Do you believe any heavyweight from any era could have gotten up..

[Fenster]

Wayne McCullough would have taken that shot on the bridle. Fact.

And Tommy Morrison as well.

Lets not be silly now.

That shot would have knocked Tommy unconcious even if it semi-clipped him. A sledgehammer ain't budging Wayne. Fact.

[Balboa]

Hey thanks for putting the video up there, I dont know how to do that yet.


The thread spawns a bunch of different questions in my mind that try to bridge the generations. The toughness and durability of the fighters back then. The pace and the brutality then vs now. I often think the old heavys were more durable, made of more grit, and prone to take more severe beatings than what you see today.

Our heavies today benefit from all the leaps we've made in training knowledge and equipment, diagnostics and therapy. Sometimes i wonder if, even if better built and pumped full of supplements, our modern fighters arent a bit... well, softer.

The Klitchkos are a fine example to me of the bigger, stronger, educated and more enhanced evolution of the heavyweight figher. But when I try to picture either Klitschko in there against a Liston, or a Foreman, or a Lyle, there's a certain degree of grit and fortitude that's hard for me to reconcile in the modern era. Guys like Rocky and Archie and Louis weren't clearing 18 million dollars from a PPV bonanza. They were feeding their families and tougher than nails.

Damn, now im rambling.

Lots of good posts, and there's a few you brought to light Im now on the fence about.

My dad will be thrilled.

[Master]

Ray Mercer and Oliver McCall would have taken the blow.

[Mark TKO]

Id say


Muhammad Ali
Oliver McCall
and Prime Larry Holmes (Look how he get up after that sick right hand from Shavers)

have heard Holmes say on more than one occasion that if he hadn't hit the canvas so hard that night he wouldn't have got up. Said the jolt on hitting the canvas woke him up !

[JonnyFolds]

I just love Heavyweight threads.

Marciano was a hell of a puncher. This shot heard round the world would have decked anyone + 10 count. He hit him on the button with Walcott turning into the punch. If you set anyone's noggin in there it wouldn't make a difference.

[ICB]

As someone as already mentioned, for certain Larry Holmes in his prime. He possibly took the flushest single punch from possibly the hardest hitting Heavyweight of all time, and he got up in like 4 seconds.

Muhammad Ali also took an amazing lunging left hook from Joe Frazier, and was up straight away.

I think those two are really a given, but other notable ones are David Tua, George Chuvalo, Oscar Bonevena, Evander Holyfield, Oliver McCall, Ray Mercer, ETC.