In yet another great, well worth watching and listening to edition of his brilliant ‘The Fight’ podcast, Teddy Atlas gave us another well-informed list; this time breaking down the 10 greatest power punchers the sport has ever seen. And Atlas, as is always the case, did his homework when coming up with his top 10.
From heavyweight right on down the weight divisions, Atlas presents to us some truly exquisite bangers, sluggers, powerhouses, truly great punchers……call them what you will. It’s no surprise that there are a number of heavyweights featured in Teddy’s list, the big men of the sport do, after all, hit harder, pound-for-pound, than anyone else. But Atlas has not failed to list some of the smaller men who could really crack.
Here is Atlas’s list, while I have added in my own personal choice for each entrant’s greatest, most special KO win.
What makes these punchers truly unforgettable?
10: Bob Foster – KO 4 Mike Quarry. This one was nasty. Brutal. Even sickening to watch. The light heavyweight great landed a bomb of a right cross to Quarry’s head, before he smashed home with a monster left hook. Quarry went down on his back hard, and for a worryingly amount of time spectators felt Foster had literally killed his challenger
9: Julian Jackson – KO 4 Herol Graham. Another case of pure devastation, this of the one-punch variety. Jackson, busted up, having trouble seeing and being way behind on all cards, exploded with a huge right hand that put Graham’s lights out the split-second it landed on his exposed chin. Jackson was the new WBC middleweight champ.
8: Joe Louis – KO 1 Max Schmeling. With all the world watching, the free world hoping and praying he would get the win (the revenge win, as Joe had lost, famously, in a non-title fight with the German hero a couple of years earlier), “The Brown Bomber” blasted away at a soon to be helpless Schmeling with both hands. Louis all but crippled Max with his, short, accurate, lethal blows.
7: Mike Tyson – KO 2 Trevor Berbick. To this day, the destruction job a 20 year old Tyson did on Berbick has an effect on fans. Tyson, with his amazing blend of speed and power, turned Berbick into a human yo-yo.
6: Carlos Zarate – KO 4 Alfonso Zamora. Zarate met his rival bantamweight champion in an anticipated clash that did not disappoint. The two huge punchers engaged in a slugfest, before Zarate ended matters with three knockdowns in the fourth. So, yeah, this one was in actuality a TKO win for Zarate. And a heck of an impressive one.
5: George Foreman – KO 2 Ken Norton. Foreman mark-one was never more devastating than when he put his two mighty fists together to produce some superb, accurate punching against a peak Norton. The defending heavyweight king brutalised Norton in the second-round, his punches “really zinging at that point,” as George later said himself.
4: Earnie Shavers – KO 1 Jimmy Ellis. Shavers, often dubbed “The Puncher of the Century,” obliterated Ellis in truly highlight reel fashion. A right uppercut to the head had Jimmy in all kinds of trouble, with the slick boxer going down as though shot, his equilibrium blasted to the heavens.
3: Sugar Ray Robinson – KO 5 Gene Fulmer. Some say the left hook annihilation the greatest to ever do it inflicted on the rock-chinned Fulmer ranks as THE greatest punch ever captured on film. Going back a half-step as he unleashed his textbook shot, Sugar Ray saw his rival fall instantaneously. Fulmer, meanwhile, never saw the punch coming.
2: Sandy Saddler – KO 4 Willie Pep. The first meeting between these two intense rivals. Saddler, skinny yet lethal, was facing a defensive wizard. The puncher won. Saddler decked Pep twice in round-three, before he closed the show with a sweet left hook in the following round. Saddler was the featherweight king.
1: Archie Moore – How to pick just one great KO from the man who scored more than any other fighter in boxing history? Moore ran over or stopped good men such as: Lloyd Marshall, Cocoa Kid, Holman Williams, Jack Chase, Jimmy Bivins, Charley Williams, Bob Satterfield, Bob Baker, Harold Johnson, Bobo Olson.
But it is for so many, “Ageless Archie’s” simply astonishing comeback KO over Yvon Durelle – against whom Moore exchanged multiple knockdowns and was almost stopped far more than once before taking Durelle out in the 11th round of an all-time classic battle – that ranks as his finest KO moment.
Moore scored no less than 132 KO’s during his career, and he is, for Teddy Atlas and many more experts, the greatest power puncher of them all.
