Piipino Cuevas the hardest puncher in the ww division?

[marchegianorock]

Was Pipino Cuevas the hardest puncher in the welterweight division? He broke Angel Espada's jaw in 2 pieces and broke 2 ribs in the second fight. He Broke Harold Weston's Jaw. He Broke Again Espada's ribs in the third fight I know could be Tommy Hearns but i do not remember if he broke jaws or ribs. Sugar Ray Robinson i do not recalled if he broke bones. Obviously you do not have to be a tremendous puncher to broke a jaw . If a fighter has the mouth open and receives a good punch could broke the jaw. Like Norton to Ali... Norton and average puncher not a devastating one like Foreman manage to broke Ali's jaw. .

[Controversial]

Certainly a deadly puncher. Only 14 when he turned pro, world champ at 18 with 11 title defences, 10 by stoppage. Pretty impressive. I think Hearns might have the edge though, and Robinson was certainly up there. These debates are always open to interpretation especially when you take quality of opposition into consideration.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

LOL, I was just locked up in a somewhat lengthy argument earlier today with an imbecile in CS who demanded Pipino had a glass jaw. He was definitely a concussive puncher but I would also have to side with Hearns & Robinson. Joe Walcott, Tito & Simon Brown are a couple more off of the top of my head.

[marchegianorock]

In the heavyweight division. Marciano damage and broke Lastarsa's arms bones and veins. Joe Louis broke Schemelling's 2 vertebras.

[Controversial]

In the heavyweight division. Marciano damage and broke Lastarsa's arms bones and veins. Joe Louis broke Schemelling's 2 vertebras.

Ha, are you obsessed with people having bones broken? It isn't difficult to break a bone so not sure it equates to punching power, its happened to plenty of fighters, probably more common than you hear about.

[Rover]

Agree about Hearns and SRR. Curry also deserves a mention--taken the distance twice in his WW defenses by two fighters who were stopped a combined one time (Hwang by Beak, a hard punching former super middle titlist).

[Adamj1987]

I always considered hearns the puncher of the division

[Counter-puncher]

how do people who know better than me rate Cuevas's competition at welter?

[Controversial]

how do people who know better than me rate Cuevas's competition at welter?

This is was I meant by taking quality of opposition into consideration. Many of Cuevas's early opponents are unknown fighters, often a problem with Mexican fighters, with records that can't be verified so it makes things harder. Saying that many older ATG fighters fall into the category of having incomplete records.

I guess his title defences are the only way to really gauge him, he beat some fairly decent fighters (Shields, Weston) but none fall into the category of being all time greats. I don't think he ducked anymore, the title defences were against the best available at this time. Clyde Gray was stopped in 2 and later went 10 rounds with Hearns and Bakkus a former champ albeit on the slide when Cuevas got to him. Campinino another opponent with a decent record on paper (81-4-4-) and on a 38 fight unbeaten run, however again against fighters not really known to most.

Cuevas could certainly crack though, a lot of his wins were by clean KO.

[Counter-puncher]

thanks

[Ezzard]

Cuevas is in the argument

[Ambling Alp]

Cuevas is up there but he probably isn't #1. He did have a tremendous ko record in his title reign. However, he also lost to Andy Price right before he won the title and lost to Roger Stafford not long after he lost it.

I hesitate to bring this up, because some people will probably freak out and this thread will go off track, but Leonard has to be up there. (Cue the )Against very good competition, he stopped 9 out of his last 10 opponents at welterweight. He scored devastating ko's against Price and Davey Boy Green.

Napoles had underrated power. Cokes, Quartey, Trinidad De La Hoya and Mayorga had some pop as well.

Top 5 may be something like this:
1. Hearns
2. Robinson
3. Cuevas
4. Walcott
5. Leonard

There are also some guys who aren't commonly thought of welterweights but were hard hitting punchers for some time in the division; such as Kid McCoy, Georges Carpentier, Mickey Walker and Roberto Duran.

[marchegianorock]

In the heavyweight division. Marciano damage and broke Lastarsa's arms bones and veins. Joe Louis broke Schemelling's 2 vertebras.

Ha, are you obsessed with people having bones broken? It isn't difficult to break a bone so not sure it equates to punching power, its happened to plenty of fighters, probably more common than you hear about.

Well at least when i have heard broken bones, is been caused by ko punchers most of the time.

[The Great John L]

For pure punching power it would be hard to legitimately say that anyone in WW division definitively punched harder than him. The fact that he lost to some less than stellar fighters only makes his power more legitimate because he would hardly be considered a skilled fighter and yet his power was evident despite his somewhat crude skills. It’s a fair bet to say that Hearns and SRR were vastly more skilled, and therefore much more likely to be able to land clean shots on their opponents.

I’m not saying that Cuevas was the hardest puncher, but I don’t see how anyone could make a lucid argument that anyone else clearly punched harder. Cuevas was certainly in the elite class.

[elmersalsa]

Mexico's Pipino Cuevas could really hit. He was one of boxing's pure punchers. A true KO artist that lived and died by the punch. He was a welterweight version of his countryman Alfonso Zamora.

I remember back in 1979 when Cuevas was in the works to fight the great Roberto Duran. Also a fight with the great Sugar Ray Leonard were in the works, but, never materialized. Maybe the great Thomas Hearns, a great puncher in his own right, destroyed those plans.

To me, the best welterweight punchers that I have seen in my lifetime would always be Cuevas, Hearns and Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Man, those guys could hit!

[Rover]

Mexico's Pipino Cuevas could really hit. He was one of boxing's pure punchers. A true KO artist that lived and died by the punch. He was a welterweight version of his countryman Alfonso Zamora.

I remember back in 1979 when Cuevas was in the works to fight the great Roberto Duran. Also a fight with the great Sugar Ray Leonard were in the works, but, never materialized. Maybe the great Thomas Hearns, a great puncher in his own right, destroyed those plans.

To me, the best welterweight punchers that I have seen in my lifetime would always be Cuevas, Hearns and Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Man, those guys could hit!

Leonard/Cuevas didn't happen because the Panama-based WBA wanted Duran to get the shot at Leonard. Pat Putnam discussed this in some detail in a March 1981 article in Sports Illustrated.