25 Hardest Punching Heavyweights Who Never Won A Title
25 Hardest Punching Heavyweights Who Never Won A Title
Who,In Your Opinion,Are The 25 Hardest One Punch K.O Artists Who Never Won A Title In The Heavyweight Division.
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dempseyfire
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 5534
- Joined: 29 Oct 2003, 22:56
McCall's power is over-rated. He can crack, but anyone who goes the distance with Dave Jaco is not one of the elite punchers in history. Masgaev hits harder and I don't see him as an elite puncher either.
The following would be though:
Earnie Shavers (obviously)
Cleveland Williams
Razor Ruddock
David Tua
Mike DeJohn
Elmer Ray
Fred Fulton
Tommy Gomez
The following would be though:
Earnie Shavers (obviously)
Cleveland Williams
Razor Ruddock
David Tua
Mike DeJohn
Elmer Ray
Fred Fulton
Tommy Gomez
..glad to see dempseyfire list elmer ray, who is seldom mentioned in any commentarty these days. add curtis hatchetman sheppard. broke a guy's collarbone in one fight and laid the only kayo on joey maxim in the latter's career.
tony galento could bang with his left hook...nat fleischer rated it as one of the most powerful he'd seen.
lee Q murray is another who could punch pretty good.
all i can think of offhand.
tony galento could bang with his left hook...nat fleischer rated it as one of the most powerful he'd seen.
lee Q murray is another who could punch pretty good.
all i can think of offhand.
re
One of my favorite topics...off the top of my head:
Pat Killen
Earnie Shavers
Mike Cleary
Peter Maher
Tom Sharkey
Joe Goddard
Sam Langford
Soldier Kearns
"Bombardier" Billy Wells
"Fighting" Bob Martin
Sam McVey
"Tiger" Jack Fox
George Godfrey
Lem Franklin
Charley Retzlaff
Curtis Sheppard
Art Lasky
Isadore Gastanaga
Pat Comiskey
Tommy Gomez
Bob Satterfield
Earl Walls
Leroy Haynes
Lee Q. Murray
Elamer Ray
Mac Foster
Cleveland Williams
Tony Galento
Bill Brennan
Fred Fulton
Dick Matthews
Harry Laing
Peter Jackson
Ron Lyle
David Tua
Tommy Morrison
Gerry Cooney
Bernardo Mercado
Pat Killen
Earnie Shavers
Mike Cleary
Peter Maher
Tom Sharkey
Joe Goddard
Sam Langford
Soldier Kearns
"Bombardier" Billy Wells
"Fighting" Bob Martin
Sam McVey
"Tiger" Jack Fox
George Godfrey
Lem Franklin
Charley Retzlaff
Curtis Sheppard
Art Lasky
Isadore Gastanaga
Pat Comiskey
Tommy Gomez
Bob Satterfield
Earl Walls
Leroy Haynes
Lee Q. Murray
Elamer Ray
Mac Foster
Cleveland Williams
Tony Galento
Bill Brennan
Fred Fulton
Dick Matthews
Harry Laing
Peter Jackson
Ron Lyle
David Tua
Tommy Morrison
Gerry Cooney
Bernardo Mercado
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Marciano Frazier
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 326
- Joined: 29 Jul 2003, 13:13
Elmer "Violent" Ray was a murderous puncher. Leading up to his 1946 SD win over Jersey Joe Walcott(note that he pulled off close decisions over both Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles in their primes ), Ray registered 17 consecutive knockouts, only one of which went out of the first five rounds, that being a ninth-round KO of durable Arthur McApline(the only time McAlpine was ever stopped), and including a two-round destruction of Lee Savold, a top 10 heavyweight who hadn't been stopped in five years and 39 fights, which included fights with almost all the top heavyweights in the division at the time(Bivins, Mauriello, Baksi, Conn, etc.).
In fact, I think Ray was probably one of the best heavyweights never to win the title, period. The man won over 50 fights in a row in the mid-40's, including one over Jersey Joe Walcott, lost a split decision to Walcott in a rematch, then scored seven more consecutive wins, including a win over Ezzard Charles, before being stopped in nine by Charles in a rematch. Ray's prime record from 1944-1948 stands at at least 59-2 with 52 KO's, probably with another three or four unrecorded knockout wins! Of course most of those were against no-names, but Ray was heavily avoided, and you can't fight top guys all the time when you're fighting that darn often.
In 1946-1948, Ray went 2-2 with Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles, immediately before each of them burst into the heavyweight title scene and went on to become champions.
As I understand it, Ray was not only an electrifying knockout puncher, particularly with his left, but also had a strong defense and good combination punching, and his only serious flaw was a lack of durability. He was ranked in the top 2 heavyweight contenders from 1946-mid 1948, but never received a title shot, probably the most deserving challenger in Joe Louis' era who never got a crack at the championship.
Why is it that Elmer "Violent" Ray has been so erased from memory? There are all sorts of blatantly inferior contenders who've received far more press and attention than Ray has. The more information I dig up on him, the more impressed I become. He strikes me, as I said, as one of the best heavyweights never to win the title, and as one of the best kept secrets in the history of the heavyweight division.
In fact, I think Ray was probably one of the best heavyweights never to win the title, period. The man won over 50 fights in a row in the mid-40's, including one over Jersey Joe Walcott, lost a split decision to Walcott in a rematch, then scored seven more consecutive wins, including a win over Ezzard Charles, before being stopped in nine by Charles in a rematch. Ray's prime record from 1944-1948 stands at at least 59-2 with 52 KO's, probably with another three or four unrecorded knockout wins! Of course most of those were against no-names, but Ray was heavily avoided, and you can't fight top guys all the time when you're fighting that darn often.
In 1946-1948, Ray went 2-2 with Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles, immediately before each of them burst into the heavyweight title scene and went on to become champions.
As I understand it, Ray was not only an electrifying knockout puncher, particularly with his left, but also had a strong defense and good combination punching, and his only serious flaw was a lack of durability. He was ranked in the top 2 heavyweight contenders from 1946-mid 1948, but never received a title shot, probably the most deserving challenger in Joe Louis' era who never got a crack at the championship.
Why is it that Elmer "Violent" Ray has been so erased from memory? There are all sorts of blatantly inferior contenders who've received far more press and attention than Ray has. The more information I dig up on him, the more impressed I become. He strikes me, as I said, as one of the best heavyweights never to win the title, and as one of the best kept secrets in the history of the heavyweight division.
re
I would love to see someone take on the task of researching Elmer Ray's early career as his record through the 1930s is missing many, many unrecorded bouts...at least thats what I am assuming considering when he started and also considering how much fighters fought back in that era. It would be a hard career to research because so little is known about his early career and it would be hard to get a lead as to where he fought most out of (his home town), but it would be well worth the time.
elmer ray was a damn good fighter. however...when joe louis was on an exhibition tour... either whjen joe was in the army or after wwII.....he and ray engaged in an exhibition match. ray got a little frisky and clouted joe a good one....and louis promptly flattened him. not taking anything away from ray.....as this was when the bomber was still not all that far from his prime.
an oddity about the first fight with charles...two judges had it for ray..one judge had it 8 to 2 for charles. i never heard ezzard talk about this one. however, he was still really a light heavy and making his new york test to see how he would do with the heavyweights. it was this win over charles that gave ray the ring magazine number one rating, as ezzard was beating everybody at this time...light heavies and heavies. ray was in his mid to late thirties when this fight took place.
ring magazine had charles winning by a wide decision.....and i recall a new york paper calling the decision for ray a farce.
ezzard's people said "this was uncle mike's (jacobs) way of showing who ran the heavieweight division in new york"....but even i can't take this as an unbiased statement, and it was said by freinds of mine.
an oddity about the first fight with charles...two judges had it for ray..one judge had it 8 to 2 for charles. i never heard ezzard talk about this one. however, he was still really a light heavy and making his new york test to see how he would do with the heavyweights. it was this win over charles that gave ray the ring magazine number one rating, as ezzard was beating everybody at this time...light heavies and heavies. ray was in his mid to late thirties when this fight took place.
ring magazine had charles winning by a wide decision.....and i recall a new york paper calling the decision for ray a farce.
ezzard's people said "this was uncle mike's (jacobs) way of showing who ran the heavieweight division in new york"....but even i can't take this as an unbiased statement, and it was said by freinds of mine.
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Rory McCloskey
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1042
- Joined: 29 Jun 2005, 13:11
Galento was a pretty good fighter. He wasnt "pretty" but he got the job done. He wasnt just some schmo who came off the street either. He had been an amateur middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight champion of New Jersey, in addition to beating some very good contenders and being a punch away from winning the HW title from one of its greatest champs.
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Marciano Frazier
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 326
- Joined: 29 Jul 2003, 13:13
Jaclem wrote:elmer ray was a damn good fighter. however...when joe louis was on an exhibition tour... either whjen joe was in the army or after wwII.....he and ray engaged in an exhibition match. ray got a little frisky and clouted joe a good one....and louis promptly flattened him. not taking anything away from ray.....as this was when the bomber was still not all that far from his prime.
an oddity about the first fight with charles...two judges had it for ray..one judge had it 8 to 2 for charles. i never heard ezzard talk about this one. however, he was still really a light heavy and making his new york test to see how he would do with the heavyweights. it was this win over charles that gave ray the ring magazine number one rating, as ezzard was beating everybody at this time...light heavies and heavies. ray was in his mid to late thirties when this fight took place.
ring magazine had charles winning by a wide decision.....and i recall a new york paper calling the decision for ray a farce.
ezzard's people said "this was uncle mike's (jacobs) way of showing who ran the heavieweight division in new york"....but even i can't take this as an unbiased statement, and it was said by freinds of mine.
That was in March of '49 when Louis and Ray were past their primes and had both recently retired as professionals.elmer ray was a damn good fighter. however...when joe louis was on an exhibition tour... either whjen joe was in the army or after wwII.....he and ray engaged in an exhibition match. ray got a little frisky and clouted joe a good one....and louis promptly flattened him. not taking anything away from ray.....as this was when the bomber was still not all that far from his prime.
Yes, it's interesting, Ray was already in his early '30s when he came into the top 10 in the division. He had a pretty shaky start to his career, probably caused in large part by his skin color and the fact that he turned pro at 16 without getting the proper grooming, but he certainly came up strong for a few years in there.it was this win over charles that gave ray the ring magazine number one rating, as ezzard was beating everybody at this time...light heavies and heavies. ray was in his mid to late thirties when this fight took place.
True. I have read it was a very controversial decision, but still impressive considering who he was in with and when- Charles was tearing through everyone at this time and proceeded to beat a slew of other top heavyweights and light heavyweights over the next couple years after that fight. His only loss between his coming back from the army and losing to Walcott was the first Ray fight. I wish this fight(or any other Elmer Ray fight, for that matter) existed on tape, but it doesn't seem to.ring magazine had charles winning by a wide decision.....and i recall a new york paper calling the decision for ray a farce.
ezzard's people said "this was uncle mike's (jacobs) way of showing who ran the heavieweight division in new york"....but even i can't take this as an unbiased statement, and it was said by freinds of mine.
marciano frazier...thanks for the time of the louis/ray exhibition. i knew it happened but couldn't remember when. the bomber had a few similar incidents in his exhibtions....he'd settle for just doing that...an exhibition..but on a few occasions the other guy would get too frisky..and timber. one was tommy gomez...can't recall another i'm thinking of.
yeah...it's so frustrating when we think of all those fights and fighters for which there are no visual records. i've seen ezzard a lot , of course, but know of elmer ray just through second hand reports and i hear he could really be something when the stars were aligned in his favor....and i still kick myself for not asking charles about him.....but then, getting ezzard to talk about his fights was not easy.
thanks for the additional interesting comments.
yeah...it's so frustrating when we think of all those fights and fighters for which there are no visual records. i've seen ezzard a lot , of course, but know of elmer ray just through second hand reports and i hear he could really be something when the stars were aligned in his favor....and i still kick myself for not asking charles about him.....but then, getting ezzard to talk about his fights was not easy.
thanks for the additional interesting comments.