BoxRec

Like many others I'm a sucker for these lists and they tend to create some good discussion.

This Bleacher Report list prepared by Briggs Seekins factors in a P4P consideration. So some smaller guys get a look in too:

1. Vitali Klitschko

2. Wladimir Klitschko

3. Deontay Wilder

4. Sergey Kovalev

5. Gennady Golovkin

6. David Haye

7. Shannon Briggs

8. Alexander Povetkin

9. Roman Gonzalez

10. Randall Bailey

Roman Gonzalez on these lists interests me. As a single PUNCH hitter he's not powerful, or at least not in the same sort of league as say Bailey or Jhonny Gonzalez, but his accuracy, combinations and cleanness of hitting is incredible. He's less of a "puncher" in the typical sense that saw a Wlad Klitschko, but still gets he stoppages.

As for Vitali, he simply shouldn't be there.

Uchiyama might not be a bad mention though

Boxing Prospect wrote:Roman Gonzalez on these lists interests me. As a single PUNCH hitter he's not powerful, or at least not in the same sort of league as say Bailey or Jhonny Gonzalez, but his accuracy, combinations and cleanness of hitting is incredible. He's less of a "puncher" in the typical sense that saw a Wlad Klitschko, but still gets he stoppages.

As for Vitali, he simply shouldn't be there.

Uchiyama might not be a bad mention though

The author probably should have qualified his criteria ""Hardest Hitters" with some explanation. It does seem to refer to one punch power though.

I remember some years ago RING compiled a TOP 100 list of the "best punchers" in boxing history and left many astonished as to exactly what they were referring to.

Some of those choices are way off. Vitali? And at #1? Povetkin and Gonzalez are solid punchers but nowhere near top ten of the decade. You might as well have Cotto or Froch or Pavlik or whatever.

Some worthwhile guys not mentioned off the top of my head: Adonis Stevenson, Edwin Valero, Lucas Matthysse, Nonito Donaire, middleweight Arthur Abraham.

Bad list.

1) Wladimir hits MUCH harder than Vitali. Chris Byrd, who fought both, said this, Phil Jackson, who fought Wlad and sparred with Vitaly, said this, and Kevin Johnson, who sparred with Wlad and fought Vitali, said this too. Johnson even said that if Vitali hits like Cadillac, then Wlad hits like a huge truck in comparison.

2) Wilder hadn't prove his power against top opponent yet. The only top-10 guy he fought was Bermane Stiverne and he went the distance with him.

3) Povetkin over Baily? Is it some kind of joke? Should the guy who couldn't even hurt cruiser Marco Huck (who was stopped by feather-fisted Steve Cunningham and brutally KO'ed by Glowacki) and C-level Nicolai Firtha (who was KO'ed multiple times) be ranked over the guys like Randall Baily or Manny Pacquiao or Adonis Stevenson (latter two aren't even ranked in this list)?

HyacinthusTurnipseed wrote:Some of those choices are way off. Vitali? And at #1? Povetkin and Gonzalez are solid punchers but nowhere near top ten of the decade. You might as well have Cotto or Froch or Pavlik or whatever.

Some worthwhile guys not mentioned off the top of my head: Adonis Stevenson, Edwin Valero, Lucas Matthysse, Nonito Donaire, middleweight Arthur Abraham.

I share your criticism. But I think it all comes down to how we decipher the criteria used, "'hardest hitters."

Vitali for instance was a big hitter. Just ask Shannon Briggs. But was he number 1 on one punch power? No. But he was certainly powerful and consistently powerful, and the writer was probably mesmerized by Vitali's stat that reads 41 career KOs.

Here's how the author explained his choice of Vitali as #1 :

While younger brother Wladimir is known as Dr. Steelhammer, the older and larger Klitschko sibling, Vitali, has long been known by his fans as Dr. Ironfist. I'd never want to catch a shot from either brother, but if I had to guess, I'd say Vitali is the harder hitter.

Klitschko's 87 percent KO rate is among the highest in the history of the heavyweight division, trailing only Rocky Marciano among belt holders. He started his career with 26 straight KOs.

Only four of Klitschko's 45 wins made it the distance. Even the fighters who finished on their feet against Klitschko suffered for it. The punishment he delivered over 12 rounds to Shannon Briggs in 2010 was legitimately scary to watch.

Even in Klitschko's TKO loss on cuts to Lennox Lewis in 2003, Klitschko landed heavy, punishing shots and was up on the cards at the time of the stoppage.

Any list without Ali Raymi as No.1 is laughable.

Like a Boss wrote:Even in Klitschko's TKO loss on cuts to Lennox Lewis in 2003, Klitschko landed heavy, punishing shots and was up on the cards at the time of the stoppage.

I don't understand how beating Lewis (who wasn't known for a good chin) until being stopped on cuts can be an argument that confirms Vitali's punching power. In fact, it should play against him, because he landed so many punches and couldn't KO the guy, who was KO'ed by a single punch twice in his career. Vitali's skills, heart and chin looked really impressive in his fight against such a great champion like Lennox Lewis, but not his punching power.

valero & bailey

Boxing Writer wrote:

Like a Boss wrote:Even in Klitschko's TKO loss on cuts to Lennox Lewis in 2003, Klitschko landed heavy, punishing shots and was up on the cards at the time of the stoppage.

I don't understand how beating Lewis (who wasn't known for a good chin) until being stopped on cuts can be an argument that confirms Vitali's punching power. In fact, it should play against him, because he landed so many punches and couldn't KO the guy, who was KO'ed by a single punch twice in his career. Vitali's skills, heart and chin looked really impressive in his fight against such a great champion like Lennox Lewis, but not his punching power.

They are the words of the author. But I share your pain.

digzee wrote:Any list without Ali Raymi as No.1 is laughable.

He fought no names, only local boxers... Following your logic you have to put a guy like William Fernando Souza Bezerra in the top 3.

1. Wladimir Klitschko
2. Gennady Golovkin
3. Sergey Kovalev
4. Vitali Klitschko
5. Roman Gonzalez
6. Randall Bailey
7. Jhonny Gonzalez
8. Andy Lee
9. Rafael Marquez
10. Lucas Matthysse/Carl Froch

I'm torn about who I would put in that 10 spot, but it's one of those 2 guys.

Manny Pacquiao too...but the fact that he hasn't scored a KO in 6 years hurts his being on the list. He definitely first came onto the scene as a puncher though, and scores some major KO's in 2006-2009

One punch power then Wlad hits harder than Vitali. Vitali is an accumulation stoppage fighter that literally breaks you up, he just didn't have the speedy snap that Wlad had.

A beatdown from Wlad disconnects you from your senses, a beatdown from Vitali takes your soul.

Like a Boss wrote:Like many others I'm a sucker for these lists and they tend to create some good discussion.

This Bleacher Report list prepared by Briggs Seekins factors in a P4P consideration. So some smaller guys get a look in too:

1. Vitali Klitschko

2. Wladimir Klitschko

3. Deontay Wilder

4. Sergey Kovalev

5. Gennady Golovkin

6. David Haye

7. Shannon Briggs

8. Alexander Povetkin

9. Roman Gonzalez

10. Randall Bailey

That is an absolutely terrible list, so many things wrong with it I don't know where to start. Vitali shouldn't be in the top 10, let alone #1. Wlad, Kovalev, Golovkin, Haye and Bailey should definitely stay in there, but I'd probably swap out the other five.

Oh, and I agree it's not a good list at all.

Dagome iudex wrote:

digzee wrote:Any list without Ali Raymi as No.1 is laughable.

He fought no names, only local boxers... Following your logic you have to put a guy like William Fernando Souza Bezerra in the top 3.

20 first round KO's in a row, Roman Gonzalez ducked him, do I need to say anymore? The man was a legend.

Dagome iudex wrote:

He fought no names, only local boxers... Following your logic you have to put a guy like William Fernando Souza Bezerra in the top 3.

17 undefeated fighters lost their 0's to him so far

What a talent

Like a Boss wrote:Like many others I'm a sucker for these lists and they tend to create some good discussion.

This Bleacher Report list prepared by Briggs Seekins factors in a P4P consideration. So some smaller guys get a look in too:

1. Vitali Klitschko

2. Wladimir Klitschko

3. Deontay Wilder

4. Sergey Kovalev

5. Gennady Golovkin

6. David Haye

7. Shannon Briggs

8. Alexander Povetkin

9. Roman Gonzalez

10. Randall Bailey

Haha, a 5ft 3 guy with a weight of 104-115 pounds and another 138-158 pound guy punching harder as Anthony Joshua for example?
David Haye punching harder then Alexander Povetkin?
The list is funny, but not any serious.

davie wrote:

Dagome iudex wrote:

He fought no names, only local boxers... Following your logic you have to put a guy like William Fernando Souza Bezerra in the top 3.

17 undefeated fighters lost their 0's to him so far

What a talent

A very good talent, but you know very well that by far most of those undefeated boxers only had one fight experience in their entire life.
What's way more impressive is that 22 out of those 25 KO's are KO's in the first round.

But it's still a babyleague, just like Mayweather, the avarage Dutch girl probably beats this guy easely for example.

Threw together an alternative list without thinking about it too hard:

1. Wladimir Klitschko (maybe doesn't throw enough but has plenty of devastating finishes)
2. Nonito Donaire (gone from overrated to underrated, at the lower weights had super-devastating power, still impressive at Feather even)
3. Gennady Golovkin (great grinder who also has one-punch KO power (Macklin, Ishida, Rubio))
4. Sergey Kovalev (a mere micro-notch below GGG, though maybe he fully-commits to a greater percentage of his punches even)
5. Randall Bailey (let down by comparative lack of overall quality in the company of the above, too devastating in flashes to rank lower)
6. David Haye (except vs. Chisora his finishes are maybe less clinical than the rest, still an obvious choice)
7. Adonis Stevenson (Chad Dawson)
8. Edwin Valero (not the crispest puncher ever, slower hands than Haye)
9. Lucas Matthysse (a little uncreative sometimes, maybe lacks a little meanness)
10. Arthur Abraham (90% of the juice has left his punches since the Super Six but the Khoren Gevor and Jermain Taylor finishes speak for themselves)

asdfjkl wrote:

Like a Boss wrote:Like many others I'm a sucker for these lists and they tend to create some good discussion.

This Bleacher Report list prepared by Briggs Seekins factors in a P4P consideration. So some smaller guys get a look in too:

1. Vitali Klitschko

2. Wladimir Klitschko

3. Deontay Wilder

4. Sergey Kovalev

5. Gennady Golovkin

6. David Haye

7. Shannon Briggs

8. Alexander Povetkin

9. Roman Gonzalez

10. Randall Bailey

Haha, a 5ft 3 guy with a weight of 104-115 pounds and another 138-158 pound guy punching harder as Anthony Joshua for example?
David Haye punching harder then Alexander Povetkin?

Obviously no one is saying that the lighter weight guys hit as hard as any heavyweight - they are being rated for their p4p punching power. If it were a list of pure punching power, the top 10 would be all heavyweights (and Vitali still may not deserve to crack the top 10!).

David Haye is definitely a harder puncher p4p than Povetkin, but I think he's actually a harder puncher full stop, probably a bigger puncher than Vitali as well, though not as big as Wlad.
The list is funny, but not any serious.

jezzamundo wrote:

asdfjkl wrote:

Like a Boss wrote:Like many others I'm a sucker for these lists and they tend to create some good discussion.

This Bleacher Report list prepared by Briggs Seekins factors in a P4P consideration. So some smaller guys get a look in too:

1. Vitali Klitschko

2. Wladimir Klitschko

3. Deontay Wilder

4. Sergey Kovalev

5. Gennady Golovkin

6. David Haye

7. Shannon Briggs

8. Alexander Povetkin

9. Roman Gonzalez

10. Randall Bailey

Haha, a 5ft 3 guy with a weight of 104-115 pounds and another 138-158 pound guy punching harder as Anthony Joshua for example?
David Haye punching harder then Alexander Povetkin?

Obviously no one is saying that the lighter weight guys hit as hard as any heavyweight - they are being rated for their p4p punching power. If it were a list of pure punching power, the top 10 would be all heavyweights (and Vitali still may not deserve to crack the top 10!).

David Haye is definitely a harder puncher p4p than Povetkin, but I think he's actually a harder puncher full stop, probably a bigger puncher than Vitali as well, though not as big as Wlad.
The list is funny, but not any serious.

Lol, David Haye couldn't even KO Ismail Abdoul, the first time in history a fight of Vitali didn't end in KO was against Timo Hoffmann who was a 22 wins 0 loses guy at the time and it took another 7 years before that finally happened.
Only 3 wins of David Haye were actually real KO's, Vitali achieved that number already at his 6th fight, Povetkin had over double that as well and his last fight wasn't even counted as KO in the first round.
David Haye was a good cruiserweight, but had no serious roll in the heavyweight division, he just selected his opponends very carefully, but actually never even deserved a shot against any Klitschko. Vitali even considered to come out of retirement especially for him, but David Haye didn't dare to, he knew enough after the Wladimir fight.

Vitali was a far harder punches as Wladimir was, Vitali had 45 wins, 41 of them weren't on points.
Wladimir has 64 wins, 53 of them weren't on points.

I think Wlad hits harder than Vitali. Vitali was probably better, iron chin, bigger man... but he threw arm punches. Look what he did to Briggs for instance... he pounded on him like a piece of beef. Wlad would have pinged him on the chin with a shot that followed through.

At this point i think Kovalev is starting to make a strong case for being an atg puncher.

Sorry for messing up my quoting, I made it look like you wrote something that I did, my mistake.
I'm not 100% sure that Haye hit harder than Vitali, but I think it's up for discussion.
I am 100% sure that Wlad hits MUCH harder than Vitali ever did, although I rate Vitali as the better boxer and the one who would win a hypothetical matchup between the two. All you need to do is watch them fight to see that the younger brother is by far the harder puncher. Vitali's high KO ratio is due to a relatively low level of opposition and his total dominance over them - he ground his opponents down through prolonged beatings rather than sparking them with one big punch or combination.
To not count TKOs as true KOs is silly and KO% isn't a particularly good measure of a boxer's punching power.
I agree that Haye's heavyweight career isn't particularly impressive, but he did far better against Wlad than most (horrible fight though) and considering the generally poor standard of the division in recent years, I think it's a stretch to say he wasn't a worthy challenger.