Golovkin vs Brook: A look back at some of boxing's biggest punchers
Wednesday 7 September 2016 13:23, UK
Gennady Golovkin has an astonishing 91% knockout rate but where does that rank in the scheme of the sport's heaviest hitters?
Heavyweights are renowned for devastation but there have been some fiercely destructive fighters in the lower weight divisions as well.
Big men such as Anthony Joshua, Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson continue to light up the weightier categories by reeling off knockouts but what can be even more impressive is similar brutality dished out by naturally smaller men.
As WBA Super, WBC and IBF world middleweight king Golovkin (35-0-KO32) prepares to try and decimate Kell Brook's unbeaten record on Saturday - live on Sky Sports Box Office, we serve up some reminders of other fighters famous for their finishes.
Julian Jackson
The Virgin Islands' most famous sporting export, Jackson was known as 'The Hawk.' Only three of his first 50 fights went the distance and two of those were knockout defeats to two other wrecking-ball punchers; Mike McCallum and Gerald McClellan.
Jackson's highlights reel is littered with gems but the devastating left hook that relieved Buster Drayton of the WBA super-welterweight title, the shuddering right and following combination that dispatched Terry Norris, or the one-punch counter that laid Herol Graham out shine particularly brightly.
Jackson hung up his gloves in 1998 after back-to-back knockout defeats but has stayed in the sport courtesy of his sons' involvement; Julius Jackson and John Jackson.
Gerald McClellan
Prior to the horrific injuries sustained during a fateful bout against Nigel Benn in 1995, McClellan was a violent machine of a boxer. Before that night in London, only two of his previous 31 victims had managed to hear the final bell.
The American was rangy, fast and spiteful in his work, as John Mugabi found out at the cost of his WBO middleweight crown when he was blown away inside a round. Of the eight opponents he would face thereafter before his career was prematurely ended, only Jackson was able to extend him beyond a second round.
Edwin Valero
A two-weight world champion with a flawless knockout record. None of his first 18 professional opponents made it through the first round and Venezuela had seemingly produced a fighter who could dominate the sport for years to come.
Vicente Mosquera was the first man to extend 'Dinaminta' - reaching the 10th before being stopped and handing over the WBA world super-featherweight title. The vicious manner in which Valero strung together combinations proved too much for his three world lightweight title opponents too before a turbulent private life resulted in premature death.
Acelino Freitas
Perhaps Brazil's most beloved boxer, the manner of Freitas' ascension to world champion status can hardly have been more emphatic. Anatoly Alexandrov had already been felled by the time Freitas produced a trademark right hand that knocked the Kazakh unconscious. It was all over inside a round and Freitas was the WBO world super-featherweight champion.
Freitas suffered a first defeat after stepping up to lightweight; losing the WBO title to Diego Corrales and another stoppage defeat to Juan Diaz saw him hang up his gloves. 'Popo' returned twice more in 2012 and 2015 with a pair of heavy-handed successes but he is unlikely to repeat the glory of his earlier exploits.
Prince Naseem Hamed
One of the flashiest operators to step (or flip) into a boxing ring, Hamed is from the same stable as Brook; the Ingle's gym in Sheffield. The brash southpaw was all speed and natural movement but his knockout rate speaks of a power usually associated with those less artistic.
His first fight at featherweight was a WBO world title clash with Steve Robinson and many doubted the power he'd exhibited as a super-bantamweight would translate. A systematic eight-round destruction of the Welshman proved them wrong, and Hamed stopped his next 10 opponents; including a career-defining fourth-round win over Kevin Kelley.
Where does Golovkin rank with the five hard hitters?
Watch Gennady Golovkin v Kell Brook, live on Sky Sports Box Office from The O2, on September 10. Book the event via your Sky remote or online here
