Claiming that Sonny Liston punched harder than any other heavyweight?

[SBleeder]

Can it be justified?

I completely believe that Liston hit harder than Foreman; the only man that I could envision hitting with more power than Liston is Earnie Shavers. But does Liston have a good claim for being the hardest-hitting heavyweight who has ever lived?

[young_robbed]

I personally don't think so. Liston didn't really stop anybody to signify that he does hit harder then Shavers, Foreman, etc. He did stop Zora Folley, Mike Dejohn, Wepner, Floyd Patterson twice, and Henry Clark. But he couldn't stop Eddie Machen, who got KO'd in one round by Ingemar Johannson, and by Joe Frazier late in the fight.

He does look like a beast in the majority of his fights though.. Foreman did stop a bunch of big names, so did Shavers. The only guy that you could really say for Liston is Patterson. And he had always shown a weak chin in the past.

Liston is one of my favorites.. And does hit very hard. I think that Shavers and Foreman hit harder though.

[Heavy Bag]

He certainly was a devasting puncher and one of the hardest of all time, P4P the hardest puncher of all time? No, not in my opinion, I'd say Langford, Louis, Wilde, Foreman, Olivares, Jackson, Foreman, to name a few rank above him.

But a top 20 spot on a P4P list and ranking him in a top 10 HW punchers list, is more than reasonable.

His KO highlight reel is amazing. Some devastating KO's with a different array of punchers & combinations. I would recomend watching his KO of Albert Westphal, brutal KO.