A former opponent of Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins has revealed the one fighter that punched harder than the legendary duo.
Jones and Hopkins became rivals during their respective professional careers, locking horns for the first time back in May of 1993 as Jones defeated ‘The Executioner’ via unanimous decision to capture the vacant IBF world middleweight title.
Hopkins got his revenge in their rematch however, which took place 17 years after their first encounter. The Philadelphia-native outpointed Jones over 12 rounds in Las Vegas to level up their rivalry, although they would miss out on a trilogy clash.
One man that shared the ring with both Jones and Hopkins was former unified light-heavyweight champion Glen Johnson. Johnson lost by 11th round TKO to Hopkins in July 1997, then pulled off a huge upset when he stopped Jones Jr by ninth round KO in September 2004.
Speaking on The Boxing Breakdown Podcast, Johnson revealed that former IBF light-heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud was a bigger puncher than both Jones and Hopkins, as he claims Cloud ‘manhandled’ him when they faced each other.
“The hardest hitting opponent that I fought I think was Tavoris Cloud. Yeah, he was a strong fighter. He manhandled me, went toe-to-toe, back-and-forth. He was the hardest puncher that I fought.”
Cloud defeated Johnson via unanimous decision in what was the first defence of his IBF light-heavyweight title in August 2010.
He held the IBF title at 175lbs between 2009 and 2013, making four successful defences of his crown before he was eventually dethroned by Hopkins who became boxing’s oldest world champion in the process.
Cloud — who finished his career with 20 knockouts from 25 wins — would challenge for a version of the world title on one more occasion before his career came to an end, although he would fall short to Adonis Stevenson in their showdown for the WBC light-heavyweight title in September 2013.