BoxRec

if it did happen i'd of loved to of seen the sparring session with shavers and liston. some sparring session that would of bin

I think that Joe Louis said that Max Baer hit him the hardest. I heard that someplace.

Scypion wrote:I think that Joe Louis said that Max Baer hit him the hardest. I heard that someplace.

In 'My Life' Louis says Baer's power didn't bother him at all.

'I don't remember anything till I was in the ambulance. I felt like he hit me with a brick in his hand. I knew what to expect and still couldn't stop it.' (Mark de Mori talking about David Haye)

If you ask a boxer who punched him the hardest, he's likely to pick somebody he beat -- rather than somebody who knocked him cold.

Who wants to remind people of the times he got iced??? ... Ingo said Dick Richardson probably hit him the hardest.. Yup!!!

"Don't let anybody fool you, Julian Jackson was the hardest hitting fighter I ever fought, what! This boy was dangerous. He hit me so hard in the second round of our fight that I was on queer street.

"Just before I knocked him out, I started to get my senses back,” said McCallum. “He hit me so hard in the first round also that I was dazed for the whole round. I had to do everything I could to survive. I grabbed him, jabbed him, held him, everything I had to, to get through that fight." (Mike McCallum on Julian Jackson)

One answer I always found particularly curious was James Toney's answer on ESPN of Drake Thadzi. Even Brian Kenny I believe was like "Drake Thadzi huh? Hmm"

I mean Thadzi did upset him, and looked like a big, strong guy but Toney has fought so many names and big guys I'd figure he's surely been hit harder. He since fought Sam Peter though so maybe that'd be his answer now. Sam Peter was crude as all hell, but he definitely had some clubbing power and beat up Toney pretty thoroughly in their rematch.

gilgamesh wrote:One answer I always found particularly curious was James Toney's answer on ESPN of Drake Thadzi. Even Brian Kenny I believe was like "Drake Thadzi huh? Hmm"

I mean Thadzi did upset him, and looked like a big, strong guy but Toney has fought so many names and big guys I'd figure he's surely been hit harder. He since fought Sam Peter though so maybe that'd be his answer now. Sam Peter was crude as all hell, but he definitely had some clubbing power and beat up Toney pretty thoroughly in their rematch.

James Toney.

Best puncher: Merqui Sosa — Sam Peter is the hardest puncher I’ve fought, but pound-for-pound it’s Sosa because he hurt me the most. I’ll never forget that fight, we fought on an ESPN show in Atlantic City on a Sunday. I went at him like I did everyone back then and that mother f_____ hit me so hard in the third round I was seeing triple for the next three rounds. He knew how to hit and he was so awkward that I couldn’t time him and he caught me high on the head.

Controversial wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:One answer I always found particularly curious was James Toney's answer on ESPN of Drake Thadzi. Even Brian Kenny I believe was like "Drake Thadzi huh? Hmm"

I mean Thadzi did upset him, and looked like a big, strong guy but Toney has fought so many names and big guys I'd figure he's surely been hit harder. He since fought Sam Peter though so maybe that'd be his answer now. Sam Peter was crude as all hell, but he definitely had some clubbing power and beat up Toney pretty thoroughly in their rematch.

James Toney.

Best puncher: Merqui Sosa — Sam Peter is the hardest puncher I’ve fought, but pound-for-pound it’s Sosa because he hurt me the most. I’ll never forget that fight, we fought on an ESPN show in Atlantic City on a Sunday. I went at him like I did everyone back then and that mother f_____ hit me so hard in the third round I was seeing triple for the next three rounds. He knew how to hit and he was so awkward that I couldn’t time him and he caught me high on the head.

He must've had more time to think about it then, but I remember on ESPN he told Brian Kenny it was Drake Thadzi when he was a guest on FNF. I don't recall Thadzi noticeably hurting him at any point in the fight.

Mike Weaver said Bernardo Mercado was the hardest puncher he fought

Controversial wrote:You faced some big punchers in your day. Who was the best?"
Pinklon Thomas: "Mike Weaver"

Thomas was knocked out 5 times... but he calls a fighter who he knocked out the hardest puncher... That's consistent with what most boxers will tell you... They hate to remind you of fights they lost, especially by KO... They love to recall famous boxers who they beat -- especially guys who they knocked out.

Mike McCallum was hit by a perfect shot by Julian Jackson, but he didn't go down and didn't look badly hurt... And he had no trouble getting the 29-0 Jackson out of there in only 2 rounds... He bombed him out with body shots... If he cites Jackson as the hardest puncher he faced it's because he knocked Jackson out.

Kalan wrote:

Controversial wrote:You faced some big punchers in your day. Who was the best?"
Pinklon Thomas: "Mike Weaver"

Thomas was knocked out 5 times... but he calls a fighter who he knocked out the hardest puncher... That's consistent with what most boxers will tell you... They hate to remind you of fights they lost, especially by KO... They love to recall famous boxers who they beat -- especially guys who they knocked out.

Knockout blows don't normally hurt, as you are out before your body has time to react and people rarely remember the punch. So it's not uncommon for people to cite others as hurting them more even when they beat them or not stopped by them.

Controversial wrote:Knockout blows don't normally hurt, as you are out before your body has time to react and people rarely remember the punch. So it's not uncommon for people to cite others as hurting them more even when they beat them or not stopped by them.

Just as a matter of interest, in January 2000 Earnie Shavers was officially named as the ‘hardest hitting heavyweight ever’ by the IBA. He was presented with an award by IBA president Dean Chance.

Two fighters talking about Anthony Joshua's power.

Matt Legg
"I got a broken eye socket," said Matt Legg, who was crushed inside a round by a Joshua uppercut at Wembley Stadium two years ago and still hasn't returned. "When I tried to get up I couldn't even see. I had three months of nerve damage in the side of my face. For two months I had no feeling, it was numb. "He hits you through your gloves, even when you've got your hands up protecting your head," Legg said. "The power of his punches goes through your gloves, there's nowhere to hide. "I fought James Toney when he was 45 and you could comfortably block his punches - when you block Anthony's they go through your gloves and still hurt you, so you have to get out of the way."

Paul Butlin
Paul Butlin, Joshua's second opponent, had boxed Dereck Chisora, Johnathon Banks and Lucas Browne but they hadn't prepared him for the Olympian's power. "I've been in with the biggest lads in Europe," Butlin said. "But Joshua's power is horrible - if he hits you, you're gone, simple as that. It's sickening. "The first jab he hit me with, I went back to the corner shaking my head. He caught me with an overhand right that gave me nine stitches."

Right now, I believe the casual boxing fan sees Wilder as the harder hitter.

Why? I'm not sure.... A sports press core too cozy with the Wilder camp?

But based on these reports....it aint necessarily so.

Any body faced them both down?

Joe Bugner talking about Ron Lyle and Earnie Shavers.

Q. In 1977 you dropped a split decision to heavyweight contender Ron Lyle who had defeated Jimmy Ellis and Oscar Bonavena. In 1976 Lyle dropped George Foreman several times before losing in five rounds of a great heavyweight battle. Tell me about your fight with Lyle.

A. Ron Lyle nearly killed me. I am not kidding, he nearly killed me. The fight was at twelve noon in Las Vegas (nearly all my fights were during midday in the USA to coincide with the television broadcast back in Europe.) To cut a long story short, Ron Lyle was an ex-jail bird and learned boxing in jail. When I met him he said, “You got no chance of beating me because I am going to kill you.” Here I was at 27 years in the hard world of boxing. The fight went the full twelve rounds. After the bout, I called my brother Bill and told him I could not breathe. I had blood coming out of me. He rang the doctor who called an ambulance and rushed me to the Las Vegas emergency Hospital and they discovered I was bleeding internally. They put me into an ice tank. It took me six months to recover from that fight. Ron Lyle was a punishing fighter and so fu**ing big. He was bigger than me. He kept telling me during the fight, “I am going kill you mother fu**er.” I sacked my manager after the fight after a ten year relationship. He wanted to go to a party after the fight rather than look after my welfare. I had paid him 25% of my purse.

Q. Earnie Shavers is regarded as one of the hardest punchers of all time. You boxed him in 1982 and lost in two rounds because of a severe cut. He dropped you in round one. Please give me your thoughts on Shavers.

A. Shavers was a great puncher. He put thirteen stitches in my head from one punch. I went down and the referee later stopped the fight. I was told later when Shavers punching power was tested that he was discovered the best puncher of all time.

Didnt Bugner also say that Shavers had butted him before he punched him ?
( as well as cuping his neck with the glove from his other hand before the big uppercut landed )

Caractacus wrote:Didnt Bugner also say that Shavers had butted him before he punched him ?
( as well as cuping his neck with the glove from his other hand before the big uppercut landed )

Joe Bugner seems to contradict himself as he has blamed a punch for causing the cut then says it was a headbutt in other interviews. I couldn't see any deliberate butt so sour grapes maybe. Bugner was stopped on a cut, the knockdown was in the first round, he was stopped in the 2nd.


Bugner
Q. Best puncher:
A. Earnie Shavers. He was an enormous puncher, but I have real issue with that fight because of a conversation Shavers and I had years later. Apparently Don King told Earnie to get me out of that ring, by any means necessary, and not to worry about disqualification. Now if you watch the fight I get caught with a good right hand in round two but a follow up head butt, which the referee didn't pick up on, caused a serious cut. That wound above my left eye required 14 stitches and it wasn't from a punch. Now, take into account that Don King was a creature of incredible power within the boxing world and he played dirty as far as I'm concerned. I didn't like him from the word go.

Have you ever considered that maybe oneof them is a "fake"interview ?
There is plenty of BS on the inter-net.

Caractacus wrote:Have you ever considered that maybe oneof them is a "fake"interview ?
There is plenty of BS on the inter-net.

Who knows, its not unusual for fighters to change their mind when asked about best punchers, both interviews are on boxing websites, the Ring and Fightnews so no reason why they should be fake.

funso banjo baby wrote:cooper claimed Floyd patterson was his hardest hitter........

Duh,
Be sure to check out the Floyd Patterson vrs Henry Cooper 50th anniversary thread at this Forum today.

Interview with Holyfield from 2014, he says Foreman was the hardest puncher he fought (2 mins 6 seconds in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3Z4f1uv-c

Bobby Czyz said Mercer was the hardest puncher he fought.

HARDEST PUNCHER I FOUGHT
“RAY MERCER, in sparring. It was in the early 1990s and he weighed 234 pounds, me 195. He hit me with a right hand and I actually thought a piece of cement had fallen from the ceiling and hit me in the head! I don’t remember it, but I came right back at him and hit him in the mouth. Ray tells everyone I was the hardest he ever hit a guy in his life!”

BEST FIGHTER I SPARRED
“PROBABLY Ray Mercer – he was the hardest-hitting anyway. I had trouble with fast guys, like Frank Tate. I liked the tough guys. I sparred a lot with Mitch Green. He was a good boxer, a great amateur, and he outweighed me by quite a lot. I was 19 years old at the time and we went at it in some good sessions. I busted his lip wide open.”

Foreman said Lyle, Cooney and Cleveland Williams (must have been sparring) hit him the hardest.