Who is The Greatest Heavyweight Puncher of All-Time?

Who is the greatest puncher in heavyweight history? Let’s take the heavyweight representatives from The Ring magazine’s 100 Greatest Punchers list, match them up in a tournament format, and let the boxing simulator Legends of Boxing 2005 pick the winners. Yesterday we whittled the field down from 32 to 16 with few surprises. Now with the stakes even higher, who will emerge from the second round of action unscathed? The bouts are now 12 rounds instead of 10, but with this pack of punchers, sometimes one round is all you need.


ROUND TWO

Joe Louis TKO 9 David Tua
Louis immediately ties up the onrushing Tua. Once they break, the Brown Bomber scores with a big right hand that Tua takes well. Louis is staying in the pocket, countering Tua and looking great early. By round four, Louis has taken a few big shots and his left eye is getting puffy. Louis has a big round in the fourth, driving Tua back with crisp combinations to the head. Tua lands his best punch of the fight, a left uppercut, in the sixth, but Louis shakes it off, and his pinpoint hooks and crosses open a bad cut over Tua’s right eye. Tua’s urgency shows in the seventh and eighth rounds, but his recklessness only leads him into more of Louis’ heavy artillery. The onslaught continues in the ninth, and finally, at the 52 second mark, the ringside doctor has seen enough, stopping the bout due to the horrific condition of Tua’s right eye. Louis leads 80-72, 79-72, and 78-73 at the time of the stoppage.

Sam Langford W12 (Unanimous) George Godfrey
Godfrey shocked the fans at ringside with an all-out assault on Langford in the opening round. Langford was able to slow the pace and get into the fight in round two though. Frustrated, Godfrey threw Langford down to the canvas in the third round, drawing a stern warning from referee Frank Cappuccino. Langford simply dusted himself off and got back to business, winning the fourth round easily. The fighters split the next two frames, but in the seventh, another foul earned Godfrey a point deduction. Langford hurt Godfrey for the first time in round eight, but the bell intervened before he could follow up. Langford kept the pressure on for the next two rounds, but Godfrey rebounded with a strong final two rounds. In the end though, Langford’s superior boxing skills and accuracy earned him the decision: 115-112, 117-110, and 116-111, even though he wasn’t able to match his two real-life knockouts of Godfrey (the two also fought to a real-life draw in the first of their three bouts).

Jack Dempsey KO4 Elmer Ray
Dempsey wasted no time in this one, dropping Ray with the first lunging left hook he threw, just nine seconds into the bout. Ray jumped up at the count of one, and was able to elude any further trouble for the rest of the round. Ray fought evenly with Dempsey for the first two minutes of the second frame, but then got knocked down again by a hard left hook on the button. This time he got up at eight, and again he survived the round. Dempsey swarmed his foe in the third, bloodying his nose and putting him on the canvas for the third time. Ray gamely rose at the count of six, just as the bell was sounding. Dempsey wasn’t going to let him off the hook in the fourth though as he tore in with ripping hooks to the head and body. Ray went down for the fourth time, and this time he stayed down, being counted out at the 37 second mark.

Joe Frazier W12 (split) Bob Fitzsimmons
Good action in a close first round, with Frazier just a tad bit busier. Fitzsimmons owns the second though as he is both elusive with his movement and punishing with his counters. Fitz jars Frazier for the first time in the third, but Joe keeps Smokin’ forward and staggers his opponent with a huge left hook. Fitzsimmons opts to stay inside with Frazier in the fourth and fifth, and that’s a mistake as Philly’s finest pounds away with abandon. Frazier is cut above the right eye in the sixth, and Fitzsimmons targets the cut with his punches. A big uppercut hurts Frazier in round seven, and he stumbles into the ropes. Both fighters have their moments in the eighth, and this bout is getting more interesting by the minute. Frazier almost doubles Fitzsimmons over with a hook to the body in the ninth, but Fitz remains upright. Joe’s workrate wins him the 10th and 11th rounds, but it’s a crushing uppercut that almost turns things around for Fitzsimmons in the final round. Luckily, Frazier is able to tie his opponent up and hang on until the bell sounds. The scores read as follows: 118-112 Frazier, 115-113 Fitzsimmons, and 115-113 for your winner – ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier.

George Foreman TKO11 Lennox Lewis
One of the most anticipated bouts of the tournament. Lewis misses his first hook and Foreman counters with a brain rattling cross, but Lewis survives. Seconds later, Lewis lands with his money punch – the straight right – and Foreman just walks through it, jumping in with a left hook to the jaw that puts Lewis on the canvas. Lewis stumbles up at seven and is able to tie up Foreman until the round ends. Lewis has recovered well and is landing his punches, but he’s still in Foreman’s range and Big George makes him pay with another left hook that floors him. Again, Lewis rises at seven and the bell rings before the stalking Foreman can finish the job. Foreman comes out bombing in the third, but the hurt Lewis doesn’t back down, throwing back haymakers of his own and the crowd erupts at the sight of this heavyweight Hagler-Hearns. Lewis is weary as he goes back to his corner though. The pace finally slows in the fourth and fifth, and though Foreman wins the rounds, you have to wonder if he’s punched himself out. But in the sixth Foreman picks up his activity level and starts to hammer Lewis again, with little return fire coming back his way. By the end of round seven, Lewis is cut over his left eye and only hanging on by a thread as Foreman’s pounding continues. The fans are calling for a stoppage in the eighth, but Lewis won’t quit. The pattern continues in the ninth and tenth, and finally in the 11th round, referee Arthur Donovan has seen enough, halting the bout at the 2:15 mark. Foreman led 100-87 on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with three 10-8 rounds on each card.

Jim Jeffries KO10 Earnie Shavers
Jeffries jars Shavers with the first hook he throws, but Earnie quickly ties his foe up. Jeffries misses with a follow-up haymaker and gets nailed with a counter cross by Shavers in the action-filled first round. Shavers starts quickly in the second but gets stopped in his tracks by the thudding blows of ‘The Boilermaker’. Round three takes place strictly in the trenches, with Shavers holding a slight edge. Jeffries roars back in the fourth, and the ebb and flow of the bout is delighting the fans in attendance. In the fifth, a heavy hook to the head drops Shavers hard, and Earnie barely makes it up at the count of nine. Shavers is able to weather the storm and survive the round. The infighting is getting fiercer in the sixth, with both men fouling to gain an advantage. Suddenly, in the final minute of the round, Jeffries is knocked down with a looping overhand right. He jumps up at four and Shavers is scoring at will, driving the crowd into a frenzy until the bell sounds. The pace slows in the seventh and eighth, with Jeffries edging out the rounds. In the ninth, a clash of heads raises a mouse under Jeffries’ right eye, but this doesn’t impede his progress, and with his first punch of the tenth, Shavers drops to the canvas and is unable to make it up by the count of ten, giving Jeffries the victory. Jeffries led 87-82, 88-82, and 87-83 at the time of the knockout.

Rocky Marciano KO3 Jersey Joe Walcott
If their first fight was scheduled for 12 rounds, Walcott would have retained his heavyweight title in 1952 and not have gotten KO’ed in a single round in a rematch; how will Jersey Joe do this time? Walcott edges out the first round behind a measured attack. Marciano lands a big right with little effect in the second, and moments later gets a cut n his chin from a sharp Walcott counter. A clash of heads bloodies Walcott’s nose later in the round. In the third, Marciano lands a straight right and floors Walcott. Amazingly, Jersey Joe can’t rise from the canvas and is counted out at 1:03 of the round.

continued............................

Sonny Liston TKO11 Mike Tyson
Both men are respectful of each other in the early going, with Liston’s superior workrate earning him the opening stanza. Tyson is having difficulty getting past Liston’s jab, and when he does he gets tagged with a hard left hook to the head. Iron Mike keeps busy though as he works his own jab to keep Liston honest. Tyson’s hooks start landing in the third, but it’s Liston’s punches that seem to be doing the most damage. Late in the round Tyson finally lands a flush right cross, but Liston brushes off the punch. Tyson’s right lands again in the fourth, and he follows it up with a double hook to the body and head. Liston stays upright and calm, and a frustrated Tyson hits him on the break, drawing a warning from referee Carlos Padilla. Liston’s jackhammer jab sets Tyson back a few steps in the early stages of the fifth, and a follow-up cross hurts Iron Mike. But when Liston misses a hook to the head, Tyson jumps in with a counter right that evens up matters. The fighters take turns rocking each other in the sixth round, with Tyson holding a slight edge. In the seventh, Liston staggers Tyson with a right cross but can’t land the coup de grace. Liston is having a great eighth round behind his jab, but Tyson might have stolen the round with a late flurry of activity that jars Sonny. In the ninth a huge uppercut hurts Tyson, but he is able to hold on. Tyson goes back to his corner with a nasty gash over his right eye though. In the 10th Tyson is busier, but every punch Liston throws is on the mark and more devastating. How Tyson is still standing is amazing. The battering continues in the 11th until at the 1:15 mark Padilla has seen enough and he stops the bout in Liston’s favor. At the time of the stoppage, Liston led on one scorecard, 96-95, was even at 95-95 on the second, and trailed on the third, 97-94.

And then there were eight…tune in tomorrow for the quarterfinals…

QUARTERFINALS
Joe Louis – Sonny Liston
Sam Langford – Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsey – Jim Jeffries
Joe Frazier – George Foreman

Interesting stuff NorthSide :coolclick:

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Originally Posted by OumaFan

Interesting stuff NorthSide :coolclick:

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thanx

Hey Northside, can you get the next part in the series and the final part of this article?
I'd surely like to know how it goes. :) :coolclick: for the article.

I would only believe one of those...Liston TKO over Tyson. Sonny was the original bad boy of boxing, and hit like a freight train.

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Originally Posted by Hulk

I would only believe one of those...Liston TKO over Tyson. Sonny was the original bad boy of boxing, and hit like a freight train.

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I AGREE, ALSO FOREMAN/LEWIS, IT CAN EASILY HAPPEN!!!!

Jack Johnson was the hardest puncher, he cud have KO'd Dempsey too. After all, Dempsey was KO'd in 1 round by someone Johnson beat.

This is a great post :coolclick: I just don't see Louis stopping Tua. Outboxing the hell out of him yes. But Joe had a slightly suspect chin and Tua has demonstrated that he can demolish opponents with both hands. The David Tua of old anyway.

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Originally Posted by Hulk

I would only believe one of those...Liston TKO over Tyson. Sonny was the original bad boy of boxing, and hit like a freight train.

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I dont agree Tyson would knock hiim out. i dont understand how a guy who weight 14st and wasnt that big of puncher knocked out Liston and IRON Mike wont? Sorry northside i just dont agree. Mike in the late 80's would have wiped out most if not all of the above.

Interesting read tho.

In my opinion prime Mike would knock out all the opposition above execpt Foreman, he would also have problems with Lennox lewis. It's hard for me to see the other heavyweights above could survive with 80's mike.

Tommy The Duke Morrison

Sonny listen would not of won against mike Tyson i believe, providing they were both in there primes

yeh tyson in his prime was a killer. liston was powerful and also had good boxing skills but he would not have been able to deal with the power of tyson.

Sam McVey (sp) was a heavy handed puncher in Jack Johnson's day. Â Harder than Sam Langford. Â Very few of his fights went to decision, except with superior defensive fighers. Â These earlier guys and much different gloves and wraps that most modern day boxers would have difficulty adapting to. Â