After David Haye’s recollection of a meaty punch from the juggernaut Nikolai Valuez, Barry McGuigan has had his say on some of boxing’s most effective punchers
Barry McGuigan has ranked his most effective punchers of all time(Image: Steve Powell/Getty Images)
David Haye’s reference to the hardest punch he ever took (Nikolai Valuev) transported me back to Juan Laporte. He hit me so hard I thought I was in Mrs Keenan’s toy shop, three doors down from my mother’s grocery store.
No-one really knows just by looking who is the puncher in the room. Former world featherweight champion Danny ‘Little Red’ Lopez was like a stripe on a mattress, but he could take a rhino down.
Gennady Golovkin looked more like a geographer teacher than a middleweight who could take your head off. Conversely Ken Norton was one of the most muscular boxers of all time and got flattened by George Foreman.
Yes, Foreman was a fearsome lump too but being a great specimen doesn’t mean you are going to be a great puncher. Being physically strong does not guarantee more torque on the end of your shot.
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Speed and timing are just as critical, as is distance control. You max out power by pushing off the right leg and rotating through the left (orthodox). This is how you generate torque.
Balance is the key, the distance between your feet when you initiate the punching motion determines the degree of torque you generate. The cleanest hitters land at the very point the arm fully extends.
For two or three rounds I could hit as hard as Wilfredo Lopez, Savador Sanchez or Danny Lopez. The difference is they could do it every single round. They were just better boxers than me, more complete. I was a really good fighter, and I guarantee if we went into an arcade I could hit that punching machine harder than all of them with one shot. But it’s about doing it over and over again against a moving target.
Vernon Penprase has the honour of taking the best shot I ever threw. It was the spring of 1983. I stunned him with a jab, snapped his head back, feigned another jab then hit him with a left hook.
The sequence flowed beautifully. He went down like a ton of bricks. He got up but it was game over shortly afterwards and I was crowned British featherweight champion. In my opinion here are five of the most effective punchers of all time, in no particular order.
Marvin Hagler
Marvin Hagler was a middleweight icon
Arguably the greatest middleweight of all time. Fought southpaw and orthodox. Each shot in a combination was loaded, the torque increasing by the punch. We had never seen that before.
Tommy Hearns
He had such a long, whippy reach and punched so fast, hitting straight through the target. I still can’t watch the punch that did for my favourite fighter, Roberto Duran.
Julian Jackson
Julian Jackson after winning the WBC Middleweight title in 1991
Another middleweight firecracker. The punch that ended Herol Graham’s world title bid says it all. “Oh no,” gasped Harry Carpenter on commentary, “he’s not getting up from that.”
Colin Jones
An incredible puncher at welterweight who does not get enough kudos. He put guys to sleep. I see him occasionally and he still looks magnificent.
Danny Little Red Lopez
Tall for a featherweight and thin as a rake. He laid them out throughout his career.
Follow Barry on X at @ClonesCyclone @mcguigan’s_Gym