Who punched harder Lewis or Tyson?

[stavros693000]

why wont u own up?..after all i did ask for it! but dont u want ur CC or are u afraid ill sc u back? i promise i wont! just dont be a little b!tch,be a man and own up! what are u afraid off,im on the other side of the globe for fuks sake

[spine_buster]

Tyson, no doubt

[X]

It's not about how hard you punch - there are loads of huge punchers who never made it to World Champion. In the 70's there was a light-heavy called Bob Satterfield who people reckon punched harder that any heavy who ever lived. Trouble was, he couls be outboxed and had a weakish chin.

The punch that knocks you cold is the one you don't see coming, Tyson did this with blinding hand speed and good combination punching, in his prime. Lewis did it by cleverly disguising his KO punches as part of his style. It was Tyson who had the gift of producing the eye catching knockout, and he will no doubt be on more 'highlights' clips than Lewis in the future.

I definitely don't agree that these two are possibly the hardest punchers ever - that's silly and just seems like the usual revisionism of thinking that today's fighters are better in every aspect than any who have gone before, just because we have videos now (or some such bullshit)

The old bareknuckle fighters would not have punched with the same brute force as today's guys because they would have broken their hands, but that's not to say that if you put John L. or Jess Willard in 10oz gloves, they would punch any less hard that Chris Byrd or Wlad Kitschko (say)

I think the hardest punchers are those that hurt their opponents even when they saw the punch coming, or if the blow was off target and hit their arms. Tyson and Lewis did not Kayo people by bulldozing them, it was technique.

Apocryphally, opponents have commented that Max Bear, George Foreman, Earnie Shavers, Rocky Marciano, Cleveland Williams, Jess Willard, Sonny Liston (in no order or anything, and to just name a few) could hit you anywhere and it would cause damage, or could just punch right through your defense.

There have been notable Kayo kings (Tyson, Frazier, Louis etc) with fantastic knockout records but these were the result of their combination punches, brutal finishing, pressure etc rather than oure unadulterated one punch power. This does not diminish their effectiveness as fighters.

Another thing to remember is how much more we see the referee stopping fights and awarding a TKO nowadays. That tells me that the opponent has not been blasted into unconsciousness, whereas and old-time ref was much more likely to let the fight continue until someone could not (or would not) get up. Granted, the heavier gloves used now also diminish some of the power from today's fighters.

I am not expert enough to have the answer, but it's a complicated enough question, with enough variables that it is not so easy as just looking at someone's KO (or TKO) stats etc.

Just to be controversial, I think that if Lewis and Tyson both did the 'Ivan Drago' test and punched some machine once, Lewis would hit it harder. This is because he was 6'5" and around 19 stone whereas Tyson was 5'10" and around 15.5 stone. BUT, in the ring, Tysons devastating pressure, offensive speed and combination punches make him a much more scary proposition in the early rounds than Lennox.

Only my opinions, of course, guys.

[Punisher136]

The bigger person will always throw the harder punch unless they have a jacked up stance. Who was more effective with their power was no doubt tyson. He had better speed and technique. You have to be either really strong or really skilled to make it as an undersized heavy and tyson was both. Could a prime tyson beat Vitali in an equally impressive fashion? The size advantage would be insane and i'm not sure. He'd atleast give him a run for his money.

All-time most impressive puncher has to be marciano. Throwing out all the boxing stuff (highest ko ratio all-time, only heavyweight champ to retire undefeated, horrible at best boxing technique), look at the stats of his punches. When measured, there was as much energy (energy= force force= massXacceleration) behind his punch as an armor piercing bullet meaning if bullets were made at the size of his fist, he could put as much force behind them as a gun built to shot those bullets. That's enough of a force to send a 1,000 pound weight 1 foot into the air.

When a former sparring partner of both marciano and louis was interviewed he said louis hurts you with very brutal combos but marciano does the same if not more damage with one punch.

[mucho testosterone]

Whoa! both of these guys are excellent punchers but i'll give the edge to Mike because he has more assortment of powerful punches.
Lennox's best power punch is that overhand right/straight and a stiff left jab. I also saw him knock guys out with big right uppercuts.

Peace to all

lets do similar opponents

tony tucker vs tyson= ud for tyson
tony tucker vs lewis= ud for lewis but lewis floored him twice
ruddock vs tyson= win 7th round tko wins 12 round ud
ruddock vs lewis= lewis destroys him in 2
frank bruno vs tyson= tyson wins both fights 5th and 3rd round
bruno vs lewis= lewis wins tko but being behind on my scorecard at the time of the stoppage
golota vs tyson= golota doesnt come out for the 3rd if i remember right so nc
golota vs lewis = lewis destroys him in 1
botha vs tyson= tyson kos him in the 5th but being behind at the time
botha vs lewis= lewis destroys him in 2
holyfield vs tyson= tyson loses in 11th and again by dq
holyfield vs lewis = 1st fight a draw but it was biggest robbery in boxing lewis deserved it 2nd fight being close with lewis winning 7 rounds to 5
tyrell biggs vs tyson= tyson wins 7th round tko
tyrell biggs vs lewis = lewis wins 3rd round tko

i thought that might help

nice work,BBUUUUUUTTTTT..,.tyson fought tucker in his prime lewis didnt,IMO the tucker of 87 beats lewis UD...what do ya reckon....i fell if there was no mike tyson,tucker would have ruled the division for a long time and became one of the modern greats

Lewis made a career out of fighting guys past their prime.

[Gandalf]

Tyson was by a distance the more effective KO puncher....Physical size doesnt account for what knock out power is....its about the speed and distance of the shot also....

[GAME]

Looking at the common opponents , Lewis did a better job on them but I cant write off Iron Mikes power. The man was lethal up close . .

Probably for a 1 punch power shot i'd say Lewis had more weight and arch in his punches so he would be the bigger knock out puncher . But I wouldnt like to be hit off either of them

[Taeth]

The two hardest punchers to being world heavyweight champion of the last 20-30 years if not ever. Who punched harder? Ever opponent they both faced Lewis knocked out, except Holyfield, but he did hurt Holyfield worse than Tyson did. Tyson knocked out Bruno quicker. Lewis knocked out Biggs, Ruddock, and Golota quicker... So who was the bigger puncher? IMO its probably Mike Tyson, but he could hit the biggers guys as easily as Lennox could, though Lennox did hurt Ruddock with a clean cross yet Mike hit him with numerous hooks to no avail.

Bro...are you serious

Tyson by a long shot and Tua hit harder than either of them.

Tua was never the heavyweight champion, and I disagree.

[Taeth]

Earnie Shavers was the hardest of all time.

That's speculation... The only person who got hit by him and Tyson. Doctors said that Holmes wouldn't have even been able to remember the Tyson fight because thats how bad he was concussed... I think he like others just says Shavers is the hardest who ever hit him because he 1. doesn't remember being hit by Tyson or 2. He like many others wants people to respect older fighters... Another thing is that Shavers didn't wear 16oz gloves during his time.

[Taeth]

Earnie Shavers was the hardest of all time.

Shavers hit hard but a Prime Foreman hit harder than anyone ever in the game P4P...EVER

I so disagree... Foreman was more of a pummeler, he never really straight out ko'ed until Moorer, usually he would get an opponent up against the ropes and just pummel them onto the canvas.

[Taeth]

Tyson didn't hurt Ruddock? He blew him out. The only reason Ruddock got a rematch was because he had him in trouble for about 30 seconds at the end of the 6th round.

Second fight.

[bigragu]

Earnie Shavers was the hardest of all time.

another bad ass from OHIO!!!!

[yoitsdan]

Earnie Shavers was the hardest of all time.

another bad ass from OHIO!!!!

Now of Liverpool mate! He works the door of a bar/club. I've met him a few times, he a real Gentlemen. He even let my mate (a bit pissed at the time btw) rub his head!

[Scrap]

X good post, but looking at it as you would yourself. I think on the hole tyson punched harder

[landmine950]

Whoa! both of these guys are excellent punchers but i'll give the edge to Mike because he has more assortment of powerful punches.
Lennox's best power punch is that overhand right/straight and a stiff left jab. I also saw him knock guys out with big right uppercuts.

Peace to all

lets do similar opponents

tony tucker vs tyson= ud for tyson
tony tucker vs lewis= ud for lewis but lewis floored him twice
ruddock vs tyson= win 7th round tko wins 12 round ud
ruddock vs lewis= lewis destroys him in 2
frank bruno vs tyson= tyson wins both fights 5th and 3rd round
bruno vs lewis= lewis wins tko but being behind on my scorecard at the time of the stoppage
golota vs tyson= golota doesnt come out for the 3rd if i remember right so nc
golota vs lewis = lewis destroys him in 1
botha vs tyson= tyson kos him in the 5th but being behind at the time
botha vs lewis= lewis destroys him in 2
holyfield vs tyson= tyson loses in 11th and again by dq
holyfield vs lewis = 1st fight a draw but it was biggest robbery in boxing lewis deserved it 2nd fight being close with lewis winning 7 rounds to 5
tyrell biggs vs tyson= tyson wins 7th round tko
tyrell biggs vs lewis = lewis wins 3rd round tko

i thought that might help

Very good and intelligent analysis, true the time frames are different but still and all a compete, factual and succinct dissection. A bit of an eye opener for me a guy (Canadian) who never really believed in Lewis. He always seemed like a phony to me,maybe I was prejudiced by his early amateur and pro career when the "WORD" was that he couldn't punch and had no chin and no balls.
That always stayed with me even after his great accomplishments in the ring. Maybe as well the way he "jumped ship" after being trained with Canadian taxpayers dollars and fighting in the Olympics to gain fame and notoriety he then comes out as a pro and calls himself British,Jamaican or American depending on which venue and fight crowd he was pandering to.
Even when he used to talk in interviews he gave the impression that he really didn't believe in himself or what he was saying. Almost like a bad actor. Tyson on the other hand, really was a crazy bad ass motherf*cker.Bad to the bone and crazy as a rabid raccoon!