Before World War II, the record-keeping of fighters was lackluster. Everyone wanted to see a fighter smash another to the ground and didn’t really care for who had the best running streak.
Because of that, we don’t have a lot of information on heavyweight fighters before that era of time. Instead, we have to use the information given, and like the UFC fighter odds, weigh up the KO rate to the speed of KOs.
1. Deontay Wilder
We know what you’re thinking “Where Is Mike Tyson?” but when you look at the stats, our goliath among men wasn’t the hardest hitter in all heavyweight history. We will look more at Tyson later, as it’s time for Wilder to shine!
Wilder has a knockout rate of 98%, which is outrageous. In all of his matches, he has managed 30 knockouts within 3 rounds of play. Although many have a more significant KO number to boast of, we have to remember that Wilder is still an active fighter and has time to grow in 3 round knockouts. His 98% rate is what has put him on top, and we don’t see this bulldozer stopping any time soon!
2. Earnie Shavers
Again no Mike Tyson, don’t worry, he will show up! Instead, we need to focus on Shavers’ and his 92% KO rate. Shavers was a phenomenal fighter whose primary years were between 1969 and 1983. He jumped in the ring again for a 1987 fight and a 1995 one too. They were not his best, of course, but we cannot ignore the knockout king! Earnie produced 51 KOs inside 3 rounds during the length of his career, with 68 in total.
You might think that the Shavers should even overtake Wilder with stats like that, but as we said before, Wilder is still an active fighter, and we expect him to catch up to these numbers.
3. George Foreman
We can hear you screaming, “Mike Tyson, Mike Tyson.” You will have to be patient. Instead, we are looking at George Foreman, who did his best fighting between 1969 and 1977, although he returned for another 10 years from 1987 to 1997. During that time, Foreman had a KO rate of 89%. In total, he managed to produce 68 knockouts, 46 of which were inside 3 rounds!
Foreman was such a good fighter that he was even entered into the Olympics!
4. Rocky Marciano
He isn’t listed again, and there is only one spot left on our list. Will Mike Tyson really be beaten? Be patient. You’ll know soon enough!
Rocky Marciano has another amazing KO rate, 88%. In his 8 years in the ring, he created 43 knockouts, 26 of which were inside 3 rounds.
The numbers are starting to dip now, but we cannot ignore how impressive these people were in their own time and still now!
5. Mike Tyson
Okay, we have him. Here is your beloved Mike Tyson. Now, don’t take this too hard, but our big buddy Tyson didn’t have the impressive KOs that you think. He was fantastic in his year, but look above, there are a couple of people that would have bested him.
Mike Tyson fought in the ring between 1985 and 2005. That is a long time to be fighting, and that should have given him more time to knock out his opponent, but in reality, the longer Tyson was in the ring, the lower his rate got.
Now, this is not all negative, as Mike Tyson still had an impressive 88% KO rate. They added up to 44 knockouts, 33 of which were inside 3 rounds.
Looking at the states alone, you might think that Tyson should overtake Marciano, but Marciano only fought for 8 years!
Conclusion
Deontay Wilder is the heaviest UFC hitter ever, and he is still fighting the good fight. With years left in his game, we hope he can keep up those fantastic KO ratios!