What is the most brutal/hardest punch you've ever seen in classical boxing ?

Same as Fury got up against that feather fisted Wilder

and Thomas took numerous clean hits from Tyson before going down and Douglas got off the floor against Tyson proving Tyson was not a big puncher at all

and Tyson took a few full blooded bombs off Ruddock proving he was no hard hitter

and Vitali took that huge uppercut from Lewis showing his power to be not that big

and Frazier got up against Foreman

and EMM got up against Spinks the powderpuff

There's just never been a puncher "that big" in history really. How anyone ever got knocked out is a mystery.

 

The most brutal one I can recall is Emile Griffith vs Benny the Kid.

 

Damn, you're on to something ... hey, Earnie's still around; maybe I could look him up? What would it take for him to give me a solid right hand to the temple a la Holmes? A couple hundred bucks? If I stick around long enough, he might even do it for free (God knows it's happened enough with people I've met in life) ... a brief moment of startling pain, then poof! I'm 21 again! All the wisdom, but none of the wear and tear of another 40 years!

My quest for the Shavers Fountain of Youth begins -

 

Ha ha GREAT plan! Although you would be set back to zero in terms of the aging process, although none of the disadvantages of being a helpless infant. What could possibly go wrong?!?

Wellll...Just remember that this is a Rare Occurrence.
A combination of Shavers hitting him SO hard it had that effect-& perhaps just right-if he falls short of that level of power, you merely end up between knocked out, brain damaged, & a little bit...dead.

Kind of like most always lightning strikes hurt you, & may kill.
But on rare occasions, if the bolt of electricity is strong enough & you are hit juuuuust right...
You may just acquire an unspecified superpower.

 

It didn’t render a KO but among the several howitzer shots he landed, Cleve Williams landed a right hand (1st fight, 1st round I think) that drove Liston’s head back and down some distance, putting Sonny’s head between and through the top and second rope strands…and while he felt it, there was Liston, still standing strong, boxing coolly under immense fire. Some chin. Every time I watch that fight I’m sweating on that punch to come up.

 

Plenty of great shots in there. I'd put Hamed's uppercut on Tom Johnson up there as well. As Hamed was throwing it, Johnson leant into it as well. Game over.

 

Hearns V Duran - For sheer spectacle in a massive fight.
Jackson VS Graham has to be it for me just an absolute bomb.

 

I remember there this guy (who was there during jeff sims vs jose ribalta) claimed that Sims hit him with a left hook that "turned Ribalta upside down". I would love to see that punch actually....

 

Gerald McClellan's left hook that initially sent Julian Jackson down to the canvas in their first fight looked particularly brutal, especially in the slow-mo replay.