Ahead of this weekend’s super-fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, the Notorious Irishman who is stepping out of the caged octagon into the boxing ring has been boasting of his one punch knockout power.
There’s no doubt that McGregor has proven the power in his left fist with the knockouts of José Aldo, Eddie Alvarez and Chad Mendes of late. Not to mention busting Nate Diaz’s face in the first fight.
Mayweather himself has won 24 of his 49 fights by knockout, though only two of his last 14, and one was controversial at that.
The fight could be in McGregor’s hands – can he land a hard left hook on the greatest defensive boxer in history, to knock him out? Or will he even have the stamina to last the 12 rounds? The fixed odds on boxing are certainly suggesting that Mayweather will win this one.
Neither make it in our list of the hardest punchers in boxing history. Here’s the top three:
- Mike Tyson
The power that Mike Tyson had in his right fist in his prime was quite simply unreal. It was so powerful that Tyson hit with the same force as a 16lb sledgehammer or the equivalent of being involved in a 50 mile per hour car crash.
No surprise then that he was both a heavy draw for pay-per-views and won many of his fights via a knockout. 44 of his 50 career wins came courtesy of a knockout.
- George Foreman
George Foreman has a long highlight reel of devastating knockouts which includes Joe Frazier (twice), José Roman and Ken Norton.
Big George will go down as one of the hardest hitters in boxing history, scoring an incredible 68 knockouts in his 76 wins.
- Rocky Marciano
Known for his relentless fighting style, punching power, stamina and iron chin, Rocky Marciano is considered by many boxing historians to be one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time.
The American boxer retired with a 49-0 record and won 43 of those fights by knockout.
Do you think there will be a knockout in the McGregor-Mayweather fight this weekend?
Betfair are looking forward to this weekend’s fight between McGregor and Mayweather and have produced an infographic highlighting some memorable knockouts and hardest hitters in the sport:
