View Full Version : the hardest heavyweight puncher?


IronMike19
02-26-2008, 12:57 AM
foreman or shavers?

Silencers
02-26-2008, 04:58 AM
Foreman was the hardest puncher in history IMO.

The Iron Man
02-26-2008, 08:59 AM
I would go with Shavers

TheGreatA
02-26-2008, 09:52 AM
Both had similar KO ratio's: Foreman 76 wins, 68 KO's, Shavers 74 wins, 68 KO's. Both Foreman and Shavers had most of those decisions when they were older.

Foreman won 24 fights in a row by KO, Shavers won 27 by KO, Foreman beat much better opposition during that KO streak (which was ended by Ali), Shavers KO'd many in the first round.

Notable opposition KO'd:
Shavers KO'd/TKO'd Jimmy Young, Jimmy Ellis, Roy Williams, Ken Norton, Joe Bugner
Foreman KO'd/TKO'd George Chuvalo, Gregorio Peralta, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Dwight Qawi, Gerry Cooney, Michael Moorer

Comparable opposition:
Ted Gullick: Shavers KO6, Foreman KO2
Ken Norton: Shavers KO1, Foreman KO2
Ron Lyle: TKO'd Shavers in 6, Foreman KO5, both were dropped by Lyle but Foreman showed heart by getting up from the canvas twice to KO Lyle.
Jimmy Young: Shavers TKO3, draw, beat Foreman by UD
Muhammad Ali: beat Shavers by UD, beat Foreman by KO8

Foreman was obviously the better fighter with an amateur background, better technique, a powerful jab, an iron chin, strenght, finishing skills and more stamina. He was also taller and heavier than Shavers.

Shavers didn't have much more than his power, his fight against Ali was his best because he kept his composure and showed better conditioning by going twelve rounds.

Both Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes said Shavers was the hardest hitter they ever faced.

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Shavers' overhand right against Holmes is one of the hardest ever thrown (02:18).

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Shavers KO's Ellis

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Shavers KO's Norton

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Foreman KO's Frazier, Norton, Lyle, Cooney, Moorer

My conclusion: Both hit pretty f***ing hard. :banana:

IronMike19
02-26-2008, 10:00 AM
oh ****!

wow, i wonder how the hell holmes found the heart and the desire to get up from that murderous right hand.

merjohn32
02-26-2008, 10:45 AM
oh ****!

wow, i wonder how the hell holmes found the heart and the desire to get up from that murderous right hand.

I remember reading an article that quoted Shaver saying that hitting that punch was like being in heaven. But then Holmes got up. :owned:

IronMike19
02-26-2008, 01:04 PM
:haha:....

Basim
02-26-2008, 01:38 PM
Holmes must of had God on his side to dodge the 2nd right.

catskills23
02-26-2008, 06:42 PM
i will probably will get pillored for this but i think tyson was the hardest puncher. Aparrently when tyson sparred frank bruno when he was 16 . Bruno and tyson both took a psi test and bruno was found to only hit marginally harder than tyson . i think tyson scored 2300 psi and bruno scored 2500 psi . Bruno was also 5 years older than tyson and had a 30 pound weight advantage . So i would say that it would be safe to say that when tyson was in his 20's he would of hit a lot harder than bruno . Bruno i would consider to be one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history . James tillis who fought tyson and shavers said tyson hit harder . Alex stewart and Steve zouski who fought foreman and tyson said tyson hit harder than foreman . Of course others who have fought tyson , shavers and foreman have said that shavers and foreman hit harder than tyson I dont put much emphasis on who fighters say hit them the hardest anyway . There chin is hardly a punch psi measuring device. Anyway there is no way to know who hit harder than who we can only form an opinion . Its a topic that could be debted forever and we would still be none the wiser.

TheGreatA
02-26-2008, 07:26 PM
i will probably will get pillored for this but i think tyson was the hardest puncher. Aparrently when tyson sparred frank bruno when he was 16 . Bruno and tyson both took a psi test and bruno was found to only hit marginally harder than tyson . i think tyson scored 2300 psi and bruno scored 2500 psi . Bruno was also 5 years older than tyson and had a 30 pound weight advantage . So i would say that it would be safe to say that when tyson was in his 20's he would of hit a lot harder than bruno . Bruno i would consider to be one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history . James tillis who fought tyson and shavers said tyson hit harder . Alex stewart and Steve zouski who fought foreman and tyson said tyson hit harder than foreman . Of course others who have fought tyson , shavers and foreman have said that shavers and foreman hit harder than tyson I dont put much emphasis on who fighters say hit them the hardest anyway . There chin is hardly a punch psi measuring device. Anyway there is no way to know who hit harder than who we can only form an opinion . Its a topic that could be debted forever and we would still be none the wiser.

One thing that has to be considered is how the punchers did in their later years when they only had their power left. Shavers, Foreman and Tyson all fought long past their peak.

Shavers dropped Holmes and KO'd Norton at age 35.
We all know Foreman's accomplishments, KO'd Moorer at age 45.
Tyson had that win (turned into a NC) over Golota at age 35.

Shavers never had anything other than his power so it didn't really matter how old he was.
Foreman was still strong, powerful and most importantly, smart at his old age.
When Tyson lost his speed, he was never as good but he still scored some KO's, just not over top fighters.

I have always thought of Tyson as kind of a combination puncher, while Shavers and Foreman just looked for that one punch.

Shavers had big trouble finishing guys when he had his man hurt, Tyson was a GREAT finisher in his prime, Foreman rarely let his opponents off the hook either until he got old and slow.

slicksouthpaw16
02-26-2008, 07:29 PM
Foreman is the hardest puncher. He has knocked out the better line of fighters than Shavers.

IronMike19
02-26-2008, 09:08 PM
One thing that has to be considered is how the punchers did in their later years when they only had their power left. Shavers, Foreman and Tyson all fought long past their peak.

Shavers dropped Holmes and KO'd Norton at age 35.
We all know Foreman's accomplishments, KO'd Moorer at age 45.
Tyson had that win (turned into a NC) over Golota at age 35.

Shavers never had anything other than his power so it didn't really matter how old he was.
Foreman was still strong, powerful and most importantly, smart at his old age.
When Tyson lost his speed, he was never as good but he still scored some KO's, just not over top fighters.

I have always thought of Tyson as kind of a combination puncher, while Shavers and Foreman just looked for that one punch.

Shavers had big trouble finishing guys when he had his man hurt, Tyson was a GREAT finisher in his prime, Foreman rarely let his opponents off the hook either until he got old and slow.in your opinion, do you think if tyson had power only, could he hit harder than shavers & foreman?

Silencers
02-27-2008, 07:22 AM
in your opinion, do you think if tyson had power only, could he hit harder than shavers & foreman?

I don't think so, Tyson's power was more explosive than Foreman's or Shavers', explosiveness required speed so when he lost his speed, his power wasn't the same, and he didn't actually knock Golota out, Golota refused to continue fighting.

Holmes said that he was out when he got hit by the punch and his head hitting the canvas woke him up. Bert Sugar said it was the only time he has ever seen a fighter get knocked out and come back to win the fight.

IronMike19
02-29-2008, 02:11 PM
but hey man, that right bomb from shavers should've knocked out larry holmes big time, but larry has too much heart, he got up, he was still stunned for 2-3 minutes, and came back and won the fight.

xEDDIEx
02-29-2008, 05:08 PM
id go with foreman. similar KO ratio, but foreman did it against better fighters.

chrismart83
02-29-2008, 11:03 PM
****, how did Holmes get up from that shot.

IronMike19
03-01-2008, 03:23 PM
the man has heart and a chin, just like ali, because that right hand could've easily left someone bruised up.

Tony Jones
03-15-2008, 03:08 PM
Met Earnie a few times. He works on the door at Yates in Liverpol over here in England. Really nice guy but looked smaller than i expected. He seemed real surprised that i recognised him lol.

The Wire
03-15-2008, 03:54 PM
Both had similar KO ratio's: Foreman 76 wins, 68 KO's, Shavers 74 wins, 68 KO's. Both Foreman and Shavers had most of those decisions when they were older.

Foreman won 24 fights in a row by KO, Shavers won 27 by KO, Foreman beat much better opposition during that KO streak (which was ended by Ali), Shavers KO'd many in the first round.

Notable opposition KO'd:
Shavers KO'd/TKO'd Jimmy Young, Jimmy Ellis, Roy Williams, Ken Norton, Joe Bugner
Foreman KO'd/TKO'd George Chuvalo, Gregorio Peralta, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Dwight Qawi, Gerry Cooney, Michael Moorer

Comparable opposition:
Ted Gullick: Shavers KO6, Foreman KO2
Ken Norton: Shavers KO1, Foreman KO2
Ron Lyle: TKO'd Shavers in 6, Foreman KO5, both were dropped by Lyle but Foreman showed heart by getting up from the canvas twice to KO Lyle.
Jimmy Young: Shavers TKO3, draw, beat Foreman by UD
Muhammad Ali: beat Shavers by UD, beat Foreman by KO8

Foreman was obviously the better fighter with an amateur background, better technique, a powerful jab, an iron chin, strenght, finishing skills and more stamina. He was also taller and heavier than Shavers.

Shavers didn't have much more than his power, his fight against Ali was his best because he kept his composure and showed better conditioning by going twelve rounds.

Both Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes said Shavers was the hardest hitter they ever faced.

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Shavers' overhand right against Holmes is one of the hardest ever thrown (02:18).

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Shavers KO's Ellis

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Shavers KO's Norton

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Foreman KO's Frazier, Norton, Lyle, Cooney, Moorer

My conclusion: Both hit pretty f***ing hard. :banana:
great post

PeekaBooPooch
03-15-2008, 06:59 PM
Tyson can do some serious spanking thats for sure!
Hard- Bad
Harder- even more bad
Hardest- real bad
What ever,....I think mike Tyson is the hardest hitter of all time!!!

them_apples
03-16-2008, 02:26 AM
Shavers hit harder than foreman no doubt, shavers knew how to punch, foreman didn't.

Tyson should also be in the list, Tyson IMO had more one hit KO power than Foreman simply because he caught guys with his speed.

David Tua seriously needs to be on the list though, David Tua hit's real hard.

catskills23
03-17-2008, 11:47 AM
Tyson can do some serious spanking thats for sure!
Hard- Bad
Harder- even more bad
Hardest- real bad
What ever,....I think mike Tyson is the hardest hitter of all time!!!

Anyonew who thinks that tyson is the hardest puncher is a nuthugger . Do you not know how overrated tysons power is?.

The Iron Man
03-17-2008, 02:06 PM
Tyson wasnt the hardest hitter. But he was very powerful and i dnt think his power is overrated how can it be with 44KOS in 50. He just knocked out people in style hit people with combos (right to the body, then up the middle). He knew the more he hit people the less chance they had of getting up.

mcentepede
03-20-2008, 05:41 PM
Foreman hardest puncher ever, followed by Shavers then Ron Lyle, then Liston. I read somewhere that Shavers had poor stamina and his power dwindled after 5 rounds. Ron Lyle was a ex-con who dropped Foreman twice, remarkable seeing that only Ali ever stopped and dropped George, which was more due to being completely exhausted that being beaten up. George dropped and knocked out Moorer to become champion again at age 45, Moorer still recovering from that one.

OldSkool
03-20-2008, 08:44 PM
oh ****!

wow, i wonder how the hell holmes found the heart and the desire to get up from that murderous right hand.

i know that ****ing right hand was amazing. how the **** did he get up from that. after viewing manchine's evidence i am undecided lol.