"Best" left hook specialist of the last 35 years?

[Mr E]

George Foreman, Earnie Shavers and Mike Tyson obviously all had crushing left hooks too, but they had right hands to match, so they don't count under my criteria.

No question in my mind that, though he was the smallest, Smokin' Joe is -- by far -- the pick of the litter here. Anyone disagree?

[greek1237]

have to agree with you there.

[TheSentinel]

What about the other weight classes?

[StingerKarl]

Heavyweight? I'd say Jerry Quarry.
Bobby Foster for best left hook in all weight classes.
Karl

[kikibalt]

is this only for H.W?
if not another left hooker would be tony baltazar

Frank B.

[Mr E]

sorry-- I meant to specify "heavyweight."

[HEGrant]

Frazier was far and away a better fighter than the rest although Tua may have been a tougher match up for him than Bonavena...

[starlingstomp]

Tua probably has the hardest left hook.Hell, it's all he had really.

Frazier would be my pick for best overall.

[TheSentinel]

What about Pipino Cuevas- he would smash in peoples faces and leave them a mess.

[bodyblow]

Frazier, easy.

Quarry!? He matched his hook head to head with Frazier and didnt make it half way through the fight.

[StingerKarl]

That dosen't mean anything in regards to the topic.

[Dragnet 69]

Michael Carbajal had an excellent left hook especially at countering fighters moving in. TIP

[AEP2]

What about Ruben Olivares? I recall Rick Farris once mentioning that watching Olivares hitting the heavy bag with his left hook was just as impressive as seeing Foreman hit the heavy bag.

[kikibalt]

Olivares did't throw a short hook, but he still had some snap to it , an he could punch

Frank B.

[HEGrant]

Don't forget Tyson's hook. Lightning fast and super powerful...

[Steve McV]

Tyson had a powerful left hook indeed, but I think Frazier's was a bit better. Not much, but a bit. Tyson had a better right, although Smokin' Joe could lay you out with a right as well.

Frazier was a converted lefty, correct? I wonder how different his career would have been if he'd fought from a southpaw stance.

[Ronald Lipton]

Trust me on this,

I boxed with Joe Frazier, saw all his fights, mostly ringsisde and I traveled to do so. So him in Philly all the time in the gym and we stayed friends for years. Those of you that have my tape saw footage of this.

Anyway I refereed David Tua twice, against Dan Morgan and Rick Hunnicut. Frazier's hook was applied in relentless fashion in combos and in single blasts and leveled the best and wore down the best and it was just stupendous. One of the best of all time.

David Tua's left hook in one shot was the most heavy punch in the ring a human being could throw. It does not land cleanly much of the time. When it lands cleanly on the chin, people go unconcious. It is a frightening heavy dangerous knockout shot. The way he gets his awesome shoulder structure and treetrunk legs into it is just beyond belief when it lands. The sound of it on the head says it all. He almost killed both of the guys I mentioned and I had to use all my speed to get there to prevent just one more punch.

Frazier the better fighter, more refined delivery, Tua, the heavier shot.

[Steve McV]

Mr. Lipton, if you say Tua's left has a heavier impact, well, OK, I'll believe you, but I gotta say, Tua looks downright clumsy sometimes.

[wolgast]

Eugene "Cyclone" Hart, of Philadelphia...best left-hooker. ask anyone who fought him--Antuofermo, Briscoe, Fullmer, Moyer, etc.

[Ronald Lipton]

Tua is clumsy, no two ways about it.

I am only responding to the heavyweight left hook specialist thing here.

The guys who stand out in my mind for moments that impressed me in one fight or so with the big left hook, were of course outside heavyweight, Cyclone Hart, Carter, Tiger, Olivares, Cuevas, Tyson, Shavers, Frazier, Cooney, Quarry,
Tua, Telesco(refereed him twice when he was dangerous),
Foster to name a few.

Ezzard Charles' left hook that he put Satterfield away with and Walcott's left-hook uppercut smash of Charles, Ruddock with Dokes, McCallum's blasts, Patterson v Johannson are some stunning memories.

[GorDoom]

Best non-heavy left hooker I ever saw was Ricardo "Pajarito" Moreno.

GorDoom

[kikibalt]

Gor
Great hook he had , a little wide but never the less great

Frank B.

[HEGrant]

I've stood next to Tua at a boxing writer's dinner and he radiated power to an almost scary degree ...

[rocky111]

Tony Galento, Hatchetman Sheppard, David Tua, Jack Dempsey, JOe Louis, Joe Walcott, Sonny LIston (awesome), Joe Frazier, Bob Foster, Gus Lesnivich, Floyd Patterson, Henry Cooper
Eduardo Lausse, Tony Baltazar, Charley Scott, Dick Tiger, Ruban Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Sandy Saddler, Ray Robinson, Tony Zale, Rubin Carter, Carlos Ortiz, Paulo Rosi, Ike Williams
Just to name a few

[JLP 6]

Give me Louis' all day. The speed, accuracy and timing, over just plain power and consistancy any day.

[HEGrant]

The hooks he threw at Max Baer were perhaps the most amazing I have ever seen !!! :eek :eek :eek :eek

[JLP 6]

I lost that Louis-Schemling along with Dempsey verses Willard and Carpentier. Does anyone have this and more Dempsey bouts with sound?

About those hooks. Those shots are precisely why Joe has to the greatest puncher/finisher or all-time.

[PD99]

Louis' triple lefts on Max Baer were something else weren't they?. Lighting fast, each and every hook a full blooded bomb in it's own right. How about the laser fast counter left that flattened Lee Ramage (Louis' first filmed bout), the single left hook that literally lifted up 233 lbs of Galento or the double left hooks that put Al Ettore down against the ropes?. Yes, Louis had some hook. .

[HEGrant]

PD: Those were two of the most brutal KO's , not to mention the most beautiful....

[Chuck1052]

Another fighter who had a powerful left hook
was Earnie Shavers. After all, a left hook
by Shavers was the first punch to put
Ken Norton on "queer street" in a very short
bout. Of course, I have to admit that Shaver's
right cross was his "money" punch.

- Chuck Johnston