I remember a similair thread being posted around 4 years ago. Not sure what happened to it. But it did very well. I would like to see what all the additional posters have to say on this thread now.

Off the top of my head I can think of:

Earnie Shavers
Mike Tyson
Joe Louis
Gerald McClellan
Sandy Saddler
Julian Jackson
Nigel Benn
Felix Trinidad
Archie Moore
Rocky Marciano

and although I have not seen any of this guys fights, I've read that Stanley Ketchel was a phenominal puncher.

Wilfredo Gomez(44-3-42KO) and Carlos Zarate(66-4-63KO) were definitly two off the hardest punchers p4p in boxing

Alexis Arguello and Edwin Rosario Were also some bad ass hitters.

Joe Louis
Earnie Shavers
Joe Frazier
Rocky Marciano
Mike Tyson
George Foreman
Rocky Graziano
Jake LaMotta
Marvin Hagler
Tommy Hearns
Roberto Duran
Salvador Sanchez
Wilfredo Gomez
Alexis Arguello
Boom Boom Mancini
JC Chavez
Felix Trinidad
Oscar De La Hoya

Ruben Olivares...87 wins 77 by knockout.

Jimmy Wilde...137 wins 99 by knockout.

Sam Langford...200 wins(not sure about this) 130 by knockout.

Archie Moore...185 wins, 131 KO's according to boxrec. I've also seen him stated as having 145 knockouts from 199 wins. Either way he was a devastating puncher.

Max Baer...71 wins, 53 by knockout.

Earnie Shavers...74 wins, 68 by knockout.

Julian Jackson...55 wins, 49 by knockout.

Rocky Marciano...49 wins, 43 by knockout.

Carlos Zarate...66 wins, 63 by knockout.

Wilfredo Gomez...44 wins, 42 by knockout.

Sandy Saddler....144 wins, 103 by knockout.

Out of those guys listed, I don't see Lamotta, Hagler, Sanchez, Mancini, Chavez, or Oscar fitting the description of the thread title.

To an extent, even Frazier or Duran.

Watching Sandy Saddler footage, I wouldn't call him a devastating puncher-he knew how to BREAK guys though.

With some of the names mentioned, I would throw in Jack Dempsey, Tua, Mugabi, Hamed, Danny Lopez, Bob Foster, Galaxy(lousy boxer though), Zamora, Ike Williams, Rodrigo Valdez, Cuevas, Nigel Benn....

Guys I have had a chance catching their clips that shocked me in their power was Eduardo Lausse & Florentino Fernandez. Also, Cyclone Hart's left hook was just vicious. For guys that think Tito had a left hook, these three are certainly worth watching.

If you don't think LaMotta was devastating, then watch his fight with Dauthuille and Cerdan
If you don't think Hagler was devastating watch his fights with Minter, Antuofermo, Mugabi, Hearns, and Hamsho
If you don't think Sanchez was devastating then watch his fight with Gomez and Lopez
If you don't think Chavez was devastating then stop smoking pot
If you don't think Oscar was devastating then watch his fight with Vargas, Carr, Ruelas, Chavez, Breland, Gatti

From what I have seen and read of Sanchez, he pretty much wore his guys down and finished them. Not one punch KO type stuff.

Oscar is powerful, but not a devastating puncher. It took him a while to get Vargas outta there. Vargas was very fatigued when he got caught with that hook that hurt him. He knocked Carr out, but it took him a while to get him outta there as well. He punished Gatti, but he didn't KO him, he TKOed him

You can take a couple performances of some fighters with good power and try and debate that they have devastating power, but that doesn't cut it when talkin about devastating, one punch power.

Look at Demetrius Hopkins KO of Warrick or Donaire's recent stunning KO of Darchinian. Hopkins put that guy to SLEEP with one shot. BUt I would not call him one of the top devastating punchers even in his division.

Yah, but the topic is devastating puncher not devastating one punch KO puncher. Just kidding, but those fights did end in devastation, so technically they were devastating punchers.

lol. I hear ya. Some of those were devastating beatdowns. Which are indeed worse that a one punch take out though. lol

I'd rather take one shot from Tyson rather than a cumulation from Cotto.

Damn, a clean Tyson punch might make me drool for the resy of my life though. Tough call. I don't even want to think about it.

None of those guys "devastated" in the likes of Julian Jackson, Danny Lopez, or Bob Foster. When I think of "devastating", I think of Ruiz in la la land due to Tua's lefthook. Or the left hook of Foster on Tiger & Quarry. The kind of ending where you get up off the couch.

Lamotta, Hagler, Sanchez, Chavez were all guys that usually beat you by attrition. And to tell you the truth, the Oscar KO's you referred to really weren't all that "devastating" in my view.

Your Hagler examples are a bit odd: aside from the Hearns' bout, I don't see how Vito or Hamsho's bouts could be considered "devastating". Why not pick Worm Monroe II? Now, THAT was devastating.

Well he scored 103 wins inside the distance and although these lists aren't the gospel, he was ranked 5th in the Ring Magazine's 100 Greatest Punchers.

I wasn't meaning to discount his power, but watching his footage, what really stands out was how dirty he fought-as well as how strong he was for being so skinny. Pep & Elorde's faces looked like they went through a blender-and Elrode was actually winning when they stopped it.

I think several of his wins inside the distance were due to the corner stopping it, or the fighter being unable to continue.

Sandy Saddler stood 5ft 8.5 inches tall and had a reach of 70 inches, as much as some heavyweights, so he did look kinda freakish for a featherweight. He mastered the jab, left hook and uppercut, punching extremely hard, but he also possessed good power in his right.

He was dirty. No doubt about it, but this is a topic about punching power and for me Saddler has to be included.

Fair enough.

I've been reconsidering "punching power" in the past few years in regards to their records, as I've seen fighters that hit PLENTY, but their KO percentages aren't all that impressive(Ike Williams, Dick Tiger) for one factor or another.

Well Williams and Tiger wouldn't belong in this category IMO although both had commanding power.

Would you add Pascual Perez to this topic?

Why not Ike Williams? He was notorious as a puncher.

I wouldn't include Tiger in this category as well: I see him as a guy who hit HARD, but he didn't KO that many fighters. But judging from the eye, he certainly seems to have hit much harder than notable middles such as Hagler or Hopkins.

As for Perez....man, the little guys are tough to incorporate. Even with fighters like Wilde, their records & numbers are over the top, but it just doesn't register with me that well.

Percentage wise Tiger stopped more than Williams...Williams in fact stopped less than half of his opponents in winning fights. I just think his reputation as a puncher is somewhat overrated, although admittedly, apart from footage against Beau Jack and his knockout over Jose Maria Gatica, I've seen very little.

Someone put Hagler's name forward but thats a no-no for me. Great fighter but not a devastating puncher in the mould I'm trying to convey.

Perez's 92 opponents had a combined 331 losses. Most of his opponents had more losses than wins. I am not too familiar with Pascual except for what I had just recently read on him and his competition. He sounded pretty powerful for a flyweight. But during his reign as champ he had 33 fights, not all title bouts because some of his opponents did not make the weight, but outta those 33 fights, he had 16 kos. A little less than a 50% ko ratio against challengers. I guess this might be put into consideration. I'm going to see if I can dig up some of his fights somewhere though.

Cuevas had a lethal left hook probably one of the best ever.

No he didn't-might want to check that again. Tiger had a very low KO percentage for a guy that hit hard.

Ike Williams was also affiliated with the mob, as his manager was the notorious Blinky Palnermo-it's safe to assume he was coasting in several of his bouts. His best performances are unfortunately not on film, but he knocked down Kid Gavilan legitimately, & even Basilio confirmed his power.

No, you're right, Tigers was lower than Williams but neither man, despite having power, should, IMO, be ranked amongst the hardest hitters in the game. Like I said, I've seen little of Williams as very little exists, so its difficult to judge. If Basilio said he hit hard then we have to take that as the truth though.

You mentioned Bob Foster and I don't think anyone can dispute that. Foster is surely one of the hardest hitting light heavies of all time. How would you see a Foster-Spinks fight going?

You are one of the few I have heard say that Ike Williams shouldn't be mentioned when it comes to "power".

Tiger, I agree. I mentioned him to make a point that power doesn't equate to KO's.

As for Spinks/Foster, I'd lean towards Spinks. More of a, "who was the more durable fighter" type of thing. I like the chances of Spinks taking Foster's shots rather than vice versa.

Don't get me wrong as I'm definitely not disputing Williams' power. I'm just basically saying he falls outside a topic called "Most devastating punchers in history" IMO. Perhaps I'm wrong. All I can go on is what I have read and the stats (stats don't always tell the story though, I admit.)

Spinks beats Foster for me as well btw.

When you began this thread, did you have "power" in mind, in the vein of Shavers or Cuevas? A ridiculously strong right, or a left? Or the combo punchers such as Joe Louis or SRR? I'm actually more of a sucker for fighters that string together combinations-guys that have a dangerous right/left, & put it all together. Also, I actually think Tua's left hook had more ZIP than Frazier's, but Frazier's hook was more of a weapon, & vastly effective.

I also like digging up some of the more unknown power punchers as well, that aren't as famous.

On a different note, I actually rate Pacman quite high in regards to power: the way he has been able to bring it up through weight divisions really has been impressive.

I didn't begin this thread....but I would say that my definition of devastating punchers, at least in terms of regarding this thread, does equate to the Shavers/Cuevas type power. Julian Jackson type power. One punch and it's goodnight....that is basically where I'm coming from.

As for Pac...any fighter who can carry their power up the divisions has to be regarded as a puncher. Thomas Hearns must have been one of the hardest hitting welterweights of all time considering how he carried his power up the divisions. Not that that's in dispute.

What about Jimmy Wilde? never seen him fight but from what I've read he was a wicked puncher.

Rafael Marquez in recent times.....huge puncher. I always said he was like Carlos Zarate...

Ike Williams had a huge right hand, maybe the best the lightweight division has ever seen. His KO-to-fight ratio was pretty low for a couple of reasons. He fought a lot of top fighters, and because he couldn't sign with anyone else, he worked with Carbo, often to instructions.

Ricardo Lopez had that one punch KO power rarely seen in straweights/jr fly's.

Was in Mexico this week, & I had a chance to ask a few people what some of the past, great Mexican fighters have been up to. Heard Lopez is doing TV commentary, & that he has his own gym. It's good to hear, & I'm curious to know how he does as a commentator. Also got some insight on the anti-Oscar feelings down there-interesting. The people I spoke with were quite peeved at the Oscar/Chavez bouts.

Maxy, my bad-I thought you started this thread for some reason.