Tyson Fury says Deontay Wilder is probably the hardest puncher heavyweight boxing has ever produced. The second name on his list is the surprise.
Speaking to ALF Global, Fury put Wladimir Klitschko in the same conversation.
Wilder [was the biggest puncher], for sure. Wilder was a very big puncher, probably the biggest puncher in heavyweight history, but Wladimir Klitschko is also in the top 10 of all-time punchers, Dr Steelhammer.
Fury has firsthand evidence on the first pick. He was dropped twice in Los Angeles in December 2018 and still walked out with a controversial draw. The February 2020 rematch was one-sided, with Fury battering Wilder for seven rounds before the stoppage. The 2021 trilogy fight was the wildest of the three. Fury went down twice in the fourth before finishing Wilder in the 11th.
Klitschko is the less obvious pick. Fury outpointed him in Dusseldorf in November 2015 to take the unified titles, and he did it as a heavy underdog without absorbing much of anything. The scorecards were unanimous.
The power was real enough. Klitschko finished 64-5 with 53 knockouts and stopped most of the men he beat. But he built his long reign on a controlling jab and a clinch, and he rarely comes up alongside Mike Tyson, George Foreman and Earnie Shavers when the all-time punching debate starts.
Fury, now 38, faced both men at the top of their powers. He is one of the few people qualified to rank them.
