Yeah Shavers is regarded by many as the hardest puncher ever, harder than George (who is considered harder hitting than Tyson). I’ve seen that insane footage of what Foreman working the heavy bag in the 70s (fuck what does that do to a person’s head?) and that Shavers hit even harder is just wow.knock someone out
Tyson was a compact 220lbs of solid muscle in his prime, listed at 5’11" I think but closer to 5’10" in actuality. He had thick powerful legs, very little fat (even a 6 pack!), short arms, and his punches were blazing fast and precise. The Tyson of the 80s was so fun to watch, in my lifetime that seemed when boxing was most popular.
Also look at the size and thickness of foremans hands, that’s gotta feel like getting hit with a hamhock. Foreman is also pretty tall, so he usually punched downwards which equals even more power. I’ve always thought people who were born with big frames/natural strength always seem to punch way harder than guys who have to work out to get that big. Foreman punched with mostly his arms and still hit like a truck, I think if he put his body into his punches he would have killed someone.
Basic physics is force = mass by acceleration. If someone hits hard it’s because they’re big, fast or both. Generally both. Good fighters don’t just generate speed from their arms, they put their hips and shoulders into it. Rampage in the UFC always said he puts his ass into it, that’s the secret to it. Foreman was a big guy but he moved well as well. Same with Tyson and other hard hitters.
But can you really call it a secret though. I mean in just about any martial art including boxing you are taught to generate the power from the feet to your hips and rotating your hips. I mean some people hit harder than others though. Foreman was huge, but he had great hip movement when throwing those punches. I was told that I have a very hard punch from my boxing coach. I attribute that to my Judo training which was a ton of hip movement and rotation, so when I would hit the mitts or heavy bag I put my ass into it as well.
You either move better, or you’re bigger. That’s all it is. The secret of what makes people hit freakishly hard isn’t magic, it can be explained by science. Some athletes are freaks in how coordinated they are so their movement is incredible. Foreman had thick arms. Lots of mass.
Yeah Foreman was a thick and heavy handed. Hitting hard for him didn’t take as much effort. For me my movement sucked, I could hit hard, but I sucked against out boxers so even though I had the power, it didn’t amount to much if I couldn’t hit them.
I’m pretty quick but most of that comes from being very toned, not a lot of body fat. I don’t have the coordination a lot of athletes have though. Like with Lincecum in baseball he lit up the speed gun despite being a small guy because of how he threw the ball. It’s similar with a punch. It’s sequential, like a rocket taking off, the first part fires, the second part and the momentum travels through. Like, knowing the technique if I’m just standing there in front of a bag I can hammer it but doing that on a person while they’re moving about is pretty damn hard. Not for the best punchers though, it just all happens instinctively.
A lot of people forget Sandy Saddler because he was a from a different era. He knocked over a hundred guys out, no one else has managed that and the dude was a lightweight. Modern boxers Lennox Lewis is another one, the dude knocked out Tyson and he knocked out Vitali Klitzcho. You can argue they were past their prime but so was Lennox. The dude was a monster.
I love Manny as well, at his prime he was so fast he’d play straight footsies with people, he’d do the whole shimmy where he’d step back, their punch would whiff and he’d step in and hammer them. Tyson was just relentless, he got really low to the floor and under their blows, once he was in he’d just plant his feet and go to work. Rumble does the same, he gets in usually through a counter and plants his feet. Rumble doesn’t have the combination punches of a good boxer though, the dude literally just measures range with one hand and pounds away with the other. Gus is a much better MMA boxer but Gus needs better trainers, he has a lot of bad habits in the ring and Rumble exploited one of them hard when they fought.
Could you imagine if Badr Hari learned grappling? Shit would be mad scary. Granted he lost to Overeem, I always like watching his matches. Well he did KO Overeem a year later in the first round iirc.
Yo, so i was watching some old classic fights last night before going to Kendo. And I can say with absolute certainty that although Mayweather is probably regarded as one of the better/ best boxer of our generation he absolutely cannot be put in the same class as like some of the most classic/elite fights. Haggler, Hearns, Duran, Leonard, Whitaker, Chavez Sr, Aaron Pyror and Arguello. I honestly think that most of these guys would destroy Mayweather. Because unlike the current era where Mayweather can pick smaller oppenents, guys like Hearns or Haggler or Duran would come straight through mayweathers punchs or tower him in Hearns’ case and hurt him so bad. Thats why I think a guy like Triple G would beat Mayweather. Just a thought.
If GGG dropped the weight (which he said he would) then he most definitely would hurt Floyd. Dude runs around with cinder blocks for hands. Floyd would not be willing to trade with him and he most definitely would be on the run most of the fight because blocking would be so painful for him.
On a serious note. I am happy that Mayweather won. I am getting tired from all the nonsense in Social Media, there is so many different reasons being posted just to diminish Floyd’s win. First, he cheated because of “running/hugging”, then it is the cuffs, now it is the bogus score cards even somebody from ESPN posted stuff about that. Did anyone even need a score card to see how one sided it was? I hope there is no rematch and a bunch of real boxing experts start flooding the media as to why Floyd really won. Stop being such sore losers. It’s like seeing the atheists of shoryuken going all over various threads trying to bash/diminish the Greatest Poster of SRK for kicking their ass in several religion threads.
Ill be happy when Floyd retires. And Pac too. I think both of them to some degree are actually quite bad for the sport. I also think Mayweather ranks himself too highly which is why I dislike him. But Mayweather’s style is boring and he isn’t a fighter. He “out finesses” people which I guess is fine… But my biggest gripe with him is he’s always hand picked opponents that compliment his style and makes sure he’s always the bigger/heavier boxer which only helps him with his style. But he’s been very successful and definitely one of the best of our era. And is a phenomenal boxer but… I would be lying if I said I liked him. Especially when comparing him to some of the other Welterweights that have been around in the past.
I respect Floyd for his boxing skill. I also respect him for becoming his own boss. I mean all the unfiltered money he makes is pretty good for a nigga from Grand Rapids who can’t read. He needs to retire because he has proven what he needs to prove.
I think when he fought Canelo Alvarez he was the smaller of the two but I may be mistaken.
Looking bast floyds unlikable character dude is simply that good at boxing. I appreciate his skill even if it is boring but I’m not mad that he makes sure to always be in control of the match. My thing is he fights like that without really using his legs. When he used his legs to avoid Canelo it was insane.
They were both same weight minus like half a pound. Almost exact same height but mayweather still had a decent reach advantage. But I agree with you regarding his footwork. That said… Mayweather’s footwork was good… but if you watch someone like Aaron Pryor for example… that’s another level.