think of who “push” their punches like Carnera? And do you think Vitali Klitschko was an overall sharper boxer and puncher than Carner?
