Who was the hardest punching Middleweight Ever?

[McGoorty]

also, even at mw, and especially at jr mw, hearns has got to be in the equation

he had true one punch power with the hook to the body or the head (terrific punch. horribly underrated weapon.)
and maybe the best right hand ever thrown

robinson is in the same boat here
he'd likely be among best ever at 154, if he's consensus best ww at all time, and consensus top 3 (5 at the least) at mw.

he had one punch power with either hand at MW, no reason to think it wouldn't be there at 54, unless they were fighting in the twilight zone


MW in my opinion is where the magic happens most for punching. at or around MW

the guys have the chin and the speed to sustain action
but there are still guys with enough power to cause the drama, for every second of every round, that comes with the possibility of a fight ending or turning on one shot.


and if you line a regular guy up in front of a flyweight and have him take his sunday punch he's probably staying upright, or at least conscious
if you do that with a big MW with punching power you're flooring it to the hospital with a half dead man in your backseat

there's an appeal there, especially with the layperson

there have been some absolute slugfests at MW

It is my favourite division... but of course, I am biased....... it's Darcy's division, I can compare him to even the moderns like Hopkins and Roy Jones (like Roy he was big enough to fight LHW comfortably, and had the chin to make it with any LHW)....... also it has Robinson, Zale, Basilio, Hagler, Greb, Steele, Basilio, Fullmer, Sands, LaMotta, Fitzsimmons, Kid McCoy, Burley...... and on and on and on. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BUT !!!!..... I can't say with any certainty that it is the All-Time BEST division...... The Welterweights and Lightweights are also major contenders,.......... It would take time to compile a list of the top 100 in all the best divisions.......... the one with the most impressive top 100, will be THE ONE. I mean there are at least 50 or more GREATS in the WW and LW divisions. I admit that the lightweights are probably the most exciting,...... they have oodles of speed and some like Lew Jenkins hit so hard that they dropped lightHeavyweights and OUT in sparring sessions................................ IT's a tough call,,,,,,, but it's out of the MW, WW & LW's.

[SCtrojansbaby]

Yeah but there is plenty of footage of the 50's,........ miles and miles of film with live commentary. I never even hear you talk about anybody from the 50's,...... I just get frustrated by short posts with the same usual suspects. It's fine to have your favourites, but is there anything wrong with looking around for other fighters TO ADD TO THE ONES YOU LIKE ALREADY. I have favourites too, but I want to hear about fighters that I know little about....... I'm always trying to expand. Have you never picked up a book about old fights and just read ?????...... it's fun and educational.

Can you show me at least 5 full fights of Carmen Basillo or Bob Fitzsimmons or Stanley Ketchel or anyone else you want me to talk about and at least 1 other fight that the opponents in those 5 fights were in. You do that I promise I will take an interest in them

[dan_cov]

Not on the list or even been mentioned, what about Marvin Hagler? Hagler had a hell of a punch on him!
I wouldn't say him personally just a bit shocked nobody mentioned him as IMO his power is right up there & the the opposition he was knocking out was as good if not better than most/all those guys.


For me it's between the G-man & Hearns. I think I am probably going to go with the G-man.

[McGoorty]

Can you show me at least 5 full fights of Carmen Basillo or Bob Fitzsimmons or Stanley Ketchel or anyone else you want me to talk about and at least 1 other fight that the opponents in those 5 fights were in. You do that I promise I will take an interest in them

Fitzsimmons ?????... of course not, but why not just read a little bit about him, he's very important in the scheme of things................... But yes there are at least 7 Full Basilio fights,..... after all his career was covered very well as he was there in the TELEVISION ERA when Pabst Beer was always on there with ads and everything. I have seen full fights or virtually full fights with Carmen against Robinson in two fights, every second of all 30 rounds, The two full fights with Tony DeMarco, 4 rounds of the Saxton fight, The full fight with Gavilan....... two full fights with Gene Fullmer,... and ditto the fight with Chuck Davey, Peter Mueller, Billy Graham and Art Aragon...................... Fullmer has a lot of fights....... Robinson's MW career has over 12 at least full fights............ -------------------------------------- IS THAT ENOUGH FOR YOU ???????........ They are all downloaded onto my computer.

[Rspen46]

Darcy's power was nowhere near top 10, I would not even rate him top 20 in Power and he fought mostly in Australia, so talk about a guy you could not gage, he definitely qualifies.

[Rspen46]

Jackson had some excellent MW power and probably top 10 for sure, but not #1 or top 5 even, but top 10 yes, most of his devasting power were at JMW when he moved, from what I've seen on film and read from experts, he lost a fair amount of that power when he moved up, but still awesome, I would rate him on par with Hearns at MW.

[Rspen46]

I would rate Robinson at MW just above Hearns & J. Jackson at MW, but at JMW I Robinson would probably pick up a bit more power as he moved closer to his best weight at WW but at JMW I would give Jackson the nod over RObinson. it does not seem like it and many don't believe it, but they do lose or gain depending on the weight they move up or down in, a great like Robinson would for example on a scale of 10 in power I would rate a 9 at WW and and an 8 at JMW and a very high 7 at MW. Jackson I give a 10 at JMW and at MW a solid 7, I just think he lost a good deal of power moving up.

[Rspen46]

You take an interest in all - time greats because of what is written about them by the people that saw them fight and that took the time to detail their fights and what they saw in comparison to other fighters they also got to see, some over many years, and then their records and competetion, that's why most intelligent Boxing fans and experts take an interest, LES DARCY won only the MW Title of his own country, no way you can judge him as you have no clue on the competition he fought there, 2 fights with Jeff Smith does not tell you a thing, and even against weak Australian competition his KO was not phenomenal, which it should have been there, if he had the power you speak of.

[Rspen46]

I rate Hagler & Hearns & J. Jackson all close to the same in power at MW, Hagler hit hard with both Hands, none of the 3 would be top 5, but definitely top 10.

[Rspen46]

His Ko's were generated from great speed & quickness with good Solid Power, but not power equal to the top 10.