Two men are claiming to be the hardest punchers in the sport of boxing right now – in fact Francis Ngannou believes he’s the biggest hitter in all of combat sports.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou will now forever be known as the man who narrowly lost out on a split points decision to the WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in his first-ever boxing contest.
Ngannou has set the world record for the most powerful punch in the world having once registered a striking power of 129,161 units on a PowerKube – a machine used to measure the a punch by calculating its force, speed and accuracy. He set the record in 2018 and it is yet to be broken. His fighting record is also impressive, with 12 knockout wins out of 17 contests in UFC.
It led him to answer with certainty recently when he was asked who could throw the most powerful shot in all fight sports
Speaking to SHOWTIME Sports, Deontay Wilder disputed that. He hasn’t hit any machine, but he claims his boxing record speaks for itself.
“I’m happy for [Ngannou] but the thing is, women lie, men lie, but numbers don’t lie, baby. I’ve been doing it for a very long time, and every man I’ve faced I’ve been putting them on the canvas. I don’t think that’s the same for him.”
Out of a total of 46 bouts, 42 of 43 wins have been by knockout, giving him an overall ratio of 97.67%. It is this power which gives Wilder the confidence to go into any fight knowing he needs just one second to end it.
Next up, it is Joseph Parker on December 23 who will be trying to evade the American’s big right hand.
There’s a chance he meets Ngannou in a ‘mixed-rules’ contest down the line – a true test of this debate.