HAHA this is amazing, your just one massive contradiction. You just made the case that Vitali hits harder because Briggs "said so", then go on to say that Rahman doesnt hit harder than lewis (which is true) bedcause he got beat by Maskaev. oh my god.
It's pretty obvious to anyone without an agenda or fan bias that Lewis hits significantly harder then Vitali. As for Briggs comments about their respective power, it's not that surprising. Often guys who get dropped and KO'ed don't feel the power of the punch that hurts them as the punch discombobulates them and so they don't feel the punch while less hard punches taken where they remain fully concious seem more painful as they are aware of the pain unlike a truly powerful punch that will leave you unable to register the pain. A prime example of this would be the punch the Ibeabuchi KO'ed Byrd with. We can all agree that, that was the hardest punch he ever took, even harder than those taken against Vitali and Wlad. But Byrd would not say this because he doesn't even remember being hit or dropped as the punch from Ike left him completely disorientated. I will say that Briggs experience with Vitali was a lot more painful then his experience against Lewis but it's pretty clear that Lewis hit him much harder then Vitali ever did.
How odd how some one who was hated as much as DHL, is now so well liked, now he's been out of the picture so long. I can remember everyone hating him becasue he was too much a never take a risk, chess player ...not very aggressive and so on...when he was fighting. Now he's the second coming of a big Tyson. You don't have to be hit 'hard' to be knocked out, just properly...and coming in, multiplies. The punch you don't see, the one you can't start to move away from...those are the KO punches, so very often. Remember how many times you've seen a short right or left to the button, KO someone, where speed of the punch is the power.
Lewis, clearly. A more fair comparison would be Lewis - Wlad Klitschko. They both have that serious one punch fight ending power. Vitali never really had that even before his 'retirement'
Well as far as one punch power Lewis is the harder puncher. But when Vitali actually sits down on his shots and puts his body into them it's close. Lewis still has the edge but not by much. Vitali hits the target a lot rather than trying to blast through it. But it's effective! one of the best KO ratios in history. Now Wladimir hits harder than both of them. Emanuel Steward said that and he's the trainer that should know this :good