Legendary trainer-turned-analyst Teddy Atlas has revealed who he believes to be the hardest punching heavyweight of all time.
While he may be known now as a top analyst of the sport, Atlas began his career working as a boxing coach during the late 1970s after his amateur tenure came to an end when he sustained a serious back injury.
He initially worked alongside Cus D’Amato out of the Cutskill Boxing Club although their partnership was short-lived. Atlas would go on to train a number of former world champions during his career, including the likes of Timothy Bradley, Alexander Povetkin and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
The bulk of his success as a coach came when he worked with former unified world heavyweight champion Michael Moorer, who captured the WBA and IBF titles when he defeated Evander Holyfield in April of 1994.
Speaking on his own YouTube channel THE FIGHT, Atlas shared details of who he believed was the biggest punching heavyweight of all time, snubbing obvious options in Mike Tyson and George Foreman and naming none other than two-time world heavyweight title challenger Earnie Shavers.
“Power, not in both hands, but man in that right hand. Earnie Shavers. 76 wins, 14 losses, one draw, 70 knockouts. Man, he hits you. he hit you with that right hand. That shows you you what heart [Muhammad] Ali had, shows you what heart Larry Holmes had.”
Shavers is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights to have never won a version of the world title.
He did challenge for the world heavyweight championship on two occasions throughout the course of his 30-year career however, falling short to Muhammad Ali in September 1977 and then Larry Holmes in September 1979.