Deontay Wilder could be retiring soon, leaving a vacancy for who the powerful puncher is in the sport. There’s much debate about the biggest puncher in boxing, but the top guys in the heavyweight division are fairly obvious.
Top 10 Hardest Punchers in Boxing Today
1. Zhilei Zhang
2. Anthony Joshua
3. Daniel Dubois
4. Efe Ajagba
5. Flip Hrgovic
6. Richard Torrez Jr.
7. Joe Joyce
8. Arslanbek Makhmudov
9. Fabio Wardley
10. Bakhodir Jalolov
Zhilei Zhang: The Powerhouse
Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) has proven repeatedly that he has the heaviest hands in the sport, and what makes it impressive is that he doesn’t need speed to generate the power on his shots. His punches are slow and crushing, like a Texas-sized asteroid hitting a planet.
When Zhang lands, he creates a massive impact, leaving his opponents in the dust on the canvas. Unfortunately for Zhang, he has never been able to test his power shots on Joshua or Tyson Fury. It would be interesting to see what he could do to these two.
The Importance of a Strong Chin
Having devasting power is nice, but if a fighter can’t take a punch, it doesn’t help. We saw that with Deontay Wilder, who has lost repeatedly since 2020, with two of his defeats coming from a relatively weak puncher, Tyson Fury.
Joshua is one of the biggest punchers, yet his chin is one of the weakest, making him vulnerable if he can’t get to his opponents early before they land their shots. AJ has repeatedly shown that he can give it but can’t take it. Wilder has had the same problem.
Skill over Power
What’s interesting is that the best heavyweight in the division, Oleksandr Usyk, isn’t a big puncher, but he’s clearly #1 and has already beaten Joshua twice and Fury. That shows that power isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Usyk showed in his victories against Joshua and Dubois that skill reigns supreme over power in the sport. That’s the way the sport has been since the beginning.
During his career, we saw how Muhammad Ali defeated the stronger punchers, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, and Cleveland Williams. These guys had much better power than Ali, yet he beat them and made it look easy.
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