The hardest heavyweight punchers in the last 20 years!

Found this whilst doing a bit of browsing the other day. Quite interesting..

Hello everyone. I'm a friend of AJ's from another forum. I used to box professionally from time to time, but nowadays I still spar. I've sparred with many legends. AJ asked to me describe what it is like to be in the ring with them and gauge their punching power. I will not reveal my name for personal reasons, but under anoymousity I feel a bit safer. If you want to know my identity send me an email, but I doubt you've heard of me anyway. I only had three professional fights.

I fought Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe as an amateur.

Riddicks power wasnt memorable to me. It probably got better as he got older, cause he never even remotely buzzed me in either of our contests.

Lennox hit like a Frak tank. He cowed me; I won the first round, and he literally broke my spirit and took my soul with a right uppercut and straight right hand in the 2nd. I tried to stay away, and forgot to punch. He never got me quite as good again, but I will never forget those two punches. When we sparred years later, he hit very hard. Distinctly unpleasant to be hit by the man.

David Tua was unpleasant. I can't see myself getting stopped by him early, as he never really staggers me, but every shot hurt, and he'd bang. Every other guy I ever sparred would box when I got aggressive, but David would stand his ground and give. I'd get these horrible headaches after sparring with him, and Dave told me once that whenever he knew I was on the dance card, he'd drink extra water for his brain. Nice guy. Hit like a wrecking ball. David Tua hit hard enough to knock my headgear clean around my face. Dude had a pretty limited style, but that left was quick as a cobra when he was sharp, and boy did it have bite. Having sparred them both, Wladimir would school Tua and probably turn out his lights. He just lacks almost any sort of refinement to his violence. Granted, I don't really either unless I'm really, really on that day, but the best heavyweights I've sparred handled me a lot easier than David did.
Feels kinda bad critiquing the dude, though. He's a fun guy, super hospitable and friendly, hit like a truck and put me through plenty of painful paces. I only hope our careers and lives don't end up with me required to face him with 12's and no mask. I can't afford the surgery.

Evander Holyfield was a machine gun. He put me on my butt first round we ever sparred with a 7 or 8 punch volley. He just punched well; He'd move around and when he let them go, they hit, hard and fast and in large numbers. He was the weakest of the group since Bowe, but probably the most dangerous. He never found me difficult to find, and turned me into a bobble head more than once.

George Foreman was tricky. His jab was absolutely numbing-Ive never felt a jab like that, where your whole face would feel like it got novacained after he hit you with it. He'd also throw light punches primarily, almost pitty pat, till he had the opening, and then he'd wallop you. His punches had the most force; They didn't hurt any worse than Tua or Lewis, but I remember how badly they'd screw with my balance. His shots moved me. He also broke my nose with a straight right.

Wladimir Klitschko hit me by far the hardest, though. I couldn't get past the jab, and his right hands hit like thunder. They reminded me of Lewis', but they were quicker and sharper. Wladimir staggered me regularly in sparring. There are literally whole rounds I don't remember. He also knocked me out with a left hook. Not down, out. Only time in my life I've seen canvas and not been able to stand up by 10 seconds.

Any other questions about these men, don't hesitate.

http://dugger-s-ranch.2299399.n4.nabble.com/I-sparred-with-Evander-Holyfield-George-Foreman-Lennox-Lewis-David-Tua-and-others-td4090601.html

Quite surprised about Bowe, although not an ATG puncher he usually put guys in a lot of trouble.

fantastc stuff , like to hear this , and i can belive wlad hitting the hardest, hes stright right is slowish and does not look spectacular but it has real impact and really drives through,

Stop taking the urine out of JM

sorry thought i'd get it out of the way

No chance in hell does Wladimir or anyone other than possibly Shavers or Foreman knock Tua out, forget him being knocked down by Barrett as an old shop worn fighter but look at his fights against Lewis and Ibeabuchi to understand what an unbreakable object he was.

Tua, Lewis, Wlad and even post prison Tyson are the heaviest hitters since 1992.

Imperial Ghosty wrote:No chance in hell does Wladimir or anyone other than possibly Shavers or Foreman knock Tua out, forget him being knocked down by Barrett as an old shop worn fighter but look at his fights against Lewis and Ibeabuchi to understand what an unbreakable object he was.

Tua, Lewis, Wlad and even post prison Tyson are the heaviest hitters since 1992.

Well a guy who has been in the ring and has first hand experience claims otherwise (unless he's a wum). I'd take his word over yours.

Well Lewis schooled Tua and landed almost at will but didn't manage to make him even budge a foot so find it highly unlikely that Wladimir could do any differently.

It's your opinion against the guy's. I would probably agree with you had I not read that piece.

I think especially when he was young and less muscled it was extremely quick, maybe it's just his age and his caution which has slowed it down somewhat. Corey Sanders ( the american one) and Phil Jackson also seem to agree Klitschko was the hardest puncher they faced.

Well of course it's my opinion Az but from what i've seen of both Lewis and Wlad it's Lewis who appears to be the bigger puncher. Aside from which Lewis was always more prepared to unleash his right hand than Wlad so don't think the ukranian would be particularly aggressive against Tua especially taking into consideration his performance against a far lesser puncher in Haye. Having power is one thing but it's another being able to utilise it.

But Ghosty - Haye spend his entire time running away - Tua may as well be a standalone punch bag

You can see wladamir's power so it comes as no surprise to what he said. He rarely throws the straight right as he can coast a couple of round with the jab alone but when he does throw it it normally ends with a fighter on the canvas

Pretty insightful article but the only surprise imo is Bowe. Holyfield was a cruiserweight so used his speed to accumulate damage rather than load up on huge punches.

Given how hard he said an old George hit but ultimately his speed meant he neve really caught him. He could hurt you punching your guard and showed how in his prime he must have been an animal.

I think Tua can be stopped, but not by Wlad but not because he doesn't hit hard enough I feel he won't want to take any risks fighting someone who can bang like Tua could

Remember Wladimir was extremely agressive pre Sanders, much more so than Lewis ever was so these guys obviously felt the full force of his power at some point. Where as nowadays guys can go most of the fight without feeling his true power because he hardly throws any power punches until he has his opponents where he wan'ts them. Just going by all the guys who have fought and sparred with both pretty much all seems to say Klitschko was a bigger puncher but Lewis put his punches together better.

Wlad was ultra cautious against a very defensive minded fighter so can only imagine he'd be even more cautious against an offensive fighter with devastating power. There is more chance in my opinion of Tua knocking Wlad out than the other way round.

Yeah fair enough although Tua does get hit by the left so frequently Wlad might want to stick some in his face rather than committing the straight right and exposing himself to tuas left hook

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Well of course it's my opinion Az but from what i've seen of both Lewis and Wlad it's Lewis who appears to be the bigger puncher. Aside from which Lewis was always more prepared to unleash his right hand than Wlad so don't think the ukranian would be particularly aggressive against Tua especially taking into consideration his performance against a far lesser puncher in Haye. Having power is one thing but it's another being able to utilise it.

The issue isn't about who utilises their power best. But who is the hardest hitter. It could well be that Wlad held back in the real fight and was more confident to stand and throw bombs in sparring. Nothing to lose in sparring.

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:

I think Tua can be stopped, but not by Wlad but not because he doesn't hit hard enough I feel he won't want to take any risks fighting someone who can bang like Tua could

Think people are a little unfair on Wlad's power. What always strikes me about watching Wlad is how quickly his opponents get discouraged, now quite frequently that is because they are not very good, but it is not always the case and even the better guys he faces tend to figuratively and often literally give up after a few rounds,suggests to me those jabs and straight rights carry a bit more behind them than he gets credit for.

Should also be added that whilst Wlad may not give us the Tyson style highlight reel single shot Ko's, there ain't too many of his opponents hear the judges scores being read out.

rowley, no-one has said Wlad doesn't hit as hard as given credit for, literally everyone has said they agree with the guy who sparred them that he is a frightful puncher when he lets them go. The only poster that might be beig unfair on him is Ghosty but the only thing he said was he might not hit as hard as Lewis which isn't really critisising him

WK's right hand is a wrecking ball. If Tua, or anyone else, walks onto one it's game over.

.....

Wlad also has the record amount of stoppages of guys who have never been stopped before, 14 i think with Roy Jones second

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Well of course it's my opinion Az but from what i've seen of both Lewis and Wlad it's Lewis who appears to be the bigger puncher. Aside from which Lewis was always more prepared to unleash his right hand than Wlad so don't think the ukranian would be particularly aggressive against Tua especially taking into consideration his performance against a far lesser puncher in Haye. Having power is one thing but it's another being able to utilise it.

Emanuel Steward who trains both said Wladimir is by far the bigger puncher...Freddie Roach who trained Tyson and Wlad said Wladimir had the bigger punch.

Just be quiet ghosty your showing yourself up as usual...Your biased against the Klitschko brothers.

Tua would lunge into a Wlad right hand and get knocked out.

I judge solely on what i've seen, he may well hit harder than them in training or sparring but in an actual fight he doesn't utilise his power as well as either Tyson or Lewis.

i dont doubt wlads power, his ko percentage speaks for itself. i think the reason why many dont see him as a huge wreaking ball fighter is his cautious approach. these days he rarely stands in front and sits down on his punches through always wanting to get back on his back foot and keep his range. someone like tua would come forward and basically stand and bang and if the punches landed the effect was often devastating and more eye catching, the thing with wlad though, is that his punches are quicker and alot more accurate

i dont see wlad stopping tua, certainly not the more highly polished version now that outboxed but couldnt stop haye, perhaps the more reckless younger had a chance to stop him on his feet but prime for prime see him fighting off his back foot to a shut out

the other reason i would doubt his ability to stop tua would be his record when it comes agaisnt the slighty better oppenents he's faced, while due to the era his oppenents have not been the best his best wins have usually been points wins

haye, peter 1, byrd and ibragimov were all points wins, all of which are decent wins but not many better than a prime tua

hmmm, ive beleived a similar thread like this before. im saying tyson.

compelling and rich wrote:the other reason i would doubt his ability to stop tua would be his record when it comes agaisnt the slighty better oppenents he's faced, while due to the era his oppenents have not been the best his best wins have usually been points wins

haye, peter 1, byrd and ibragimov were all points wins, all of which are decent wins but not many better than a prime tua

Don't forget he fought Byrd twice. Firstly winning a points decision in 2000, a year before Byrd easily beat Tua, and then destroying him 5 years later. I think those contests, and his two fights with Sam Peter, were a good gauge to see how far WK had progressed over that time. Haye and Ibragimov were both concerned with not getting beat up more than trying to win, I don't think Tua has/had that mentality.

Mayweathers cellmate wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:the other reason i would doubt his ability to stop tua would be his record when it comes agaisnt the slighty better oppenents he's faced, while due to the era his oppenents have not been the best his best wins have usually been points wins

haye, peter 1, byrd and ibragimov were all points wins, all of which are decent wins but not many better than a prime tua

Don't forget he fought Byrd twice. Firstly winning a points decision in 2000, a year before Byrd easily beat Tua, and then destroying him 5 years later. I think those contests, and his two fights with Sam Peter, were a good gauge to see how far WK had progressed over that time. Haye and Ibragimov were both concerned with not getting beat up more than trying to win, I don't think Tua has/had that mentality.

while wlad had improved, peter had also just become a fat slob in that time, its why i dont realy consider the second much of a win. at least in the first one he posed a threat. similar with byrd his best form was back in the first fight, the gap between tua fight and the second one was about 5 years, first fight happened about a year before tua win

eddyfightfan wrote:hmmm, ive beleived a similar thread like this before. im saying tyson.

the mythical prime tyson was done by 1990 which is past twenty years ago, he didnt knock many out after other than mighty bruno and julias francis afterwards

compelling and rich wrote:

Mayweathers cellmate wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:the other reason i would doubt his ability to stop tua would be his record when it comes agaisnt the slighty better oppenents he's faced, while due to the era his oppenents have not been the best his best wins have usually been points wins

haye, peter 1, byrd and ibragimov were all points wins, all of which are decent wins but not many better than a prime tua

Don't forget he fought Byrd twice. Firstly winning a points decision in 2000, a year before Byrd easily beat Tua, and then destroying him 5 years later. I think those contests, and his two fights with Sam Peter, were a good gauge to see how far WK had progressed over that time. Haye and Ibragimov were both concerned with not getting beat up more than trying to win, I don't think Tua has/had that mentality.

while wlad had improved, peter had also just become a fat slob in that time, its why i dont realy consider the second much of a win. at least in the first one he posed a threat. similar with byrd his best form was back in the first fight, the gap between tua fight and the second one was about 5 years, first fight happened about a year before tua win

I dont think there was much differance between Peters weight or conditioning in the two Wlad fights. I think Wlad had just improved significantly in the time. Peter was maybe a little more shopworn having received a beat down from Vitali but I do think the differance was primarily down to Wlad becoming a more complete fighter, if a more cautious one at that.

Peter in the first fight showed an incredible chin, he was just taking right hands for fun until the last round when that left hook caused him to do a dance. In his fights after especially against Mcline you could see his durability had decreased badly, in the second fight Wlad landed for the first time in round 2 with a right hand that had Peter holding on for dear life. I think Peter was pretty much done after the first fight but still a good ko win.

just had a look and his weight was roughly the same, but i agree with monty 5 years and a fair few beatings like vitali must have had a affect. and he had also balloned up to 364 pounds!!! a year before the second wlad fight. hardly something to suggest that peter was a similar fighter to the one first time round

He was never 364lbs surely? I imagne he was more shopworn by the second Wlad fight but he was as light as he ever was in his prime and soaked up a fair amount of punishment that I think a fighter with lesser resistance would not have managed. I think overall Wlad improved alot more in the 5 years between than Peter deteriorated. I just dont think he could get near to Wlad in the second fight as Wlads conditioning, defence on the inside, ring control and more cautious approach had improved him.

compelling and rich wrote:just had a look and his weight was roughly the same, but i agree with monty 5 years and a fair few beatings like vitali must have had a affect. and he had also balloned up to 364 pounds!!! a year before the second wlad fight. hardly something to suggest that peter was a similar fighter to the one first time round

I think you've been looking at his opponents weight on BoxRec.

Peter may have slipped a bit between their two fights, but WK had improved massively in that time. WK was a bit of a laughing stock going into their first fight, it really was last chance saloon stuff. If he'd lost, I doubt he'd have carried on.

Errr so this guy sparred all the top names from the late 80's to the early '00's? Hmmmm.

Regardless. I'd probably wager of the last 20 years Lewis was the biggest puncher. He was obviously more conservative in his style than some of the others, but when he let his hands fly it was usually game over, the man is a behemoth and has some devastating KO's behind him.

WK is the same, conservative and therefore less obvious a choice than a more destructive fighter like Tyson, but when he does (eventually) choose to throw the big right his power is awesome.

Mayweathers cellmate wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:just had a look and his weight was roughly the same, but i agree with monty 5 years and a fair few beatings like vitali must have had a affect. and he had also balloned up to 364 pounds!!! a year before the second wlad fight. hardly something to suggest that peter was a similar fighter to the one first time round

I think you've been looking at his opponents weight on BoxRec.

Peter may have slipped a bit between their two fights, but WK had improved massively in that time. WK was a bit of a laughing stock going into their first fight, it really was last chance saloon stuff. If he'd lost, I doubt he'd have carried on.

ah you may be right, i was looking at the wrong bit

I wondered where people would rate Bruno's right, in terms of one shot power?

Also who does 606 think had the had the the most powerful single shot left-hook, rear hand uppercut, straight back hand, and jab.

I'll start,

Rear Uppercut - Lewis
Left Hook - Tua
Straight Rear Hand - Bruno?
Jab - (when thrown with venom) any of Wlad, Bowe or Lewis?
Over hand back hand - Lewis

It's too early to think.....help!!!!

everyone loves a good sparring story, because invariably they aren't provable, and regardless some fighters put more into it than others. Apparently glen mccrory sparred regularly with a peak mike tyson, without ever being in trouble. But he still got starched regularly throughout his career.

If the guy is genuine...if.. and he could have sparred all those guys, as it sounds like the piece is over 10 years old, then its an interesting perspective, but not conclusive.

No-one has mentioned vk, and he has a better ko % than wlad... if you factor in that wlad got more conservative under steward and the vk has got old recently so both have had a few more go the distance, there isnt much in it statistically

Wlad hit's significantly harder than Vitali, Wlad can take out his opponent at any point whereas Vitali can't and just has to wear his opponent's down. In terms of actual KO's i think Wlad has the best percentage of any heavyweight champion, certainly recently.

Vitali USED to have the same type of crushing power Wladimir did, look at the type of punches he used to throw years back agaisnt the lieks of Williams, fast hard crisp lookign shots, not the strange arm type looking awkward punches he throws now.

AlexHuckerby wrote:Vitali USED to have the same type of crushing power Wladimir did, look at the type of punches he used to throw years back agaisnt the lieks of Williams, fast hard crisp lookign shots, not the strange arm type looking awkward punches he throws now.

No he doesn't and he never has and never will have Wladimir's punching power...I dont care about his knockout record Vitali has never had one punch knockout power.

Vitali's power is overrated along with his chin...Wladimir is up there with the likes of Shavers and Foreman in one punch power.

vitali has always been more mobile and would stalk his opponents, to get shots off, therefore never used to sit on his punches like wlad has. doesnt mean hes not capable of hitting as hard if he chose to fight more stationery as wlad does. ive heard wlad say in interviews that vitali hits much harder.

He does not hit harder than Wladimir end off...Wladimir also said this old version of Vitali is getting better.

Emanuel Steward and Freddie Roach said Wlad hits harder than Lewis and Tyson.

Anyone who thinks Vitali hits harder than Wlad is deluded.

Lance,

Vitali moves worse than Wlad. His footwork during bouts is ungainly.

This doesn't prove anything but its interesting to see them train together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOGoF1HA7Ho

Wlad just needs his brothers chin and aggressiveness whereas Vitali could improve by taking nearly any one of wlads attributes apart from chin. Straighter, faster jab, excellent left hook when he's inclined to use it, excellent jab to the body and truly deadly power when he throws either hand with Venom. I remember a time when Wlad used to lead with a left hook - a mixture of what he is now and what he was would have made for a truly exciting heavy

To some extent, with regard to the video i posted, I think its Wlad's timing that flatters Vit's head movement. During competition Vit tends to lean back rather than slip.

BTW I think your right Shah

TheMackemMawler wrote:Lance,

Vitali moves worse than Wlad. His footwork during bouts is ungainly.

This doesn't prove anything but its interesting to see them train together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOGoF1HA7Ho

he may move worse, but he moves more and doesnt sit on his punches.

The genius of PBF wrote:He does not hit harder than Wladimir end off...Wladimir also said this old version of Vitali is getting better.

Emanuel Steward and Freddie Roach said Wlad hits harder than Lewis and Tyson.

Anyone who thinks Vitali hits harder than Wlad is deluded.

you may well be right on this one, i certainly wouldnt claim to have the authoritative opinion on it. however maybe you should learn how to spell simple words such as of. you constantly confuse it with 'off'. which is pretty poor from somebody who likes to talk down to people.

Maybe you should learn how to use capital letters before you criticise somones grammar.