Who hit harder?

The point being that those that are lauding Shaver's power are most often guys who defeated him.

Shaver's best KO victims were an old, fragile Norton, a very green Young and a very over the hill Ellis. The better fighters he faced withstood his power and beat him, often by KO.

I would say Shaver's is the harder (not better) one hit puncher but Foreman is the better KO puncher.

 

Foreman worked a lot on the heavy bag... creating crippling body shots. (many people overlook that first body shot in the Frazier I fight, when Joe realized it wasn't going to be his night).

Shavers was more of a head hunter....pin point puncher.

 

You guys do reallize that George undoubtedly generated much more power in his comeback.Your question is too general IMO. There is much much more involved with determining punching power than you would think. In summary, the older Foreman is a lot more likely to knock out the bigger heavyweights with one shot than Shavers. And Shavers is more likely to knockout the smaller heayweights with one shot than either the younger or older Foreman.

 

Shavers.

 

The question is who hit harder, not who hit better or stopped better fighters.

 

How is Shavers overrated? As a fighter? As a puncher?

 

Norton lost to both. He has Shavers as the harder puncher. Young defeated Foreman and lost to Shavers (and drew once). He said the same. Ali beat both. Same sentiment.

 

I've seen interviews were Ali and Lyle both said Shavers hit harder.

 

The only thing I agree with is that Old Foreman's power was underrated. I don't think Foreman was throwing full-fledged haymakers in his comeback. But the response would be from most fans is... how do you prove that? It's not like Foreman was KOing anyone of note in his comeback.

Also, I think some testimonies can give people a skewed idea. Foreman never hit Lyle with a full on power-shot the way that Shavers did. I don't doubt Shavers hit harder, but I think Foreman hit very hard and probably had heavier hands. And Foreman never hit Ali full fledged cleanly like the way Shavers did. Again Young was KOed by Shavers and Foreman was struggling in the heat in Puerto Rico. So these testimonies are not as clear cut as one would suggest.

 

:good

 

On the flip side of the coin, Jimmy Young defeated Foreman but lost to Shavers.

On that basis you would assume that he would big up Foreman at the expense of Shavers if he were to show any bias either way.

 

Just trying to inject a little nuance into a truly tired topic.

Yes, we all know Shaver's hit hard. But what did that power equal? A couple losses for some decidedly non-peak fighters and some shaky moments for some great fighters.

If you were a highly ranked heavyweight, Foreman was more likely to disconnect you from your senses. In the end, you got hit harder.

 

Here is another way to look at it.

If it was not Shavers power that got him as far as he got then what was it?

 

Ken Norton rated Foreman higher at one time.