When it comes to popular water-cooler topics in boxing, few, if any, top this one: who is the most powerful puncher to ever step through the ropes? The question became even more topical after Deontay Wilder’s eyebrow raising, one-shot knockout of Luis Ortiz this past weekend. Yes, Wilder stretched an opponent he had already battered into helplessness once before, but it was the shocking manner in which “The Bronze Bomber” lowered the boom with a single right-hand jolt that got hardcore boxing enthusiasts and mainstream sports fans alike asking if Wilder belongs aside the most fearsome punchers, pound-for-pound, in ring history.
Say goodnight, Luis: The big right hand that got everyone talking.
Well you won’t find Wilder’s name here as active fighters with years to go before their careers end are not under consideration. And we’re not even going to attempt a ranking of the most potent punchers at any weight, including as it must middleweights and welterweights such as Stanley Ketchel and Barbados Joe Walcott, or even more diminutive bruisers such as Sandy Saddler and Jimmy Wilde. Besides, basic physics tells us that the most powerful punches ever thrown in the squared circle had to come from the division where they naturally carry the most sheer weight and impact, in other words, the big men. The guys at the top of the beanstalk. The heavyweights.
The fists of two of the most potent punchers: Dempsey and Louis.
But that said, size and weight are far from the only facets determining the explosiveness of the best punchers. At least three of the men on our list were not particularly large, but their ability to deliver blows with shattering power and render helpless men much heavier, speaks for itself. Timing, accuracy, balance, not to mention ferocity, also factor in, and help explain why some of the physically biggest boxers cannot match some smaller heavyweights for hitting power.
So here they are, the greatest heavyweight punchers of all-time. Most of the names will no doubt be familiar to fight fans, others perhaps less so, but what they all have in common is a long list of opponents left supine on the dusty canvas courtesy of the dynamite in their fists.
12. Cleveland Williams: The fighter they called “The Big Cat” stretched no fewer than fifty-eight men. Sonny Liston, who knew a thing or two about power, dubbed him the hardest puncher he’d ever faced.
Cleveland Williams
11. Max Baer: This heavyweight champion had fifty-two KOs in 67 victories, most of them courtesy of his pulverizing right hand. In the 1930s, and before the rise of Joe Louis, he was regarded as arguably the hardest puncher ever.
Baer standing over another KO victim.
10. Elmer Ray: Also known as “Kid Violent,” and for good reason. One of the most feared punchers in heavyweight history. In eighty pro wins, Ray scored an incredible 76 knockouts.
Ray catches Ezzard Charles with a left.
9. Jack Dempsey: The Manassa Mauler, boasting fifty knockouts in 61 wins, was renowned for his brutal power, especially his lethal left hook.
Georges Carpentier is driven out of the ring by Dempsey’s power.
8. Bob Fitzsimmons: Appearances can be deceiving, but there’s no arguing with 59 knockouts in 66 bouts. Arguably the greatest body puncher of all-time, “The Freckled Wonder,” while lacking an impressive physique, made a science of delivering truly devastating power shots.
Bob Fitzsimmons. Ink drawing by Damien Burton.
7. Rocky Marciano: Marciano punched way above his weight with an 88% knockout ratio, pounding much bigger men into submission with his vicious shots and scoring one of the most devastating one-punch knockouts in boxing history over Jersey Joe Walcott.
The Rock: Ink drawing by Damien Burton
6. Mike Tyson: Tyson’s prime was short, but while it lasted, no one hit harder. His most spectacular knockouts will always be highlight favorites for legions of fight fans.
Tyson’s power made him the youngest heavyweight champ in history.
5. George Foreman: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!” And Norton. And Lyle. And Moorer …
George Foreman. Drawing by Damien Burton.
4. Sonny Liston: Liston’s power was too much for the best heavyweights of his time and enabled him to twice demolish Floyd Patterson in the first round. One of the most feared champions in heavyweight history.
Sonny Liston. Painting by Damien Burton.
3. Sam Langford: While rarely weighing much over 170 pounds, the man they called “The Boston Tar Baby” was a deadly puncher with either hand and a ruthless finisher. Harry Wills, Gunboat Smith, Joe Jeannette and Sam McVea all fell victim to Langford and when asked, all pointed to Langford as the hardest puncher they had ever faced.
The immortal “Boston Bonecrusher.” Drawing by Damien Burton.
2. Earnie Shavers: In 75 ring victories, Shavers scored 69 KOs. Virtually all who faced him, including Larry Holmes, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young, Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali stated he was the hardest puncher they had ever encountered. As Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb put it: “Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I’d shoot him.”
Shavers deadly right hand shook Ali.
1. Joe Louis: Deadly power with either hand, incredibly accurate, excellent finisher, author of some of the most destructive knockouts in boxing history, ruled the heavyweights for a full decade. ‘Nuff said.
The great Joe Louis.
Honorable Mentions: Joe Frazier, James J. Jeffries, Harry Wills, Joe Choynski, Ingemar Johansson, Luis Firpo, Max Schmeling, John L. Sullivan, Riddick Bowe, Peter Maher, Lennox Lewis, Tom Sharkey, Sam McVea, Corrie Sanders, David Tua, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ron Lyle, Tommy Morrison, Buddy Baer, Bob Satterfield, Donovan Ruddock, Frank Bruno, Wladimir Klitschko, Gerry Cooney, Curtis Sheppard.
38 Comments
I would drop Williams and Langford and put Wlad, Lennox and Archie Moore in the top five. Drop Liston down as he mainly fought LHW’s, and hard to tell if it was how hard he punched, or the mob and fear effect, otherwise it looks good.
Moore got most of his work done at LH not at heavyweight.
You guys forgot about “The Bone Crusher,” James Smith, I used to look forward to his fights but Mike Tyson made him look like a beginner…
Archie Moore was a LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT!
I would drop Shavers much lower. It seems in most of Ernie’s big fights HE was the one usually being counted over at the end.
JACK JOHNSON? Did you forget the return of The Great White Hope and the Norman Mann Act? When you write and publish your opinions, practice getting all the facts. Jack was idolized by Ali and he even knocked out a horse. They refused to show tapes of the white men he used to taunt in the ring. Go back and research the facts for yourself. You forgot JACK JOHNSON.
Marciano did serious damage to all who tried to tried to block his punches. Devastating power. Louis, Walcott, Charles — they all had to retire after they fought him. That’s as close as you can come to killing with a pair of gloves.
Apparently Dempsey broke Willard’s eye socket, jaw and ribs in three rounds. THAT’S as close as you could come to killing someone in the ring
Marciano vs Vingo
My order would be Shavers, Foreman, Liston, Williams, Marciano, and then Louis.
Mike was undoubtedly the hardest hitter
No he wasn’t, he was hard and fast but not the hardest. Foreman, Liston and Shavers punched much harder.
Not really. Tyson is very close yes, but many times he had to hit guys more than once to take out fighters others KO’d with one punch, so I think his speed and the size of his upper body confuse a lot of people into believing him more powerful than he really was. Douglas and Evander took his shots very well, so I don’t think he hit as hard as some think.
Holyfield was juicing, so how could he feel them.
Tyson was defeated by every good fighter he faced: Douglas, Holyfield, and Lewis, plus his last fight. On top of that, all the really good fighters he fought were all past their prime. Tyson would been knocked out by Louis, Marciano, Ali, Foreman or Frazier. He was not a great fighter.
I know purists are gonna roll their eyes, but Deontay Wilders right hand is pure dynamite and I would rank it among the hardest hitting punches ever thrown in the square ring.
It’s true that Deontay hits very hard, however there are other scoring criterias beyond just power required to make the list. You can argue that Wilder can be put above Williams and some others on the list because of his raw power and athleticism, but he doesn’t come close to the likes of Tyson or Louis when it comes to accuracy, timing and technique in delivering his KO punches
And last night he proved that wrong.
Never understood what people saw in Shavers. He was a good puncher, but people usually got up from them.
They did?!? Who? Like Ali and Holmes, two of the greatest heavyweights of all time who were known for their toughness, heart and tremendous chins?
Also, why isn’t Foreman top of the list?
He retained his power up until his retirement, right into his mid-forties, something Liston, Tyson, Louis cannot claim.
Great list but I believe Foreman is the hardest hitting heavyweight ever. I look at who he knocked out when he was champion. He knocked out two great fighters, Frazier and Norton, in addition to all the others. Then he came back at 45 and used his his power to win the tittle by knockout. He hit so hard until he didn’t need a lot of room to get you out of there. Number 2 is the great Joe Louis, may he rest in peace. Number 3 is Shavers. Man, all he needed was one punch. No combinations needed, just one punch and it was over.
Shavers number one, Foreman number two.
No way Joe Louis is a harder puncher than Earnie Shavers, no way!
No Frank Bruno in the honourable mentions? Hell of a ko ratio, around 84%?
I would add Ron Lyle and Tommy Morrison in the honorable mentions. Good list!
The fact that Ray Mercer isn’t on this list makes me question you guys.
Mercer? He was strong and tough, but not the devastating puncher these other guys were. In his era, I would put Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Razor Ruddock, Tommy Morrison, Riddick Bowe and David Tua all ahead of him. And just before he came on the scene, there was Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Mike Weaver, Frank Bruno and Bonecrusher Smith.
Only Shavers actually destroyed a pair of gloves hitting his opponent. Watching tape I would say Shavers, Lewis, Langford, Marciano and Tyson.
Foreman, Tyson, Frazier, Shavers, Morrison, Tua, Liston. I love them all. They made boxing exciting. Lennox Lewis was a pretty good puncher too.
Foreman belongs much lower. I don’t even put him in my top 12, because it took him many punches to do away with fighters. Sure, you have the evidence of the heavy bag, but we’re talking about human effect. He was an accumulation TKO guy; That’s it; point blank! As far as a puncher, Frazier belongs higher than George. Both were accumulation punchers, but Joe had more one punch power. I also think that George gets more punching acclaim due to being a faster starter than Joe. Thinking along those lines, It’s the tortoise and the hare rather than fair punching competition.
Earnie Shavers belongs at 1, because of what he did to Ali with right hands, in addition to his record! Nobody ever came close to seriously hurting Ali with a single right, even in his early days. And Earnie did it at a time when Ali wasn’t going down anymore from lefts!
I could see putting Louis number 2, since he was a combination power puncher but usually finished fighters within a minute and 30 seconds of the same round that he hurt them in. And, you might say, he deserves the top spot based on that. But, Shavers had to deal Ali and Holmes(one shotted him), who, if you hurt them or knocked them down, their defensive nature kicked in and they moved away like Tunney would. Louis never faired that well with boxers and, if a fighter got up and moved away, he would likely be in the same boat as Shavers(not able to finish Ali, Holmes, or Tunney). So, I put Louis at number 2.
Tua was a brute savage and I think belongs in the top 12. Just watch him in the fights where he could hit his opponent.
What a joke putting Langford so high when we know so little about his power. He could not even dominate the black fighters of his day, so how does he do it against the greats of all time?
How About Mac Foster? His first 28 fights, all knockouts. Stopped Cleveland “Big Cat” Williams twice, plus Zora Folley. Hit so hard he had never been past round seven until he fought Muhammad Ali, went 15 rounds with “The Greatest” in a non-title match in Japan. He was stopped by Jerry Quarry in Madison Square Garden, but no one remembers that just two weeks prior to that fight Foster had surgery on his left elbow. Another little known fact: Foster was a sparring partner for both Ali and George Foreman. George once said that if it wasn’t for working with Foster in sparring he wouldn’t have been so sharp in his knockout win over Ken Norton.
Shavers, Foreman, Liston, Marciano, Louis, Tyson, Frazier, Morrison, Sullivan, and Baer. In that order.
What about Julian Jackson???
What I like about this list is that most of the people on it are relatively normal-sized human beings. It seems like the modern heavyweight division is ruled by basketball players.
Shannon Briggs belongs in the honourable mentions. I know he’s not in the caliber of the really top guys here but he has to be put in for most 1st round knockouts in heavyweight history, albeit against poor opposition. But Tommy Morrison is here and Briggs should be slightly above him I think. Briggs suffered knockout defeats but had guts and determination and wasn’t crumpled in 90 seconds against Michael Bentt, so definitely goes in above Morrison. Just saying! 👍
The late Muhammad Ali was the greatest, whether you like it or not.