BoxRec

I think one of the reasons the Ingemar Johansson wasnt in top shape for the second or third of the fights with Patterson was
that he was too busy being a celebrity once he became the undisputed HW Champion of the World.
He published his autobigraphy in 1960,SECONDS OUT OF THE RING.
He appeared in a Hollywood movie,ALL THE YOUNG MEN(1960)as "Pvt Torgil",
and even on the evening before the second fight he appeared as a mystery guest on the game show
WHAT'S MY LINE.(June.19.1960) here is a link to that appearence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NirOX8hDpo

Still, tip top shape or not, I have to say the Patterson/Johansson trilogy, least imho, was far more thrilling and exciting than the Ali/Frazier trilogy. 14 knock downs in three fights, the majority of which came from Johansson. That's quite a damn feat.

Controversial wrote:

Brutu wrote:No, just the right hand when it was able to land flush.
Johansson said that his right hand had a mind of its own and could never tell when it was going to launch itself.
I think I read were Shavers said his best punch was the right uppercut.

That was what got Norton out of there is that uppercut just saw the fight today. That right hand had 'make you want to quit' written all over it. Seeing Norton's reaction to the first right that landed was all that needed to convince me of where Shavers belongs amongst the hardest punchers in history.

I guess the actual question should be,
were is Johansson's right hand ranked among all of the heavyweight champions,
then among all heavyweight contenders.
Especially in the first 100 years of boxing.

HomicideHenry wrote:Still, tip top shape or not, I have to say the Patterson/Johansson trilogy, least imho, was far more thrilling and exciting than the Ali/Frazier trilogy. 14 knock downs in three fights, the majority of which came from Johansson. That's quite a damn feat.

?? Huh, I'd rather watch the 1st or third Ali-Frazier fights any day over any of the Ingo-Floyd fights. The first fight had tons of KDs but was a one-sided thrashing. Their rubber match had a great 1st round but after that slows considerably until Ingo goes down from exhaustion as much as FLoyd's punches.

Before saying Ingo had the best right hand, let's take a look at some of the heavyweights whose right hands were considered major weapons during the era in which the fought -- some great, some not so great, but they all had big rights hands for their time (rough chron order):

John L. Sullivan
Bob Fitzsimmons
Peter Maher
Tom Sharkey
Jim Jeffries (left was def. better but right was feared)
Sam McVey
Jess Willard
Fred Fulton
Jack Dempsey
Luis Angel Firpo
Max Schmeling
Max Baer
Joe Louis
Rocky Marciano
Bob Satterfield
Ingemar Johansson
George Foreman
Earnie Shavers
Mike Weaver
Mike Tyson
Riddick Bowe
Lennox Lewis

This is not an exhaustive list, as I just knocked it out off the top of my head, but I do see some guys here who I'd take over Ingo for raw power. I guess if I had to pick the number one nuclear bomb rocket launcher right hand of all-time for sheer destructive power I'd take ... Lennox Lewis.

Dunno how you would lay claim to Lewis' right hand being a bigger shot than Shavers' or Foreman's --- each hit better-conditioned athletes with theirs, with more debilitating effects. Still, Lewis' right hand was a monster punch only occasionally unveiled.

There's no way --- no friggin' way --- Johansson had the biggest right hand in division history.

John L. Sullivan and Joe Louis in top five definately.

Controversial has never been hit by Johansson.

HomicideHenry wrote:Still, tip top shape or not, I have to say the Patterson/Johansson trilogy, least imho, was far more thrilling and exciting than the Ali/Frazier trilogy. 14 knock downs in three fights, the majority of which came from Johansson. That's quite a damn feat.

P/J trilogy was the minor leagues compared to the A/F trilogy.

granberry wrote:Controversial has never been hit by Johansson.

Eh, what sort of logic is that?

Trust me mate if the average bloke on the street hits you with their hardest punch it will hurt you, whether they are a boxer or not. If a professional heavyweight boxer hits you with their best punch you would be in trouble.

That doesn't mean Johansson is the hardest right hand puncher thats ever lived. I assuming by that comment you believe he was? Each to their own, personally I don't think he was.

granberry wrote:Controversial has never been hit by Johansson.

Controversial, like the rest of us, wishes someone would hit you upside the head with a right hand.

Any hand, really.

I read somewhere where at least in the early part of his professional boxing career,That Liston's right handed punch was only
about average for a heavyweight fighter.Although it looks like he certainly hit Albert Westphal with a good right hand.

Ingo had a great right hand.

Almost all of his professional fights were filmed, they're just hard to find. Here's Johansson destroying German heavyweight Hein Ten Hoff in just one round:

http://svtplay.se/v/1371225/ingo_knocka ... _hoff_1955

Film of Hein Ten Hoff:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=57142

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTmNZZXLMng

TheGreatA wrote:Ingo had a great right hand.

Almost all of his professional fights were filmed, they're just hard to find. Here's Johansson destroying German heavyweight Hein Ten Hoff in just one round:

http://svtplay.se/v/1371225/ingo_knocka ... _hoff_1955

Two right hands and it's over.

Ingo was younger there and had a more circular right hand than he did later.

He could punch with a right hand!

Thanks for all the films you put up, A.

TheGreatA wrote:Ingo had a great right hand.

Almost all of his professional fights were filmed, they're just hard to find. Here's Johansson destroying German heavyweight Hein Ten Hoff in just one round:

http://svtplay.se/v/1371225/ingo_knocka ... _hoff_1955

Film of Hein Ten Hoff:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=57142

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTmNZZXLMng

Hoff was a big guy and a solid puncher but he was far from being world class. Check his record out, lots of unknowns on there and most had losing or poor records. Plus the Ingo fight was the last he ever fought, he was almost 36 and on a losing streak.

Yes Ingo could punch but this doesn't really justify or prove claims of being the hardest puncher ever.

Controversial wrote:

TheGreatA wrote:Ingo had a great right hand.

Almost all of his professional fights were filmed, they're just hard to find. Here's Johansson destroying German heavyweight Hein Ten Hoff in just one round:

http://svtplay.se/v/1371225/ingo_knocka ... _hoff_1955

Film of Hein Ten Hoff:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=57142

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTmNZZXLMng

Hoff was a big guy and a solid puncher but he was far from being world class. Check his record out, lots of unknowns on there and most had losing or poor records. Plus the Ingo fight was the last he ever fought, he was almost 36 and on a losing streak.

Yes Ingo could punch but this doesn't really justify or prove claims of being the hardest puncher ever.

No it doesn't and I wouldn't agree with such claims either. I believe the thread starter's intention was to discuss how Johansson's power rates with the other heavyweight punchers, not that he thinks Johansson was the hardest puncher, despite the rather ambitious thread title.

I think Johansson's KO of Machen is all the proof we need that he could punch. The only other man to KO Patterson the way Johansson did was Liston, and no one doubts Liston's power. Outside of that he cleaned out the European scene, including Joe Erskine, Henry Cooper, Heinz Neuhaus, Franco Cavicchi, all of whom ended up being knocked out. It's not just the fact that he stopped these men but the way he KO'd them that's impressive.

Brutu wrote:I read somewhere where at least in the early part of his professional boxing career,That Liston's right handed punch was only
about average for a heavyweight fighter.Although it looks like he certainly hit Albert Westphal with a good right hand.

"Good" doesn't begin to describe the punch he used to lay out Westphal

Absolute sledgehammer shot

Liston's trainer Willie Reddish once said that punch was the hardest punch that he had seen that Liston had ever landed on anyone.
Of course Westphal being only 5 feet 7 inches tall didnt really help him.
One wonders how that fight was even okayed especially for a closed-circuit fight co-feature.
Reportly Ingemar Johansson had earrlier dismissed Westphal as a sparring partner allegedly because he wasnt very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg8UJBCwWxw

Brutu wrote:Liston's trainer Willie Reddish once said that punch was the hardest punch that he had seen that Liston had ever landed on anyone.
Of course Westphal being only 5 feet 7 inches tall didnt really help him.
One wonders how that fight was even okayed especially for a closed-circuit fight co-feature.
Reportly Ingemar Johansson had earrlier dismissed Westphal as a sparring partner allegedly because he wasnt very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg8UJBCwWxw

Now tell us about Ali defending the 'heavyweight title" against Jean Pierre Coopman.

Brutu wrote:Liston's trainer Willie Reddish once said that punch was the hardest punch that he had seen that Liston had ever landed on anyone.
Of course Westphal being only 5 feet 7 inches tall didnt really help him.
One wonders how that fight was even okayed especially for a closed-circuit fight co-feature.
Reportly Ingemar Johansson had earrlier dismissed Westphal as a sparring partner allegedly because he wasnt very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg8UJBCwWxw

I believe it was a tune-up bout for Liston vs Patterson I. Patterson fought Tom McNeeley the same night in a "doubleheader" that was shown to audiences. In a post-fight interview Liston named Westphal "Quick-fall". It was a brave enough effort by the German who was among the shortest heavyweights of all time.

TheGreatA wrote:

Brutu wrote:Liston's trainer Willie Reddish once said that punch was the hardest punch that he had seen that Liston had ever landed on anyone.
Of course Westphal being only 5 feet 7 inches tall didnt really help him.
One wonders how that fight was even okayed especially for a closed-circuit fight co-feature.
Reportly Ingemar Johansson had earrlier dismissed Westphal as a sparring partner allegedly because he wasnt very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg8UJBCwWxw

I believe it was a tune-up bout for Liston vs Patterson I. Patterson fought Tom McNeeley the same night in a "doubleheader" that was shown to audiences. In a post-fight interview Liston named Westphal "Quick-fall". It was a brave enough effort by the German who was among the shortest heavyweights of all time.

Well, for the closed-circuit viewers, Patterson-McNeeley made up at least a little for the shortness of Liston-Westphal.

I think there were something like 7 or 8 knockdowns in the Patterson fight that night.

yancey wrote:
Well, for the closed-circuit viewers, Patterson-McNeeley made up at least a little for the shortness of Liston-Westphal.

I think there were something like 7 or 8 knockdowns in the Patterson fight that night.

McNeeley kept being knocked down, I believe 11 times in total, but he was never hurt enough for the fight to be stopped. His best offense were his repeated headbutts. Jersey Joe Walcott was the referee and he didn't do a great job there either, the fight got out of control quite a few times.

Later McNeeley served purpose as the durable journeyman type who went the distance with another D'Amato fighter in Jose Torres. Of course his son Peter McNeeley fought D'Amato trained Tyson decades later.

Film of all three fights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHYEwbmLXI0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoG4-k6DEj0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA6_9rN1Nbk

Controversial wrote:
Hoff was a big guy and a solid puncher but he was far from being world class.

Hoff boxes like he just had the first (or maybe second) lesson at the YMCA.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

granberry wrote:Controversial has never been hit by Johansson.

Controversial, like the rest of us, wishes someone would hit you upside the head with a right hand.

Any hand, really.

They are welcome to try that.

As long as they don't complain about what happens to them just after that.