The Top 10 biggest modern Heavyweight punchers 1980-present !!

You agree ??

1. Foreman
2. Tyson
3. Shavers
4. Cooney
5. Bruno
6. Lewis
7. Sanders
8. Ruddock
9. Weaver
10. Wlad Klitty..

Swap shavers and Foreman round, and ruddock and wlad although it's a pretty good list! Maybe Lewis and Bruno swap aswell

Ruddock was devastating Mate.........Smith and Dokes were truly awesome.......

It's all subjective......Prefer Bruno above Lewis too..

Just what you here about wlad from sparring partners etc has changed it for me, for being a safety first fighter he has a high Ko percentage all be it against mostly rubbish

Sparring partners are employed by him Diamond has to be said.........

Apparently cameron's PR guy thinks cameron is a great Prime Minister..

I have Haye and Klit pretty much level on the punching stakes........

Pretty much.

he is a good hitter but I've seen better.

That's true but there also sparring partners who haven't sparred with him for a while! Haye is a big puncher but can't really judge him at heavyweight as his record is soo thin

Are you a Klit fan ??

Have you seen some of the fighters I have mentioned ???

It's not a pop Diamond...You make good points..........

Guys like Weaver..........were devastating against Williams and Tate and had Holmes in trouble.......

Smith who isn't on the list could be devastating too.........

No not really, think he ruins heavyweight boxing but give credit where it's due! could also have david tua or someone like that in there aswell! I've seen all the fighters you mention except weaver and sanders

I was thinking of putting Tua in there Mate..Good call.

Pretty hard list to compile. Guys like Tua, Morrison and Cooper were all blessed with tremendous power could potentially merit a place on the list.

Also, judging power is difficult. Freddie Roach for instance said that Wlad Klitschko was a far harder puncher than Tyson was but Tyson's speed and angles made him the more dangerous puncher.

Very true.......Morrison was a consideration..........

Hard list to compile..

Shout for Ibeabuchi as the job he did on Byrd was terrifying. Good call for Tua and Morrison as well.

As far as Wlad goes - Manny Steward described him as one of the hardest one-punch KO artists he'd seen - but someone who didn't put there combinations together.

Neither Wlad or Vitali, however, did to Byrd what Ibeabuchi did. So I'd have to find room for him somewhere.

Also - pre-retirement Vitali had the highest KO percentage of any HW champion. Does he merit a place?

Cooper dropped Ali... bad. Foreman didn't. Point is comparing how two fighters did doesn't always paint take picture

kingraf wrote:Cooper dropped Ali... bad. Foreman didn't. Point is comparing how two fighters did doesn't always paint take picture

True - except both Wlad and Vit - at various points in their fights, caught Byrd clean and whilst they dented him a little, they didn't stop him, quite unlike Ibeabuchi.

I've never been a fan of using sparring as an indicator, it doesn't take into account the adrenaline when in a competitive fight.

1. Shavers
2. Foreman
3. Tyson
4. Tua
5. Lewis
6. Cooney
7. Ibeabuchi
8. Morrison
10. Wlad

Don't think Ike had enough fights to really justify a place on the list. The Byrd KO was impressive but he caught him with the perfect punch - and Bryd was usually very hard to catch cleanly.
Different head to head matches often produce different results as well. Levi Billups for instance went the distance with Lewis but could only manage to go three rounds with Moorer, but I doubt many would argue that Moorer hit harder that Lewis just because of that.

oxring wrote:

kingraf wrote:Cooper dropped Ali... bad. Foreman didn't. Point is comparing how two fighters did doesn't always paint take picture

True - except both Wlad and Vit - at various points in their fights, caught Byrd clean and whilst they dented him a little, they didn't stop him, quite unlike Ibeabuchi.

Foreman didn't catch Ali on the point of the chin......

Irrelevant..

Tough picking between Foreman and Shavers, I guess, but I'd have to go with George here. What Shavers did to so many, Foreman did to an all-time great Heavyweight in Frazier. Nothing quite as impressive on Shavers' knockout list.

Also worth noting that a few men - Holmes, Mercado, Lyle etc - were decked by Shavers but were still able to come back and stop him. I agree that this is also down to finishing ability as well as brute power, but in contrast I don't think anyone ever got up off the deck to beat Foreman (Lyle came close, mind you!) and the only time I can think of in which Foreman had his man badly, badly hurt and didn't go on to win in some capacity was the Young fight.

Bit of a flimsy tie breaker, perhaps, but worth considering when the margins are so fine.

I'd have Wlad a lot higher.  When he throws the right hand with venom, which he rarely does nowadays, it's one of the hardest punches in the history of boxing.

Pretty much every fighter that fought Shavers said he was the heaviest puncher they ever met.  Some of these guys fought Foreman as well. Shavers wasn't a big man either, 6 foot and around 205.

Even though it's frowned on to use quotes around here I'll throw out one on Shavers power.  There are some funnier ones but this compares Shavers to Foreman:


Ron Lyle: "Hey man, that's the hardest I've ever been hit in my life. And George Foreman could punch, but none of them could hit like Earnie Shavers did. When he hit you, the lights went out. I can laugh about it now, but at the time,it wasn't funny."

A great one from Tex Cobb as well Strongy;

"Holmes doesn't hit as hard as Shavers. Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I'd shoot him."

No David Tua?

David tua was ten on my list before I changed it............

Maybe I was wrong I don't know..

It's a helluva list..

Tuas left hook was devastating, the one guy Lewis was clearly scared of.

Fraizer had the classiest left hook but when it came to blunt force trauma nothing compares to the Tua left hook. It's a truly sickening punch to see landed.

Poor man's mike Tyson

Hammersmith harrier wrote:A great one from Tex Cobb as well Strongy;

"Holmes doesn't hit as hard as Shavers. Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I'd shoot him."

'Anybody can hit as hard as Earnie Shavers. The thing that makes Earnie Shavers so significant is that Earnie Shavers is gonna hit you that hard every single time he lays leather on you. I had never been in a situation like Earnie before. And if I have anything to do with it, I'm damn sure not gonna get into it again.'

Another one from Tex

I wouldn't disagree and being around the same height Tua just didn't have the speed or variety of punches that Tyson used to get inside. Tua's left hook is still a crazy punch.

Tua's timing was all wrong.........unfortunately......

Pick him to beat Coetzee, Weaver, berbick, Smith, Dokes, Tucker and Spinks in the 80s..

Thomas, Page Tubbs, Douglas probably take him though

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Tuas left hook was devastating, the one guy Lewis was clearly scared of.

I agree that Tua was the guy that Lewis had the most respect for when it came to one punch power. more so than Tyson. If Tyson catches you he knows how to finish, and in his prime had excellent hand speed. But if it came to one punch would say Tua had a bigger punch than Tyson

Shannon Briggs always looked impressive. Just a shame he fought mainly garbage...