Who are the biggest one punch KO artists in each division ever?

[Chepppaaa]

It’s really tough to identify the biggest puncher in super-middleweight history!

There were quite a few so-called big punchers that briefly "passed through" the division, but none that I can think of that actually competed there in the long-term.

The vast majority of Nigel Benn's world title fights were fought in that division, but apart from Gerald McClellan, I struggle to pick any hugely impressive KO's over any big names (as he was a bigger puncher at 160lbs).

Whilst Carl Froch truly does carry the proverbial equaliser in his right hand (as we saw against Groves & Taylor), his KO ratio is moderate at best (even though he's faced opponents of the highest calibre).

Joe Calzaghe used to be extremely heavy-handed for a brief spell during his career, but his hands became brittle, which led to a slight change in style, as he started “slapping” his punches for most of his title reign.

Mikkel Kessler, Sven Ottke, Markus Beyer & Richie Woodhall weren't big punchers either (as in one-punch KO artists).

Lucian Bute was “technically” a big puncher, but I felt that he was carefully-matched and utterly out-bombed by Carl Froch. This also applies to Jeff Lacy, as he was dominated in embarrassing fashion by Joe Calzaghe.

Roy Jones Jr scored a handful of KO’s at 168lbs, but the calibre of opponents that he stopped at that weight can only be described as moderate at best.

I’m going to have to pick Carl Froch, because he has consistently faced the very best in his division, rather than whooping second-tier opposition (like Bute did), yet still managed to score a few devastating KO’s.

mc clellan, benn, abraham and adonis come to my mind.

yes, abraham is technicly limited at sm, i know, but we talk pure power and abraham was a monster at sm powerwise, ward said "he has bricks in his hands", just watch the taylor end, brutal one punch power. also adonis at sm was just wrecking people left and right. i think between those 4, other dont come to my mind.

Adonis Stevenson didn’t achieve anything as a super-middleweight, apart from being KO’d himself inside two rounds. He might have scored a lot of KO’s as a 168lb-er, but the calibre of opposition he stopped could only be described as second-tier at best.

I already mentioned Nigel Benn, but apart from Gerald McClellan, I really struggle to pick any hugely impressive KO's over any big names (as he was a bigger puncher at 160lbs). The thing is… Benn wore down McClellan and forced the stoppage rather than demonstrate sheer devastating punching power.

I feel that Gerald McClellan was a bit like Julian Jackson, because any ambitious granite-jawed fighter that made it past the sixth round, probably had an excellent chance of scoring a victory over ‘The G-Man’. And just to be clear, when I say “granite-jawed”, I really do mean that the man had to posess freakish durability, much like Chris Eubank Sr.

You mention Gerald McClellan, but he got KO’d by Nigel Benn in the only recognisable 168lb opponent he faced, as none of the other super-middleweights he fought (and there were only a few) could be considered as world-class. So that rules him out of contention.

Arthur Abraham is not a big-punching super-middleweight. Like Nigel Benn, he was a better puncher at 160lbs.

you talk nonsense. 1 time power and achieving things have nothing much in commun. bailey is like one of the biggest puncher ever, but didnt achieve a lot againt higher quality opposition, simply because he wasnt as good as he was a puncher, than in other factors of boxing like footwork and overall skills iq.

you act like abraham or adonis were not super big punchers at sm, like sm had so many big punchers above them, nonsense.

adonis has pure big time power, 1 time power, regardless of sm or lh.

abrahams ko over taylor was arguably the best 1 time sleep ko the division has ever seen. he was technicly limited and than couldnt beat the top guys, who were taller and more skilled than him, but in terms of punching power he is up there at the top, maybe even #1


froch landed his best picture perfect shot at groves and groves got up

when abraham landed a picture perfect punch, than his opponent like taylor went to sleep for 60 secondes

abraham power > froch power

[Boxing Writer]

update

HW Lewis (weighed way more than foremon, put his whole weight better into a punch)
CW Kudryashov (nobody knows about the guy, but i have never seen somebody which such a devasting punching power at C)
LH Stevenson (dawson fight says it all, rare punching power)
SM Abraham (taylor fight)
MW Jackson (the biggest puncher ever)
SW Jackson (the biggest puncher ever)
WW Hearns (all he did was KO at ww)
SL Bailey (the #3 overall p4p ever)
LW Valero (the #2 overall p4p ever)
SF Valero (the #2 overall p4p ever)
FW Prince (83 % KO ratio)
SB Prince (a terror at sb)
BW Olivares (great power)
SF Galaxy (just him come to my mind)
FW Pacquiao (left people flat on their back, rare power)
LW Gonzales (not many come to my mind besides)
MW Lopez (tremendous power)

I don't think Lewis even belongs to the top-3 hardest punchers in the history of the HW division. Phil Jackson who fought him and Wlad said Wlad hit harder with both hands, Steward who trained both said Wlad hit harder and there was a quote from a guy that sparred with both Lewis and Wlad, and he also said Wlad hit harder. Mercer as well. Also, old Forman's punches did more damage to the prime Holyfield than prime Lewis' did to the old Holyfield. Lewis never come close to knocking down Holyfield or Mercer with his best punches (and he landed a lot of them), and while they both had great chins, they were knocked down by others fighters before and after the fight with Lewis.

Also, Abraham doesn't seems to be a top-puncher in the SMW division. He had great power in the MW, but when was the last time he knocked anybody out? I think prime Roy Jones could be considered as one of the hardest punchers ever in the SMW division.

I don't think it's a bad thread, it's quite interesting, but I have to say it's impossible to rank top punchers even by the era, let alone in the history. Plus, there are some guys, who may very well be the hardest punchers in their respective divisions, but people just don't know or forgot about them. Like Ezra Sellers in the CW, for example.

[The Great John L]

...even prime samuel peter.... i mean...

Sam Peter?? Please complete your sentence because I have no idea exactly what you mean. Specifically, what world class HWs did Peter ever knockout? Everybody remembers the highlight reel KO of the somewhat chin challenged Jeremy WIlliams, but there really isn't much else in his resume to support him as a huge puncher. Once he started fighting better fighters he started going lots of rounds and his vaunted punches started looking more like the slow, looping mostly arm punches that they actually were.

Peter is probably one of the most over-rated punchers in the history of the HW division.

samuel was technicly limited, therefore better opposition beat him by taking him to the technical road.

but in terms of raw power, he was a big 1 time puncher, just an overall big man and yes his punches were looping and wild, but not slow, until he fought wlad he punches were wild, fast and very destructive.

He landed plenty of punches on fringe guys like Hawkins and McCline with little affect. He looked like a huge puncher against journeymen and club fighters and then showed virtually nothing against anyone with a pulse. To even mention him in a discussion of the hardest punching HWs of all time, and imply that he could punch even remotely as hard as Foreman or Shavers is indefensible.

And your attempt at comparing his weight to Foreman and Shavers is even sillier. Peter weighed 250 because he was about 25-30 pounds overweight. When Foreman came back and weighed 250+ do you think the excess weight made him a harder puncher than the younger Foreman?

And lastly -- you really think Peter was fast? Are you serious?

[The Great John L]

Personally-speaking, I don’t recognise a fighter as being a “big puncher” until they’ve demonstrated their power at the highest level.

Exactly. Otherwise, we should have to consider Lamar Clark as the hardest punching HW of all time.

[Chepppaaa]

peter wasnt super fast, but in his prime his swinging hooks came fast at you. no super speed, but fast.

peters power only effective against journeyman, but wlad ended up 3 times on the canvas and was near being kod.

[Chepppaaa]

Personally-speaking, I don’t recognise a fighter as being a “big puncher” until they’ve demonstrated their power at the highest level.

So if you want to consider second tier fighters that either failed to make the grade at world-level or unproven contenders, but yet they scored an awful lot of KO’s against carefully-matched journeymen, then that’s you’re prerogative. And I’m not referring to any particular fighter when I say that.

The topic of discussion in your thread is the “biggest one punch KO artists in each division ever”. So when I claim that both Stevenson and Abraham weren’t “big punchers” at 168lbs, it’s in the context of “historical” accomplishments and I have to be more critical, as we’re talking about the “greatest punchers ever” rather than typical run-of-the-mill fighters.

Put it this way, Abraham rarely stops his opponents at 168lbs and Stevenson only knocked out second-tier super-middleweight opposition. Adonis has since proved his devastating power at 175lbs and Arthur did it at 160lbs, but neither man clearly demonstrated their ability to score KO’s at the highest level at 168lbs.[/quote]

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

you are contradicting yourself.

you say froch is the biggest puncher at sm, but he did not prove himself at the highest level of opposition, did he KO ward?

abraham ko'd taylor at 168, froch tko'd bute and groves. bute, groves and taylor are prety much on the same level, so where did bute did so much better?

I say it again, froch tkos guys and that try to make the count, abraham when he lands a clear shot, they went to sleep. bute was standing tkod, groves was trying to get up after 5 secondes.

you does not seem the difference between 1 punch ko and been put to sleep for 10 secondes + and a tko

[Chepppaaa]

You say this...

peters power only effective against journeyman

But then you also say that...

you talk nonsense. 1 time power and achieving things have nothing much in commun. bailey is like one of the biggest puncher ever, but didnt achieve a lot againt higher quality opposition, simply because he wasnt as good as he was a puncher, than in other factors of boxing like footwork and overall skills iq.

do you understand irony.

peter has no power, but wlad ends up 3 times on his back, you get the point.

[IRLangmaid25]

For me

Heavyweight: Toss up between Foreman and Tyson.
Cruiserweight: David Haye
Light Heavyweight; Currently Kovalev but potentially Beterbiev
Super-Middleweight: Not sure
Middleweight: Jullian Jackson and Gerald McClellan
Light-Middle: John Mugabi and Terry Norris
Welterweight: Tommy Hearns
Light-Welter: Not sure
Lightweight: Roberto Duran

[Chepppaaa]

For me

Heavyweight: Toss up between Foreman and Tyson.
Cruiserweight: David Haye
Light Heavyweight; Currently Kovalev but potentially Beterbiev
Super-Middleweight: Not sure
Middleweight: Jullian Jackson and Gerald McClellan
Light-Middle: John Mugabi and Terry Norris
Welterweight: Tommy Hearns
Light-Welter: Not sure
Lightweight: Roberto Duran

tyson was to light

good point on beterbiev

did you know julian jackson was the same monster at 154 than he was at middleweight. jj had 100 % ko ratio is something liek 37 fights at 154, i think he had more power than anybody else at 154 ever

[HyacinthusTurnipseed]

I actually think Bute is #1 at SMW: his "second-tier" opponents were all between 6-20 (or thereabouts) at the time he beat them - Magee, Andrade, Mendy, Miranda is as good a collection of one-punch KOs as anyone in the division - certainly > than "Groves, Mack" or "Taylor, Miranda".

A couple of "old-timey" suggestions:

Jimmy Wilde for Flyweight - hard to get a gauge on his competition (was it necessarily inferior to Pac's Flyweight comp?) but the one thing he definitely has is power. Weighing well under 108lbs and KOing 99 of the best Flyweights, Bantamweights and Featherweights of the day speaks for itself.

Bob Fitzsimmons - maybe can't usurp Jackson at 160 and no chance against the best at heavyweight but as he delivered the most famous one-punch KO in boxing history ("Hit him in the slats, Bob!") is at least worthy of a mention.

Also, what about Nonito Donaire at Fly, SuperFly and Bantam? Again, maybe just a lick below the actual best at each weight but those Darchinyan and Montiel left hooks were sickening.

Tyson is worth mentioning at Heavyweight - light or not the demonstrated effects of his punching power speaks for itself.

[Chepppaaa]

Personally-speaking, I don’t recognise a fighter as being a “big puncher” until they’ve demonstrated their power at the highest level.

So if you want to consider second tier fighters that either failed to make the grade at world-level or unproven contenders, but yet they scored an awful lot of KO’s against carefully-matched journeymen, then that’s you’re prerogative. And I’m not referring to any particular fighter when I say that.

The topic of discussion in your thread is the “biggest one punch KO artists in each division ever”. So when I claim that both Stevenson and Abraham weren’t “big punchers” at 168lbs, it’s in the context of “historical” accomplishments and I have to be more critical, as we’re talking about the “greatest punchers ever” rather than typical run-of-the-mill fighters.

Put it this way, Abraham rarely stops his opponents at 168lbs and Stevenson only knocked out second-tier super-middleweight opposition. Adonis has since proved his devastating power at 175lbs and Arthur did it at 160lbs, but neither man clearly demonstrated their ability to score KO’s at the highest level at 168lbs.

you are contradicting yourself.

you say froch is the biggest puncher at sm, but he did not prove himself at the highest level of opposition, did he KO ward?

abraham ko'd taylor at 168, froch tko'd bute and groves. bute, groves and taylor are prety much on the same level, so where did bute did so much better?

I say it again, froch tkos guys and that try to make the count, abraham when he lands a clear shot, they went to sleep. bute was standing tkod, groves was trying to get up after 5 secondes.

you does not seem the difference between 1 punch ko and been put to sleep for 10 secondes + and a tko

I’d say that Froch has consistently faced top level opposition and his stoppages over the likes of George Groves, Lucian Bute, Jermain Taylor, Robin Reid & Brian Magee were fairly impressive in nature.

I’m not saying that Froch is the modern day super-middleweight equivalent of Julian Jackson, but in the context of the rankings of George Groves, Lucian Bute & Jermain Taylor at the time he fought them, they were considered at the very pinnacle the 168lb division had to offer, with the notable exception of Andre Ward.

Wasn’t Lucian Bute rated second in the division behind only Andre Ward in 2011? Wasn’t George Groves in the top five? Didn’t Froch ruin Jermain Taylor before Abraham got to him six months later, which meant that he was rated higher when Carl fought him? The American was in a much better place in his career when the Brit fought him, whilst he was a mere shell of his former self when he lost to Abraham?

That’s the problem… your entire argument is based on one fight, because Arthur Abraham has only scored one KO over a legitimate top-ten 168lb-er throughout the entire 5½ career as a super-middleweight… and this was mainly because Carl Froch had already “ruined” Jermain Taylor beforehand.

Personally-speaking, I don’t believe that there has ever been a truly world-class one-punch KO specialist in the 168lb division, so I supplied my thoughts on the heaviest handed fighter instead.

that one fight showed enough in terms of power. it showed when aa lands clean hard you sleep and when froch lands clean hard on groves, than groves trys to come back after 5 secondes. that simply is no 1 punch ko artist, when you land your best shot and than the boxer where you landed your best shot isnt put to sleep.

you think there werent any truly world class one punch hitter?

been, aa, adonis and a new kid named vincent feigenbutz. he got 0 technic, but he bangs with the best, rare power.

[Chepppaaa]

that one fight showed enough in terms of power. it showed when aa lands clean hard you sleep and when froch lands clean hard on groves, than groves trys to come back after 5 secondes. that simply is no 1 punch ko artist, when you land your best shot and than the boxer where you landed your best shot isnt put to sleep.

you think there werent any truly world class one punch hitter?

been, aa, adonis and a new kid named vincent feigenbutz. he got 0 technic, but he bangs with the best, rare power.

Froch and Pavlik had already “ruined” Jermain well before Abraham dominated and scored a one-punch KO over a completely shot Taylor, which is approaching six years ago and Arthur has failed to score a significant stoppage over any top-ten 168lb opposition since.

In stark contrast, even a past-his-prime version of Carl Froch continued to score stoppages during the final stages of his career.

Do you not recall the manner in which Froch dominated Abraham when they fought? Arthur didn’t show any power whatsoever during that bout… in fact, I don’t think he even won a single round!

The other guys you mention haven't (or didn't) achieve anything at super-middleweight, so they're not worthy for consideration.

he came in shape and wasnt totaly shot by any means, he was winning the fight on points.

arthur was old against froch, a total different version of what he used to be.

you still dont get it, its not what you achieved at a weight, its about what 1 punch power punch you had at that weight. my thread is not about record or who fought better guys.

bailey never won big things at ww, lost against hurtado, cotto etc., but still he is considered one of the biggest 1 punch hitters ever at that weight, simply because he had that pop.

[Chepppaaa]

[Taylor] came in shape and wasnt totaly shot by any means, [Taylor] was winning the fight on points.

No he wasn't. All the scorecards favoured Arthur Abraham (i.e. Guido Cavalleri 107-102; Stanley Christodoulou 105-103; and Craig Metcalfe 106-102).

hometown soup, was a lot closer.

still, taylor was in tip top shape.

[Impractical Poster]

No love for Joe Louis?

[Chepppaaa]

No love for Joe Louis?

to light

[JeanClaude Van Damme]

Regardless, the title of the thread says "ever".

One KO over some past prime dude doesn't matter. Edison Miranda had way more raw punching power than Abraham.

[Old Jack J]

Butterbean? D

[Ettt9350]

Jimmy Wilde was the hardest punching Flyweight ever, and in the the top 10 p4p hardest punchers ever in my opinion.

[Baby Face Finster]

Jimmy Wilde was the hardest punching Flyweight ever, and in the the top 10 p4p hardest punchers ever in my opinion.

I just posted this then had to delete it when I saw your post above mine.

[Syntax Error]

This probably won't be a popular view, but I believe Lennox Lewis hits harder shot for shot than anybody, if we're just talking about one punch.

thats why the heavyweight division is so damn hard to rate.

you got boxers like foremon, who had tremendous power, but were very robotic and often didnt put the whole body weight into the punch
than you got lewis, who were way heavier than foremon and on top technicly better and therefore, put his whole body weight into punches, i mean his hook on rahman, this was brutal, look at foremon punching frazier, but frazier kept getting up, when lewis hit rahman, rahman was on another atmosphere. lewis his harder than foremon

than you got guys like tua, was at his peak punch like a truck, even prime samuel peter.... i mean...

who can exactly say who had for sure more 1 punch power

all prime powerwise

tua 253 pounds
peter 250 pounds
lewis 246 pounds
klitschko 245 pounds

compared to

all prime powerwise

shavers 220 pounds
foremon 224 pounds

its tough, so they have around a 25 pounds advantage and people want to tell me that it aint matter and foremon still punches harder than lewis or tua? i dont think so.

I don't think weight is an issue once you're above about 220lbs.

Lennox Lewis used to fight at about 225lbs & he was devastating opponents, probably moreso than when he weighed 240+ lbs.

He weighed 227lbs the night he decimated Razor Ruddock.

I believe that Foreman & Shavers belong near the top of any HW punchers list regardless of what they weighed.

[lagako10]

agree pac at featherweight div.
super fly. inoue

[hurricanemitch14]

Gerald McClellen should be mention either middle or sm

[sucracristo]

sorry, i didn't have time to read through the whole thread.
i personally don't care about ko% against club fighters and journeymen if we
are talking about all-time. i know it takes a lot more skill to hit the elites cleanly
so getting knockouts at that level is a lot more about skill, but if you have the skill
to wobble the elites, then you will tee off on journeymen and club fighters.
there was a guy out of salvador, bahia, brazil, arcelino frietas, who could
wobble anyone at 130 with one or two shots, and a lot of the time when
guys got dropped, they had no idea where they were when they got back up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB7q4ovQRfE
at 140, no matter what was happening in the fight, i always had the sense that
kostya tsu could end it with one or two shots, sort of like watching GGG. every
minute of every fight looked like he was about to take the other guy's head off.
at 125 just in my lifetime i thought fenech was a really hard puncher, but obviously
more at 118 and 122.

[belowthebelt]

micheal moorer was a beast at light heavy as well. though probably not the hardest puncher ever. i'd say shavers at heavyweight