BoxRec

Which boxers were blessed with fantastic chins and punching power both?

A few coming to mind...

Gerald McClellan (who inspired this thread)

David Tua

George Foreman

Mike Tyson

Rocky Marciano

Jack Dempsey

Sonny Liston

Ray Robinson

Sung-Kil Moon
Eder Jofre
Sandy Saddler
Kid Lavigne
Barbados Joe Walcott

Azumah Nelson
Sugar Ray Leonard (underrated, particularly in the power dept)
Juan LaPorte

Saddler and LaPorte are great calls.

Jim Jeffries

Some not yet mentioned, and some obviously rank higher than others.

Sam Langford
Roberto Duran
Charley Burley
Bennie Briscoe
Jose Napoles
Shane Mosley
Alexis Arguello
Tim Witherspoon
Jorge Castro
George Chuvalo

Mosley and Chuvalo had decent whacks, but they wouldnt bang anywhere near hard enough for my list.

I think Shane hit as hard or harder than Tua. Chuvalo's power is admittedly borderline, I almost mentioned Bonavena too. They probably both fall short.

Mosley hits on par with Tua!?!?!?

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Which boxers were blessed with fantastic chins and punching power both?

A few coming to mind...

Gerald McClellan (who inspired this thread)

David Tua

George Foreman

Mike Tyson

Rocky Marciano

Jack Dempsey

Sonny Liston

Ray Robinson

Y'all forgot my man Oliver McCall!

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Mosley hits on par with Tua!?!?!?

If you're feeling generous to David, sure.

Arguello an excellent call.

Ruben Olivares would also qualify, I'd have thought, at 118lbs anyway.

Tszuyu, perhaps? though his chin wasn't as strong as his punch it was solid enough...

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I think Shane hit as hard or harder than Tua.

Now this is a head-scratcher if ever I've seen one. I think Tua is in the very top rung of Heavyweight punchers in terms of raw power. Mosley had good power, nothing more. Better fighter on the whole, no doubt, but a harder hitter? Two different leagues the way I see it.

King Carlos wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I think Shane hit as hard or harder than Tua.

Now this is a head-scratcher if ever I've seen one. I think Tua is in the very top rung of Heavyweight punchers in terms of raw power. Mosley had good power, nothing more. Better fighter on the whole, no doubt, but a harder hitter? Two different leagues the way I see it.

Absolutely. Im still scratching my head.

King Carlos wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I think Shane hit as hard or harder than Tua.

Now this is a head-scratcher if ever I've seen one. I think Tua is in the very top rung of Heavyweight punchers in terms of raw power. Mosley had good power, nothing more. Better fighter on the whole, no doubt, but a harder hitter? Two different leagues the way I see it.

Why? Because everyone says so? I watched Rahman take his stuff without blinking with the exception of taking a cheap shot. Not to say that Tua couldn't punch, but if I made a list of overrated punchers he would be near the top of it. He did carry his power through a fight, but he never had anything as impressive as stopping Margarito on his resume and Shane could punch with either hand.

The Margarito bout was an anomaly, as evidenced by the rest of Mosley's time at 147 (before and since), facilitated by Margarito's significantly weakened pre-fight state (guy just did not have his legs under him after that crazy weight-drain).

Goodnight, Irene wrote:The Margarito bout was an anomaly, as evidenced by the rest of Mosley's time at 147 (before and since), facilitated by Margarito's significantly weakened pre-fight state (guy just did not have his legs under him after that crazy weight-drain).

Call it whatever you want, Tua never came anywhere near a feat that impressive.

Its nowhere near as impressive once you analyse the details.

If there was even one other fight between 2000-Present to bolster the idea Mosley was a great puncher (he simply wasnt), it might be going somewhere --- but people havent been afraid of Mosley's punch since he left 135 (where he was feared solely because he drained like he was Gerald McClellan to face a long list of nobodies), and there is no denying --- none --- that Margarito went in way under done. His legs were bad from the very first round.

Using the Margarito bout (because there is no other bout at 147 to support it) to claim Mosley had great power is tantamount to me saying his chin was suspect because of the first Forrest fight.

Anomalies happen in the Theater of the Unexpected.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Its nowhere near as impressive once you analyse the details.

If there was even one other fight between 2000-Present to bolster the idea Mosley was a great puncher (he simply wasnt), it might be going somewhere --- but people havent been afraid of Mosley's punch since he left 135 (where he was feared solely because he drained like he was Gerald McClellan to face a long list of nobodies), and there is no denying --- none --- that Margarito went in way under done. His legs were bad from the very first round.

Using the Margarito bout (because there is no other bout at 147 to support it) to claim Mosley had great power is tantamount to me saying his chin was suspect because of the first Forrest fight.

Anomalies happen in the Theater of the Unexpected.

I never said Mosley had great power.

Then he doesnt belong in this thread.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Its nowhere near as impressive once you analyse the details.

If there was even one other fight between 2000-Present to bolster the idea Mosley was a great puncher (he simply wasnt), it might be going somewhere --- but people havent been afraid of Mosley's punch since he left 135 (where he was feared solely because he drained like he was Gerald McClellan to face a long list of nobodies), and there is no denying --- none --- that Margarito went in way under done. His legs were bad from the very first round.

Using the Margarito bout (because there is no other bout at 147 to support it) to claim Mosley had great power is tantamount to me saying his chin was suspect because of the first Forrest fight.

Anomalies happen in the Theater of the Unexpected.

Let's not argue semantics, then. Tua, despite his shortcomings as a technician, was a massive puncher. One of the most destructive I've ever seen.

YTeeeeeeeaaaah, buddy!

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Then he doesnt belong in this thread.

He certainly belongs next to Tua, I hear reasons why Shane doesn't belong. Why does Tua? There are plenty of heavyweights with gaudy knock out records from weak competition. And spare me the he was a massive puncher, what fights place his name next to Foreman, Liston, Dempsey, etc...

When did he prove it? He was well above average, but his best trait was carrying his power late. With the exception of Ruiz and a shot Moorer, he never exhibited big power against anyone of note until late in the fight.

Any thread like this will come with names that stretch the limits or they won't go on very long. I clearly stated that some of my list was more deserving than others. But since you opened the door with Tua and later someone added Juan LaPorte, Leonard & Nelson. Mosley certainly isn't out of line if those selections are valid.

I have been drunk for many, many hours, but that doesn't excuse Mosley being rated above Tua in terms of power.

King Carlos wrote:I have been drunk for many, many hours, but that doesn't excuse Mosley being rated above Tua in terms of power.

Excellent, I'm glad to hear you're hammered. I couldn't find any other reason to call the overrated Tua a massive puncher. What's next? Vitali's KO%?

What evidence is there of McClellan's chin being so good? Jackson didn't land that much on him, Benn wasn't a massive puncher at 168 and I don't recall him being tested by anyone else.