Top 10 most explosive punchers
— -- The middleweight unification fight between Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET) at Madison Square Garden in New York matches two of the most explosive punchers in boxing. Between them they have 62 knockouts in 67 fights.
So it seemed like a good time to take a look at one person's view of the top 10 most explosive punchers in boxing today:
1. Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs)
Golovkin is riding a streak of 20 consecutive knockouts during his prolonged "big drama show." Not only can GGG crack with both hands, but, time and again, he has knocked out opponents who had never previously been stopped before he did the job, including Willie Monroe Jr., Martin Murray, Daniel Geale, Osumanu Adama, Nobuhiro Ishida and Grzegorz Proksa in middleweight world title bouts since 2012.
2. Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs)
They don't call the unified light heavyweight titleholder "Krusher" for nothing. Since a technical draw in 2008, Kovalev has used his destructive power to blow through 11 of his past 12 opponents, knocking each of them out inside eight rounds. The lone exception was Bernard Hopkins, known for having one of the best chins in boxing history. And, still, Kovalev knocked him down in a shutout decision win in which he gave the future Hall of Famer the worst beating of his career.
3. Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 54 KOs)
The heavyweight champion sometimes holds and boxes a bit too much for some people's taste, but his power is game-changing. In 25 world title victories, he has 19 knockouts, many of them the one-punch variety. And he can do it with either hand. His right hand and left hook are both among the best in boxing history and he has also scored knockouts with jabs.
4. Roman Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KOs)
Adding to the excitement of the Golovkin-Lemieux main event on Saturday is the fact that three-division titleholder Gonzalez is bringing his considerable power to the co-feature in a flyweight championship defense against Brian Viloria, a powerful puncher in his own right. For a little guy, Gonzalez has huge power and is riding a streak of nine knockouts in a row and has stopped 14 of his past 15 foes, with only unified titleholder Juan Francisco Estrada hearing the final bell.
5. Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs)
Wilder has destroyed virtually every opponent he has faced, primarily with a missile-like right hand that has done tremendous damage. There are two ways to look at it: He really is either a truly gifted puncher who might put any opponent to sleep, or his knockout total is greatly inflated because he has faced such weak opposition. The one quality opponent he has faced, Bermane Stiverne, against whom he won a heavyweight title in January, is the one guy who went the distance. That said, yes, he can bang.
6. Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs)
Puerto Rico's first four-division titleholder and the reigning middleweight world champion has always carried heavy artillery in his fists. But since getting together with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach three fights ago, all of which he has won by dominant knockout, he has rediscovered his best punch -- the left hook (to the body and head) that has wrought damage for so many years and yielded many KOs.
7. Lucas Matthysse (37-4, 34 KOs)
Although "The Machine" is coming off a knockout loss to Viktor Postol on Oct. 3, Matthysse has been one of boxing's most feared fighters for years, and for good reason -- his sick punching power has turned out many a light. During a four-fight stretch at his peak in 2012 and 2013, he annihilated the likes of Lamont Peterson, Humberto Soto, Michael Dallas Jr. and iron-chinned Olusegun Ajose, who had never been stopped. In 2014, he also knocked out John Molina in the 11th round of the Boxing Writers Association of America fight of the year.
8. Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs)
Thurman, who owns a welterweight title, goes by the seemingly very appropriate nickname of "One Time," as in it takes only one punch for him to change a fight. Although he has gone 12 rounds in two of his past three fights, don't let that fool you. He is a ferocious puncher.
9. David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs)
Lemieux won a middleweight title in his last fight in June to set up the showdown with Golovkin. Although Lemieux did not score a knockout in that bout, he did score four knockdowns against former titlist Hassan N'Dam. Lemieux began his career by scoring 20 knockouts in a row and 24 in his first 25 fights, all inside five rounds. And when Lemieux scores knockouts, they are not just on an accumulation of punches. They are usually one-shot, good-night kind of blows.
10. Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs)
The great relief pitcher Mariano Rivera fashioned a Hall of Fame career off one pitch, a masterful cut fastball. Middleweight titleholder Lee has fashioned his career off one money punch, a powerful right hook that has saved the day for him more than once. He was trailing John Jackson on all three scorecards in June 2014 and looking bad when he scored a one-punch knockout in the fifth round, courtesy of the right hook, that may have saved his career. History repeated itself in his next fight in December. He was down on all three scorecards and looking terrible against Matt Korobov when he landed the right hook again for the knockout victory that gave him a vacant middleweight world title. Memo to all opponents: Beware of Lee's right hook.