Your top 5 middleweights hardest hitters?

Hurting Roldan is nothing special in my book, because Roldan was never anything special. Hagler not being able to hurt Roldan quickly tells nothing, as Hagler was never a KO artist and was basically a power puncher who was breaking his opponents gradually down.
Hearns hurting Hagler was only because Hagler chose to do it rather wild and so he walked into a punch he wasn't expecting, it can happen to anyone. Hearns couldn't repeat it anymore, this example, again, tells us nothing special about Hearns' punching power.
At 175 and cruiserweight Hearns was unable to knock out a single worthy opponent, when he knocked somebody down, they were either bums or mediocrities. Andrew Maynard being the best of the bunch, and Hearns knocked him out with illegal punch to the back of the head, he was not able to put him down with legal punches despite landing several hard clean ones.

There's absolutely no reason to place Hearns in Top 5 at 160 lbs or any higher weight.

 

Roldan was not a great fighter but he was durable, which fits in with the topic of this thread.

Some people also have Hagler in their top 5 MW hardest punchers, which I disagree with though. Perhaps Hearns was unable to repeat it because he had broken his right hand? And since when is not hurting Marvin Hagler an indication that you can't punch very hard? The fact is that he did hurt Marv, which precious few fighters have ever done, if at all.

Dennis Andries wasn't a great fighter by any means, but he was very durable. Before he fought Hearns Andries had only ever been stopped by a full heavyweight in Dave Pearce. Hearns put him on his arse 6 times.

Hearns was way past his best when he fought at Cruiserweight. Time to give the guy a break perhaps?

I disagree. Whilst I fully understand why many don't have in their top 5 I can also understand it if they do.

 

Julian jackson never really knocked out a great fighter,but he definately was a great puncher indeeed. Hearns may not have the stats at middleweight to back up his power,but his stats at light middle were similiar,ly misleading,he was taken the distance by minchillo and benitez in world title bouts.His knockout percentage at light midle as compared to his welter exploits was lower.......This is where an objective and scientific study will look beyond the statistics,statistics and damn lies.....Hearns at 154 was the greatest single shot puncher of them all,with only jackson and robinson able to contest this....Yet his KO ratio at light middle was much lower than that of mugabi or jackson,yet nobody would dispute he stands with these guys at light middle.....Hearns had many injuries ( hand troubles.) which held back his power in some of his bouts above welter,lets not also forget the quality of opponents he fought as he went up in weight,jackson and mugabi never koed a great fighter....
Finally,you have to LOOK at hearns fights to see his extraordinary power,the kayos over roldan,duran,cuevas,andries (at lt heavy.) and schuler,not to mention the effect his punches had on hagler,leonard ,hill and many others......Hearns evan at 160 LOOKED a harder puncher than jackson and his stoppage of duran (even though at 154.) alone shows this....How many FULL MIDDLEWEIGHTS in history does one envision doing what tommy did to duran with one punch?

 

well julian jackson did fight in 15 rounds era but only in it's last stages and he is the p4p hardest puncher of all time when poeple talk about crazy power jackson had it he broke arms ribs jaws crushed cheekbones . some say the hardest hitter of all time was shavers but i take jackson any day.

 

1.julian jackson
2.gerald mcllelen
3.tommy hearns
4.nigel benn
5.ray robinson

 

Who tested his durability? 28(14KO)-14-12 Juan Carlos Bogado? Some people don't know where to stop when praising the mediocrities of the past. Roldan gives pretty much zero credibility to Hearns' punching power at 160lb, because he was a journeyman at best. When Hearns fought middleweights or super-middleweights who were actually good, he couldn't knock them out.

It's hard not to disagree with nonsence like that.

Well had he hurt Hagler on several occasions (to prove he could do it not only when landing an unexpected punch), then he could raise up in the rankings. But since he hasn't, any mention of Hagler fight is meaningless when reasoning Hearns' placement.

Briscoe and Mugabi hurt Hagler, and not once. With Briscoe he was too afraid to stay in close, whereas with Hearns he just kept going after Thomas, not caring for being hit.

Another meaningless claim. Just because a fighter had only been stopped once prior to meeting somebody, that doesn't mean each such guy is a terminator Oliver McCall or Librado Andrade-like. Pearce was a cruiserweight by today's standards, and a poor fighter. Bringing a stoppage loss to such guy only takes away any credibility about Andries, not adding it.

I'll give him a break, when people stop praising Hearns like a Top 5 or even Top 10 puncher at any weight from 160 and up. Because such claims are nonsence. He has done nothing to get ranked so high.

 

Come on Senya, enough of the shyte. Roldan was a tough durable guy who took a fine punch. Lets be honest, he's better than most (close to all) of the no names you somehow find credibility for when talking up Roy achievements.

 

Before Hearns Roldan had only legitamately been stopped twice in 9 years. That isn't durable for you?! The other point is that Hearns didn't fight any tomato cans at 160 to pad his record with KOs. He fought good fighters, like Roldan, despite what you say. If Hearns had started his career at 160 I'm certain he would have been fed a diet of stiffs (as every prospect is) to bring him along and his KO% at 160lbs would be much higher as a result.

Sorry but this paragraph is meaningless nonsense.

He kept going after Hearns because that was his declared strategy before the fight, to take it to Tommy as he knew he could never outbox him. Any comparision between this fight and the Briscoe and Mugabi fights is meaningless. Moreover, I don't recall Mugabi stunning Hagler and bending his leg through 90 degrees. Finally, who exactly did Mugabi knock out before facing Hagler? Hardly a who's who of durable contenders. (see my point above regarding stiffs)

It does kinda indicate at durability when you have numerous fights and aren't stopped, does it not? Either that or you are a defensive wizard like Pep or Whitaker. Trust me, Andries was not a defensive wizard.

Not higher than 160 no, but at 160 and below he certainly has.

 

How many fights with ranked/good opponents did Roldan have?

Good opponents? Singletary, Sutherland, DeWitt, Kinchen, Olajide. Not something to be too proud about.

If Hagler had no respect for Hearns' punching power (he was less aggressive in many more fights), why should I have? Against Mugabi Hagler thought more about defense, than against Hearns. Against Leonard, he was more hesitant than against Hearns.

Literally thousands of fighters don't get stopped while they are fighting not particularly great opposition. That doesn't mean all of them are particularly durable or they are defensive wizards.

 

It's well known that Hagler's strategy vs Hearns was to get him in a slugfest as he didn't favour his chances of outbxoing Tommy. By contrast Hagler's best strategy vs Mugabi was boxing, John was average from long range, certainly outboxable for Marvin. To even mention him being more hesitant against Leonard than Hearns based on power is absolutely absurd.

 

Do you mind naming other examples where a fighter chose to get into a slugfest with huge puncher, instead of trying to box him?

Hagler being hesitant against Leonard is a fact. Same as him having more respect to Mugabi's power than to Hearns'.

 

So you know Hagler's tactics and thoughts better than he himself right?

So you are going to tell us Hagler was more cautious with Leonard than Hearns because he respected Ray's power more? Lord help us lol.

 

You have an explanation why Hagler was very cautious/reluctant vs Leonard?

 

Well it certainly wasn't because he was wary of Ray's power.

Hagler was usually a slow starter and the 1987 version had slowed down a lot. He couldn't get off quickly enough against Leonard, who to be fair was using sound tactics. The Hearns fight was one of the few times that Hagler initiated a brawl. He had to, as Tommy was widely expected to stick and move. He wasn't going to outbox the fighter who outboxed Sugar Ray Leonard and Wilfredo Benitez now, was he?

 

Hagler was such slow starter, that 12 rounds was not enough for him to start up?