1. Walcott 2. Charles 3. Toney 4. Holyfield 5. Moore With the exception of Walcott, you'll notice an interesting commonality among these top 5. Which goes away at 6 since my 6th is Tyson.
Most of the better counterpunchers at heavy were guys who moved up in weight- Same goes for Ali since he originally was competing at light heavy in the amateurs. The only reason I left off Toney was that I felt he wasn't really AS good of a counterpuncher at heavy as he was down at middle- I feel like Tyson was better at it than he was at heavy.
Correct, counterpunchers tend to be guys moving up. Essentially taking their speed advantage and making the Heavyweights' slowness and weighty big punches work against them. It's the best way to be a small man at heavyweight unless you're a genetic freak like Marciano. It also helps that fighters around the midpoint of human weight tend to have the most talent, so the most talented LHW will usually be more talented than the most talented HW (works in reverse for something like featherweight and bantamweight). This is why Heavyweights struggle historically against LHWs and Cruisers and even MWs even though they are much bigger, IMO. Ali, Tyson and Louis are all very good pure heavyweight counter punchers but they found the same commonality of being wicked fast. So they could exploit the slowness of men their side just due to genetics and training. Usually counterpunching was just an aspect of their game, rather than the game plan itself though.
The thing is that weight really doesn't slow you down THAT MUCH unless you start with it. Duran, Hearns, Jones and others retained their most of their speed as they moved up, just as many multi-weight champions kept their power. It seems that the human body can carry most of a fighters' strong attributes as they move up, but struggle trying to do the same as they move down. Adaptation is the key here. Counterpunching is a part of a fighter's character, it won't be their game plan entirely, but it can be the key to making their game plan work.
The extreme bias towards fighters coming up in weight shows otherwise imo, obviously it's "a part of their character" but they will have more success at higher weights for that character. A counter puncher climbs weight the easiest since they're pretty much the only style that has good silver linings for giving up the weight.
I think that the bias towards fighters coming up in weight is typically found amongst casuals or typically hinges upon questions about a fighters' chin. Unless the gain is drastic, most fighters who are worth their share retain their speed and their pop when moving up. Counter punchers and movers climb weight well because they have higher likelihood of lasting in against bigger and stronger guys.
In no order: Ali, Louis, Tyson, Holyfield and possibly Toney if he counts. People forget how Tyson used to make people miss with his head movement and make them pay. Mike Tyson - Master Of Defense - YouTube
Tyson was a brilliant counter puncher, he pole axed people off their leads. He was one of the first two names i thought of.
