BoxRec

ill be gone the next 5 days in training camp with team massachusetts at Boston university for high school freestyle wrestling nationals. but ill post one last topic for u to discuss, and think of some good ones while im away that i can bring back.

im starting to put together my middelweight tournament.


i must say i feel "the best finishers" is an important topic because its ability to finish that gave u the victory, not the knockout power punch. earnie shavers was what many considered one of the greatest punchers in history yet he never knocked out any one great. that was because he didnt have any finishnig power, which is why guys like lyle and holmes and ali were able to shake off his big punches and get off the floor.

archie moore i think is the best finisher in history. though he didnt have a famous punch, he was easily the best finisher, when he got a man hurt he almost always finished them. most knockouts in history.

others to mention:
joe louis- when ever he got a man hurt, they were almost always Kaoyed. even when he was losing to conn and walcottm he hurt them and soon knocked them both out. once he had a man down, he never let the fight go the distance.

george foreman- when he got u hurt, u better go down and be counted out or ur gonna wind up having serious damage to ur body.

mike tyson: incredible finishing power, he may have the most. he knocked out everyone easily in the 80s and finished guys who had never been knocked out before.

rocky marciano- once he hurt u, he wouldnt let u breathe, he would storm after u whether his nose was split open or not. he would throw 1000 punches at u, missing 500 and taking ur head off with the other 500 until u could no longer stand.

wilfredo gomez- awesome finishing power, NO ONE AT JUNIR FEATHERWEIGHT SURVIVED THE DISTANCE IN TITLE FIGHTS. NOT EVEN POWER PUNCHING LEGEND CARLOS ZARATE WHO WAS DISMANTLED IN 5. GOMEZ FINISHED EVERYONE. 42 KOS IN 44 WINS.

Jimmy wilde- this guy gets a lack of credit because he fought so long ago and he fought at what would now a days be STRAWEIGHT which according to grimm "arnt real humans" LOL. wilde has amazing pound for pound power much more than anyone in his weight class and knocked out 125 lbs weighing 105. i think he would knock out ricardo lopez if they fought.
I READ THAT HE USED HIS WIFE AS A SPARRING PARTNER LOL.

sonny liston
carlos zarate
surgar ray robinson
muhammad ali - yes, when he needed to finish someone he always stopped them, when he got them hurt.
jack dempsey
stanley ketchell
terry mcgovern
sandy saddler
marvin hagler
henry armstrong
sam langford
alexis arguello
mathew saad muhammad
slapsie maxie rosenbloom- ahhhh just kidding

who have i missed that deserves recognition??

Best I've seen was Ray Leonard....killer instinct when he knew an opponent was hurt. Tyso as well was letahl at the finish, as was Hagler, McClellan, James Toney, Louis, Robinson and Azumah Nelson

..before he killed baroudi ezzard charles was one of the greatest finishers ever (i count joe louis as the greatest). when charles had his man wherehe wanted him he went into action like the panther that gave him his nickname. could do it with one punch sometimes....but usually it was the almost frightening combinations that did it.

Mike Tyson for me. He was deadly when he had his man hurt.

Chavez closed the show pretty well in his day.

Yeah I was gonna say Chavez and if you've got Alexis you have to go with Aaron Pryor I'd think. Neither let people off the hook once they got them there.

Felix Trinidad that Joppy KO was incredible and with Mayorga...So bad that he changed his style on his latest fights...

Wilfredo Gomez,as Brockton said,was a vicious,merciless finisher who was also just a plain mean bastard.

jack dempsey
max baer

...i love max baer but i wouldn't call him a great finisher. he kept letting carnera off the hook...took him eleven knockdowns in eleven rounds before carnera was stopped...on his feet. maxie was seldom in top shape...so he had to fight in bursts and then rest a while. he had braddock in trouble for a brief....very brief spot....but didn't follow up. he practially beheaded schmeling.....but that was more from one devastating wallop and late in the fight.

could he have been a great finisher? Maxie is probably the greatest "what he could have been" champion we've had.....he may have wasted his potential.....but godallmighty he sure had a swell time doing it.

As a finisher, Joe Louis is tops in my book. It was rare when
he let a hurt opponent off the hook. Of course, I don't think
that there was a heavyweight who was such a tremendous
offensive machine. This is a fighter with fast hands, tremendous
power in both hands, a powerful jab thrown with textbook
precision, and the ability to throw fast combinations of
accurate, powerful punches.

- Chuck Johnston


.

I gotta go with all those listed in Brockton's original post. So many to choose from, but none of those guys ever seemed NOT to close the deal when they had the other guy hurt.

As for Earnie Shavers, there's really only one thing IMO that keeps him off the list of best closers in boxing. That is that, when he got a guy hurt, he suddenly became too anxious and wild. It was as if he thought he had to land another nuclear bomb, instead of just hitting the guy period. Often, when you have a guy hurt, if you can just hit 'em at all a few more times, it's the accumulation of shots that finishes what the original bomb initiated.