tyson hardest puncher in history?

[CubanGuyNYC]

I'm well aware of how boxing works. I could have easily said something like, "Why didn't Vitali knock out glass-chinned Lennox when Rahman and McCall did?" or something equally ******ed. I didn't because I'm well aware that in that particular case Lennox didn't give him the chance to capitalise on his second round flurry, and blocked and deflected a good deal of his later punches whilst landing his own. Against Sanders, Briggs and Arreola Vitali was basically fighting three heavy bags whom, yes, he could load up every punch on without real fear of retalitation. And it was clear he was doing just that. The fact that he wasn't able to put any of them down at least once has to call into serious question his punching power.

Your triangle example has no relevance to my above post.

The bold is eyebrow raising. I concur.

[nomadman]

bowe has 43 wins with 33 KOs
lewis couldn't KO holyfield- neither could tyson but bowe did- no one else KO hoyfield untill 2003
when he fought golota- golota had a perfect record

One can't decide on something like this on just one fight. You have to look at a boxer's entire body of fights to approach an accurate approximation of their power, since so many other factors might be involved regarding why fighter A couldn't KO fighter B but fighter C could etc. Tyson routinely dropped guys with one or two shots. Bowe would take six or seven and multiple knockdowns. Not really comparable IMO.

And Vitali isn't the only man to stop Ross Purritty. Cleveland Woods knocked him out and did so more impressively quite a while before. I agree though that Ross has a great chin.

[RichCCFC]

Zelenoff I believe is the hardest puncher ever.

[CubanGuyNYC]

bowe has 43 wins with 33 KOs
lewis couldn't KO holyfield- neither could tyson but bowe did- no one else KO hoyfield untill 2003
when he fought golota- golota had a perfect record

Remember the human element. These men aren't robots. Some days you feel better than others. Also, a particular blow might just land perfectly. It may never happen again. Maybe on the right day Lewis could KO Holyfield.

[tennis-legend]

1.52 a very teling statement about tyson going for 1 shot KOs

mike tyson had 23 1st round KOs
corrie sanders had 17

[nomadman]

Great post, man.

Force = Mass x Acceleration. I'm no scientist, but I think this formula helps to explain why a relatively small heavyweight like Mike Tyson might generate greater force than much larger men.

Tyson was one of the fastest all-time heavyweights. He was able to put the weight of his body into motion with greater speed than most. It doesn't take too many tapes to realize that Tyson delivered his most crushing blows from the ground up. He was able to coil and drive from his legs and hips very quickly. It was almost frightening to watch him unload a power-punch, even when he missed. You could just feel the wind.

While many other "big punchers" relied on their greater mass, few (if any) could put their heft into motion as quickly as Tyson. If George Foreman could do it, he would've been killing people. Instead, a guy like George would be swinging at air. Tyson landed...with devastating effect.

Cheers.

I agree with a large degree of your post, though I'd be a little careful in applying basic physics equations to a system as complex as the human body. With Tyson his power came from several sources, the legs and hips as you've said, but also an extremely solid upper body and short arms that gave very little upon impact and allowed him to drive his fists through targets with relative ease. That's why I believe comparatively speedy heavyweights like Ali didn't punch as hard, despite being of a similar weight. And also why Foreman was able to punch so hard despite his lack of speed. With Tyson you had the lethal combination of both.

[STRUGG]

he is.................his speed is the clincher....................and his technique is downright awesome...............................

[edgarg]

These are valid statements. I think they go a long way towards explaining Tyson's power versus his peers. Also, in his prime, Tyson could deliver his "100%" shots with greater accuracy than most; and he could recover more quickly when he missed. That's why the KOs were more likely to come early. If the fight wore on, Tyson's ability to engage his muscles with enough speed would naturally be diminished.

Actually, as you may probably have noticed Tyson didn't really need to recover when he missed a punch,. The unique way he was taught meant than when he either delivered or missed a punch, he was immediately by just a slight weight shift, in position to deliver another punch with the other fist, on the return you might say. That was why it often looked like non-stop, or multiple combinations etc.

When I was boxing many years ago, this was one of the things we used to do. More on the bag than in the ring I admit, but that was only a matter of intense practice, or confidence. And, being amateurs, with no intention of ever becoming pros, when we sparred, unless it was a mismatch, just for the exercise, we would go at it like a regular fight. Especially when we had visiting boxers from other clubs who might drop in to train with us.

Laszlo Papp, my favourite boxer, had an amateur record of 301-5. Unbelievable eh?

[jimmy1569]

Mike Tyson was the most explosive puncher of alltime... power times speed element is the best ever.. the speed in which he threw the punches increased the power of it.. opponents cringed when Mike started to load up.. Earnie Shavers put alot of torque into his punches.. Foreman used his upper body strength to club you to death but was nowhere near as fast when delivering the power. Shavers punch just like jOE lOUIS punch might be a tad overrated as they were knocking out guys 20-25 lbs lighter than Tyson.... The Klitschko brothers have some serious wallop when they do throw there money punch which is the right hand.. they use more conssitent power & Vitali doesn't over commit as much but when he does.. his opponents feel the pain.. in terms of accumulation of hard punches throughout a fight.. no one throws more hard shots consistently than Klitschko who varies up the power on his shots from various angles.. he's one of the few heavyweights in history that throws hard punches in bunches throughout a fight.. if he finds you.. you're getting hit & hit hard at that. Iron Mike is the most devestating deliverer of the bomb shot.. the way he delivered his shots generated the most devestation to his opponents when he landed flush & it's not even close.. pound for punching pound Mike is the hardest puncher ever.

[nomadman]

Mike Tyson was the most explosive puncher of alltime... power times speed element is the best ever.. the speed in which he threw the punches increased the power of it.. opponents cringed when Mike started to load up.. Earnie Shavers put alot of torque into his punches.. Foreman used his upper body strength to club you to death but was nowhere near as fast when delivering the power. Shavers punch just like jOE lOUIS punch might be a tad overrated as they were knocking out guys 20-25 lbs lighter than Tyson.... The Klitschko brothers have some serious wallop when they do throw there money punch which is the right hand.. they use more conssitent power & Vitali doesn't over commit as much but when he does.. his opponents feel the pain.. in terms of accumulation of hard punches throughout a fight.. no one throws more hard shots consistently than Klitschko who varies up the power on his shots from various angles.. he's one of the few heavyweights in history that throws hard punches in bunches throughout a fight.. if he finds you.. you're getting hit & hit hard at that. Iron Mike is the most devestating deliverer of the bomb shot.. the way he delivered his shots generated the most devestation to his opponents when he landed flush & it's not even close.. pound for punching pound Mike is the hardest puncher ever.

Agreed with a good deal of your post except for the last part. Mike's power came from his unique combination of blistering speed, explosiveness, and raw strength, coupled with a squat body, aggressive killer instinct that went for it 100% and superb ingrained technique on pretty much every power punch he threw. When he put everything together, and he frequently did, he was capable of delivering some of the single hardest shots in history. Of course that meant that if anything went wrong his power suffered as a result, but if we're just measuring one punch ability here I seriously can't see too many competitors in that department.

You raise a good point about Foreman and Vitali. Both men generated their power from their size and raw strength, and both men tended to arm punch, meaning they were mostly engaging only the top half of their bodies. This allowed them to punch with consistently heavy shots throughout the course of a fight, which might result in later round knockouts via accumulation where a fighter like Tyson suffers in that departement. Foreman also possessed great stability in frame, meaning his punches, whilst slow, would just drive straight through the mass of his opponents as though they weren't even there. That's one aspect where I think Foreman reigns supreme.

Tua was a weird combination of both puncher types, explosive and fast but also strong as a mofo. That's why his punches had such a sickening effect on his opponents at any stage of a fight, and why I consider him the hardest puncher of all time.