Bob Foster was of course the much more devastating hitter p4p, but in absolute terms, who had the more power at HW?
I voted Ali. I couldn't help but think of Frazier just walking through Bobs jabs and hooks before destroying him in two. This Lt Heavyweight monster looked like a praying mantis trying to fend off a pit bull and Frazier treated his power with disdain. Ali despite only being a fair puncher still hit hard enough to keep big strong guys like Foreman and Liston honest and he marked up and damaged Frazier even in the FOTC. Bob could never do this imo. He just wasn't a true heavyweight and didn't have the physiology to ever be one.
I also had to have a short think, I have to say. But I just can't see Foster doing what Ali did to Bonavena, Foreman, Lyle or even Williams or Folley.
Although not a great puncher like Foreman, Shavers, Liston, etc. Ali could hit when he got off his toes. Quarry took a good punch and Ali had him on ***** street during their second fight.
Probably foster.. Mechanics account for a lot and Foster set down on his punches more. But he didn't have the physical tools needed to succeed at heavyweight.
Ali took care of Folley with a sharp single shot He also did lots of damage to his opponents faces Look at Ali vs Wepner and Lyle where he was fighting at a lazy pace and then turned it on quickly. He hurt those guys badly and didn't let them off the hook Also round 13 and 14 in Manilla where he just battered Frazier Ali could crack when he set his feet and went for it
Ali and Leonard were both underrated by many, because of their pretty boy rep, for being real badazzez.
This. Ali was big, fast and beautifully balanced... when he sat on his right hand, it did major damage. However, he usually had such a speed advantage on his opponents that he used that dynamic... he played to his strengths, as a good coach will tell you.
At 0:30, Ali stuns Joe with probably the single hardest punch he landed in their series. That jaw clipping right he makes Frazier dance a jig with was likely the closest he ever came to avenging the FOTC KD on Joe. Unlike the Jimmy Jacobs narrated footage (from behind Frazier's back), the ABC camera captured that shot at the perfect angle. I just can't see Bob Foster staggering Joe with one punch like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0qsQmZ2TLg Foreman rated Ali fifth in power of all his opponents, and George was on the receiving end of the most Ali could generate. Don't forget the one right hand Ali sent Lyle into an unrecoverable tailspin from either. Here's Bob Foster's resume of heavyweight wins: Whitehurst was sliding when he squared off with Bob, in Bert's penultimate bout. This was just Foster's ninth professional bout, and a first round knockdown was the margin by which the youngster took an eight round SD over the cagey veteran. Whitehurst was 195 to Bob's 176. Hot and cold German Willie Besmanoff was a decent HW scalp when Bob stopped him in three during December 1963. At that stage, Besmanoff had been stopped six times: in his professional debut, an avenged fourth round loss, in seven rounds each by Liston, Lavorante and Clay/Ali, in ten rounds by the Mongoose, and in four rounds by Chuvalo. Defeating Besmanoff was no great shakes. But that Bob did it faster than anybody else until Chuvalo beat him up again in 1967 is fairly respectable. Willie was then a veteran of 81 bouts. This seems to have been Foster's best stoppage of a heavyweight opponent. Besmanoff weighed 204 to Bob's 182. Charley Retzlaff protege Don Quinn was a powerful 31 year old toe to toe slugger with a 23-9 record when Bob took a minute to ice him and end his career in November 1964. At 209 pounds, Quinn was the biggest heavyweight with a winning record Foster would knock out until his first match with the heavily juiced Bob Hazelton for his final career win in 1977. Bob weighed 177 for Quinn, so this is a very good result for somebody competing at a deficit of 32 pounds. Roy "Cookie" Wallace was a 212 pound journeyman heavyweight with just an 8-12-2 record when Bob knocked him out in six during March 1970. Wallace had previously been knocked out in seven by the other Foster, Mac, and in two rounds by Foreman. Wallace would ultimately be stopped 13 times in 61 bouts, always by excellent opponents. Aside from the aforementioned, Wallace was stopped by Norton, Bonavena, Bunny Johnson, Shavers, Duane Bobick, Schutte, Leroy Jones, John Tate and Shelburg. Along the way, Wallace also picked up wins over LeDoux (a cut eye stoppage in two, Scott's first defeat), Daniels, Rahman Ali, Leroy Caldwell (in three rounds-only Shavers, Foreman and Bonavena would ever take out Leroy faster), Ray Anderson (avenging an earlier defeat to this championship distance challenger of Bob's, then coming off a win over Goyo Peralta in Madrid), Boudreaux (avenging another earlier defeat), and his final knockout win was a ninth round stoppage of Nick Wells. So despite his losing record, Cookie Wallace had some quality, making this a decent win. At 177 pounds, Bob was far and away the lightest man to knock Wallace out. Bob was 39 years old when he took on the ridiculously juiced Hazelton in September 1977. Hazelton had injected himself up to 215 pounds, 36 more than he was for his disastrous 1966 debut against O'Halloran, he came in riding a ten fight streak of quick knockouts, and had just retired Manuel Ramos. But Hazelton had never won over a distance longer than five rounds, and Foster drowned him in ten. The rematch would be a different story, but that first match must have been something to see. Bob Foster KO 10 Steroids.
Foster very well could be the hardest punching LIGHT-HEAVY in history, and that's debatable with A.Moore /M.Spinks / E.Charles and some others. But to compare him to Ali at Heavy weight is a bit much.
