Via Ken Hissner: The hardest fighter is usually named Heavyweight Earnie “The Black Destroyer” Shavers74-14-1 with 68 knocks out Warren, Ohio, from 1969 to 1995. If he doesn’t knock you out, he usually takes you at least, even the best of the best. like Muhammad Ali, whom he was knocked down in the second round (although www.boxrec.com didn’t show it) and Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes in the second fight knocked him down in the seventh but was stopped by Holmes in the eleventh.
For example, Shavers knocked out James “Quick” Tillis in the ninth round but lost in the decisive 10th round. He knocked out Ken Norton twice in the only first being stopped by Norton in the same round. In the second game against Jimmy Young, he knocked him out in the fourth of their match which ended in a draw. It’s rumored that Shavers has asthma, and if he doesn’t get friends within five innings, he’ll run out of gas.
Sonny Liston, 50-4 with 39 kills, possibly the hardest crash of all time. In his bout, I believe, Wayne Bethea (think Bert Whitehurst, but he’s outdone himself twice with Liston) or whoever the boxer won’t be on in the second round. When the coach questioned him and when he opened his mouth, a few teeth were missing even though he had a mouthpiece.
Venezuela’s two-category world champion Edwin “El Inca Dinamita” Valero, 27-0 with 27 kills before committing suicide in his cell. Among them, he was knocked down in the final match against Antonio DeMarco, 23-1-1, to defend the WBC Lightweight title. When he won that vacated WBC belt, he stopped Antonio Pitalua, 47-3. In a WBA Super Featherweight title match, he knocked out Vincent Mosquera, 24-1-1, twice in the first round, was knocked out in the third round, and stopped his opponent in the tenth round.
Five Division World Champion Thomas “Hit Man” listen, 61-5-1 with 48 knockdowns from Detroit, Michigan. He won his first seventeen games by knockout. He reached Philadelphia and overcame Philly’s Alfonso Hayman, 20-15-5, having been stopped five times. IBHOF promoter Philly J Russell Peltz remembers this fight and is unimpressed with Hearns because he was just like us later. He fought from 1977 to 2006.
Light Heavyweight Champion Archie “Old Mongoose” Moore, 186-23-10 with 132 kills, holding the record for most kills in a career. One of his most famous knocks was knocking out then-heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano in the second round while being knocked down four times by Marciano, with the final knock knocking Moore out in the ninth round. It was Marciano’s last game that ended 49-0 with 43 knockdowns.
Second is the heavyweight Young “King of Cycling”224-13-14, from Macon, Georgia, with 126 (129 also shown on www.boxrec.com) coming in second from 1921 to 1933.
Third place is Sam “The Boston Bonecrusher” Langford lightweight, 178-30-38 with 126 kills Nova Scotia, Canada and Boston, MASS., 1903 to 1926. Fourth place is middleweight Billy Bird, 260-73- 20 with 125 (139 also shown on www.boxrec.com), from Chelsea, London, UK, from 1921 to 1948.
Others interested with high stop rate are 2 times heavyweight champion George Foreman “Big”76-5 with 68 kills from 1969 to 1997, from Houston, Texas, roughly the same percentage as Shavers.
Heavyweight champion Joe “The Brown Bomber” Louis, 66-3 with 52 knockdowns, from 1934 to 1951, from Detroit, Michigan. Heavyweight champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder, 42-2-1 with 41 knockdowns, 2008 to 2021, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Middleweight champion Stanley “The Michigan Assassin” Ketchel, 49-5-3 with 46 knockouts from 1903 to 1910 from Butte, Montana, despite being born in Michigan, who was shot dead ending his career . ‘
In the heavyweight challenge, he defeated champion Jack “Galveston Giant” Johnson only to be knocked down with such force, one of his teeth had been implanted in Johnson’s glove.
All-time p4p numbers. 1 boxer is the amazing 2-division champion “Sugar” Ray Robinson, 174-19-2 with 109 knockouts from Harlem, New York, from 1940 to 1965.
Of course, here are some famous mentions that might interest you, and I’m sure our readers will find others I’m looking forward to hearing about.
