Top Five Punchers at 175?

Top three is easy, but the order isn't. Who comes just after?

 

1. Foster: Duh!
2. Spinks
3. Saad
4. Moore

Hmmmm.... not sure who I'd place at 5.

 

Yeah, Foster would be my number one too. Spinks 2nd for me, as well. Definitely wouldn't have Saad at three, though. I'm not actually convinced he hit as hard as Pops, let alone Moore.

Michael Moorer could be a little underrated pick. Man was a colossal puncher at 175.

Charles could potentially make the fifth spot, in a similar way to how Jofre could be a top three puncher at BW. The guy was fully capable of dispatching ATGs and tough guys at the weight. In a lot of cases, he was actually KOing guys quicker than Moore was, like Bivins, Smith, Marshall, etc. Maybe that's just me, though.

 

Where would you rate Paul Berlenbach?

 

Dont think the top three is easy at all. While Foster is the clear nb 1, i could see a few fighters sneak at 2 or 3

 

Highly, love that guy.

In terms of a puncher, he seems to be a big like Beterbiev. In that he could absolutely take you out if he landed big, but he also had that kind of power which broke you down.

 

You think there's a few guys who could sneak in above Moore and Spinks?

 

Grey, was it you who I sent a file full of Berlenbach newspaper reports to once, on ESB?

 

Huhhh????

Yeaaaa, that's a ridiculous statement in favor of Johnson.

Saad had a plethora of brutal one punch KOs.

Johnson hit nowhere near as hard.

Saad had murderous power in his right hand, and in his left uppercut.

 

Yes, back last April.

 

Why is it ridiculous? Pops had murderous power in his straight left, right hook and left uppercut, and his own batch of brutal one punch KOs. Saad never did it to somebody as good as even that version of Galindez, who, had never actually been KOd before. Saad had to break fighters down most of the times he scored a stoppage.

In fights with common opponents, both they were often neck in neck in terms of how quick they stopped them. Royster, Douglas, and Parlov off the top of my head for guys who Pops stopped quicker. Whereas Saad obviously KOed Mwale.

There's noway it isn't close enough to go either way. Which is what I said in the first place, that I'm not convinced he did hit harder than Pops.

 

Marvin Johnson was not what I'd consider a devastating hitter - had power for sure, but was more of a grind you down or take you out with combos type.

Saad either turned arounded or ended a SHIT TON of fights with single shots.

He was rightfully voted by The Ring as a top 100 puncher in history, and you're literally the first person I've ever heard say that Johnson arguably hit harder.

He did NOT. At all. Saad was a bigger hitter.

 

If you class Pops' power as the sort of grind you down type, you'd have to class Saad's as the same. For every fight he ended in one shot, there's two he had to land a lengthy combo or needed repeated knock-downs. Specifically, the fight where Royster could get up six times from Saad but not once from Pops, or like the fight where Billy Douglas could withstand 6 rounds of a pummeling from Saad, but only five from Johnson.

I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be on rings top 100, but it is a spectacularly shit list. Tom Sharkey is above Ike Williams. So are Jeffries, Mugabi, Gans, Tua, Chavez, Zale, Cleveland Williams and Benny Briscoe. Hell, even if you're just talking relative to Saad's placement, he's above Spinks, Jackson, Lopez and Williams. It's an awful list.

There's no solid basis for saying Saad was a bigger puncher than Marvin, just like there isn't the other way round. Coz it's really fuckin close.

 

Georges Carpentier has up there.

 

We forgot about Michael Moorer. While he gets overrated, he was certainly a frightening puncher at the weight.

Also, Donny Lalonde, while limited, had one helluva right hand.

And I'm gonna make @Jesus of montreal happy as Hell w/this one, but you could make a case that Stevenson is top 10. He had a truly devastating left hand.

 

Nah, you forgot about Moorer

 

Oh shit, I missed him from your list .

 

Lalonde is a good pick. Massive puncher.

I think a lot of picks depends on who you rank there. Coz Langford, Fitzsimmons, Satterfield and The Hatchetman are all top punchers. P4P, too, not just at LHW.

Oakland Billy Smith and Lloyd Marshall were massive punchers too.

 

Letterlough

 

I feel like Letterlough is powerful in the same way Joe Smith Jr. is. Punches like a mule, but is a really limited fighter, so his power is hard to quantify at the highest level.

 

Eddie MM we DID forget about (unless someone mentioned him and I missed it).

Mustafa Muhammad had a WICKED right hand.

 

Letterlough rocked Jirov at cruiserweight. He really was a huge banger.

 

1. Satterfield
2. Foster
3. Moore
4. Saad
5. Charles
6. Spinks
7. Moorer
8. Billy Smith
9. Lloyd Marshall
10. Tiger Jack Fox

 

Fox is a damn good mention. Huge puncher.

I like seeing Charles that high, but I can't see him above Spinks.

Danny Nardico is another collosal puncher at the weight.

Some modern guys to consider are Stevenson, Kovalev, Beterbiev, Tarver, Smith Jr. and Jones.

And where's Johnson????

 

Roy still had good power at 175, obviously enough to get guys out of there, but he was no longer the devastating puncher he was at 160-168.

 

I think he still hit harder than Tarver or Kovalev.

 

I don't think Spinks KO'd any LHWs of the stature of ATGs/HoFers like Moore, Bivins, and Marshall, nor did he KO HW contenders like Elmer Ray while still weighing within the LHW limit.

There's also the question of whether some of Spinks' most notable KO victims (i.e. Johnson, Lopez) had been softened up by earlier stoppage losses.

 

Well, maybe so, but I don't think there were any guys around as good/tough as Bivins, Moore or Marshall. Qawi and Muhammed were great, sure, but Eddie really didn't wanna get KOd and he didn't actively seek a KO vs Qawi. I think just watching the pair of them on film, Spinks was clearly the more explosive of the two.

And to be honest, I don't buy that Marv had been softened up. He'd show one helluva chin in the Williams fight later on, and he'd do it again by the time of his third reign (although it definitely had deteriorated by then). I also would like to say that Marvin's chin is incredibly underrated. Saad and Eddie have both been mentioned as top punchers in this thread and he didn't stop taking flush shots from the pair of them for over thirty rounds. I think the reason for his stoppage losses is his relatively poor stamina (especially for the fifteen round era), susceptibility to body shots and his complete lack of defence. Half an hour is a long time to soak up damage from guys like Saad Muhammad. Spinks taking him out like that was a scray sight.

 

Yvon Durrele would undoubtedly be up there.

 

I still think Eddie MM is getting sold short here.

It's a pity he didn't let his hands go more, but when he did, and his cross landed right, he was a devastating puncher.