BoxRec

i've posted before on pipino cuevas, but the more i research his record the more impressed i am with his punching power.

here is my case your honor, you decide:

Angel Espada: 58 FIGHTS, pipino ko’d him 3 out of 3 only other ko; one to hearns at the tail end of espada’s career

Miguel Angel Campanino: only 5 losses out of 102 fights, only ko loss to cuevas, ko’d in TWO by cuevas!

Clyde Gray: only ko’d once in 64 fights leading up to his fight with cuevas, including 2 title fights, results; cuevas ko’d hm in 2 rounds!
Later in his career gray went 10 rounds with the god-like tommy hearns.

Harold Weston: only lost 5 fights or 36 going into fight with cuevas, never stopped, cuevas stopped him in 10! Last fight of weston’s career he lost to hearns in 6 becaseu of torn retina

Billy Backus: ko’d 4 times in 73 fights previous to fight with cuevas, unable to come out for 2nd round! Backus retired after fight.

Pete Ranzany: 69 career fights stopped by only cuevas, Leonard and muniz, cuevas stopped him quickest, 2nd round ko!

Scott Clark: 28-1 going into fight with cuevas, never ko’d, cuevas ko’d clark in 2 rounds! Clark never fought again.

Randy Shields: went 15 rounds….ok, shit happens…..next!

Harold Volbrecht: outboxing cuevas throughout, cuevas lands punch, volbrecht exits in round 5!

Successful title fights:

KO2
KO6
KO2
KO2
KO12
KO10
KO2
KO2
KO2
(W)15
KO10
KO5

11-0 10 ko’s in title fights (til hearns turned the table)
6 ko’s in 2 rounds or less. (I’ve always seen the backus fight as a KO1 everywhere else except boxrec).

But the thing more than numbers that wins the case for cuevas being the hardest puncher EVER is the ability of this guy to break bones! It seems everytime I heard this guy had a fight his opponents would not only suffer a ko loss but broken bones as well:

(depending on memory here, so let me know if I made any mistakes)

Espada- broken jaw
Gray- broken jaw
Weston-broken ribs
Backus- broken eye socket
Ranzany- broken jaw
Did I miss any?
Hearns, duran, tyson, foreman, shavers zarate, zamora were all killing machines, but none were bone-breakers compared to cuevas.

Is there any case that can be argued for a fighter being any harder puncher pound for pound that cuevas? i don't fricken think so.

footnote: another tidbit about cuevas that is interesting is his mediocre record before and after his title years:

15-6 13KO's going into his title fight against espades.
8-9 7KO's after his title reign (including the near decapitation by hearns)

Jimmy Wilde.

ahhh only one response, good, gooood that means everyone agrees with me

cuevas

KO2
KO6
KO2
KO2
KO12
KO10
KO2
KO2
KO2
(W)15
KO10
KO5

Compare duran's title def's at his peak:

KO13
KO5
KO8
KO10
KO11
KO1
KO14
KO15
KO14
KO1
KO13
W15
KO12

Duran has to work his opponent over all night long, cuevas takes em’ out quick SMACK ZOWIE BOOM!

Duran averages 10 rds per fight, cuevas averages 6 rounds per fight.

pringle wrote:
8-9 7KO's after his title reign (including the near decapitation by hearns)

and the 4 round laceration by Duran

I agree with your assesment on Pipino in comparing him with Duran: different kind of animal altogether, but how about making a parallel with the likes of Carlos Zarate, Wilfredo Gomez or Alfonso Zamora?

PFP hardest hitter is surely Sam Langford-knocking out people from welter up to heavyweight-what further 'pound for pound' proof do you need-the guy spanned (what would today constitute as) 7 weight classes!!!!

Bob Foster...


left opponents out cold for minutes...

and the 4 round laceration by Duran

duran flat kicked the crap out of pipino in that one.

Id have to pick Langford over Cuevas easily. Langford knocked out some of the biggest SOBs at his time and left them stone cold on the canvas.

Though every loss was via KO, Julian "The Hawk" Jackson was a monster hitter. He was truly an all or nothing fighter.

John Mugabi...

23 fights 23 ko's...

Fact...

John Mugabi...

23 fights 23 ko's...

Fact...

25-0 25ko's until his first loss against hagler.

how many of mugabi's ko's were against world classfighters?
how many of his ko's against guys never ko'd?
how many bones has he broken?
no comparison until you find someone who consistantly broke bones like cuevas.

Though every loss was via KO, Julian "The Hawk" Jackson was a monster hitter. He was truly an all or nothing fighter.

hard hitter who's name always come up when he discussion turns to power punchers, but my standard criteria applies to him:

how many of his ko's were against world classfighters? (probably has a good record in this catagory, unlike mugabi)
how many of his ko's against guys never ko'd?
how many bones has he broken?
no comparison until you find someone who consistantly broke bones like cuevas.

PFP hardest hitter is surely Sam Langford-knocking out people from welter up to heavyweight-what further 'pound for pound' proof do you need-the guy spanned (what would today constitute as) 7 weight classes!!!!

to name a few guys: sam mcvea, joe janette, harry wills, jeff clark, jim berry all went the distance with sam multiple times including on occasion beating sam. if sam was so all fired powerful, how could these gys go the distance time and again?

how many of his ko's were against world classfighters? how many of his ko's against guys never ko'd?
how many bones has he broken?
no comparison until you find someone who consistantly broke bones like cuevas.

Bob Foster...


left opponents out cold for minutes...

tell that to ray anderson, who lost a 15 round DECISION but was ko'd 3 out of his 5 losses going nintothe foster fight.

tell that to pierre fourie who went the full 15 rds twice with foster but was ko'd 2 times in previous losses.

tell that to jorge ahumada who was ko'd in 4 of his 5 previous losses but fought foster to a 15 rd draw.


how many of his ko's against guys never ko'd?
how many bones has he broken?
no comparison until you find someone who consistantly broke bones like cuevas.

pringle wrote:

PFP hardest hitter is surely Sam Langford-knocking out people from welter up to heavyweight-what further 'pound for pound' proof do you need-the guy spanned (what would today constitute as) 7 weight classes!!!!

to name a few guys: sam mcvea, joe janette, harry wills, jeff clark, jim berry all went the distance with sam multiple times including on occasion beating sam. if sam was so all fired powerful, how could these gys go the distance time and again?

how many of his ko's were against world classfighters? how many of his ko's against guys never ko'd?
how many bones has he broken?
no comparison until you find someone who consistantly broke bones like cuevas.

You are a nut. For your information, Jeannette, Mcvey, Willis (all 3 in HOF), and Clark were all word class/elite heavyweights with very good chins.-he fought all of them 8 times or more (in Willis's case over 20). Of course when you fight that many times, you're not always going to get a KO or a win.
30 KOs in the late 70s/early 80s vs 132 KOs over a period over 20 years.

Steve Little? Roger Staford??? Ruben Vasquez??? Eleazar Delgago-all these fellas went the distance with your mudering Cuevas but forigive me if I'm wrong they aren't making the HOF anytime soon.

I agree Pringle that Cuevas is right up there with the best punchers p4p of all time. Personally I don't think you can pick one fighter as the best... there is also Langford, Al Brown, Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Wilfredo Gomez, Eranie Shavers, George Foreman. Cuevas though is one of the few fighters that I've seen who really takes your breath away with the destructiveness of his power.... he reminds me a lot of Foreman and Shavers and ofcourse they were Heavyweights!

How about the great Sandy Saddler

silkov wrote:I agree Pringle that Cuevas is right up there with the best punchers p4p of all time. Personally I don't think you can pick one fighter as the best... there is also Langford, Al Brown, Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Wilfredo Gomez, Eranie Shavers, George Foreman. Cuevas though is one of the few fighters that I've seen who really takes your breath away with the destructiveness of his power.... he reminds me a lot of Foreman and Shavers and ofcourse they were Heavyweights!

Good post. To say there is obviously one is silly.

Pringle your obviously a Cuevas fanboy or Cuevas himself. You want to talk P4P take a guy like Langford who in his prime was little more than a lightheavy if even and could regularly KO men weighing 200 pounds or more. Thats true P4P power.

Hell Cueves wasnt even the greatest puncher at WELTERWEIGHT Ray Robinson was at least as good a puncher at welterweight and fought the better competition of the two to prove it.

I think that the welterweight midget "The Barbados Demon" Joe Walcott deserves an honorable mention as well.Anyone who stands all of 5'1 weighing 147 to 150 pounds and capable of knocking out heavyweights is definately worth mentioning as a devastating puncher.

I don't mean to downplay the big achievements of beating bigger men, but let's not forget many of heavyweights in those days were cruiserweights by todays standards. So if Tommy Hearns was fighting in those days he would have knocked out "heavyweights" too.

I'm sure Walcott KO'd big heavies but you get my point.

How many 200 pound+ men did Tommy Hearns ever knock out?

Rocky Marciano has to be ranked as one of the hardest punchers. He wore his opponents down merely hitting them on the arms. Ask Roland LaStarza