By Gav Duthie: It is probably the most exciting combination in boxing the big puncher but weak chin. When you watch a fighter walk into the ring and you think this could end in a knockout either way. That’s what it was like with James Kirkland last Saturday and it was an entirely predictable outcome that he lost by 3rd round stoppage.
Fighters like him though are never short of a fight though or fans because you will always watch them. They have great entertainment value. Great punchers, Poor chins – Here are my top 5.
1. Earnie Shavers 74-14-1 (68) 7 knockout losses
In fairness to Shavers his power was much greater than his chin was weak. Many rate him as the biggest puncher of all time. Two fights in particular sum him up for me and they came right after each-other and ended in 1 round. The first was former world champion Jimmy Ellis. Ellis the quicker fighter had caught Shavers and backed him up onto the corner of the ring. He was unloading a flurry of unanswered punches on Shavers before big Earnie managed to grab hold. From his holding position (where generally no power is generated) he throws one uppercut on Ellis and thats it. Jimmy folds to the floor wriggling around with his arm trapped under his body, fight over. His next fight was against the great battling contender Jerry Quarry. This fight ended the opposite way. We were expecting a long night and toe-to-toe slugfest but one decent punch from Quarry and Shavers was all over the place, a few unanswered shots and the ref waves it off.
2. Floyd Patterson 55-8-1 (40) – 5 Losses by knockout
Despite being on the canvas more than any other champion he was only knocked out by three men, Muhammad Ali twice, Sonny Liston twice and Ingemar Johannson. Floyd was small for a heavyweight but he first demonstrated his devastating power with a one punch knockout over ring legend Archie Moore to win the heavyweight title. His trilogy against Ingemar Johannson is my favorite of all time as all three bouts ended in a knockout. Ingemar knocked Floyd down 9 times over the three fights but Patterson knocked him out in 2 of the 3 bouts. In the second fight Ingemar is knocked out cold and doesn’t get up for 5 minutes. Patterson like the gentleman he was briefly celebrated before going straight over to see if his opponent was ok.
3. Tommy Morrison 48-3-1 (42) – Knocked out for all 3 losses
Morrison a.k.a Tommy Gunn from Rocky V was a fantastic fighter to watch. If you Youtube best heavyweight knockouts you will see stoppages both from and against Tommy Morrison. His left hook could knock people out with one shot. His greatest ding dong battle was against Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock (51 yr old Ruddock made a comeback this year). Both fighters were down and Morrison won in round 6, a must see fight. His stoppage loss to Ray Mercer wasn’t a chin problem it was absolutely brutal but his first round loss to Michael Bentt was a massive upset where he was knocked down three times. Morrison died in 2013 after a long illness.
4. Julian Jackson 55-6 (49) – Knocked out for all 6 losses
His knockout victory against British slickster Herol Graham is sickening. Graham goes down like a tree from one counter right hand in round 4 despite dominating the fight before hand. Jackson is up there with the likes of Shavers and Foreman as the biggest pound for pound puncher of all time but his chin prevented him winning in a lot of big fights. His biggest win was unsurprisingly an early stoppage and it was over Terry Norris. His knockout defeats came early also, 2nd round v Mike McCallum, 5th and 1st rounds respectively against Gerald McClellan. After the two McClellan losses he had one further title shot which he again lost by knockout to Quincy Taylor.
5. Pipino Cuevas 35-15 (31) – 6 losses by knockout
Cuevas was a devastating puncher when given the chance to land. Tommy ‘The Hitman’ Hearns kept him at the end of his long reach when he fought him and knocked him out in only two rounds with big right hands. He lost his first fight by knockout in two rounds but when he fought Hearns he had defended his WBA Welterweight title 11 times (10 wins by knockout). He was stopped a further four times before quitting boxing in 1989.
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