Who had better handspeed: Mike Tyson or Joe Louis?

[Hawkins]

Tyson's handspeed was of the more explosive variety and from different angles. Joe Louis' handspeed was awesome as well but what made Louis so deadly was the short compact punches. His punches didn't have to travel very far to do damage.

Both of 'em are unique to the heavyweight division tho'. Handspeed with bone crushing power meant big trouble for the opposition.

But I give the slight edge to Mike Tyson in the handspeed department.

[them_apples]

LOL.

Tyson is so much quicker than Louis, In fact Louis is in my slow book.

i havent seen floyd patterson do any display of AMAZING handspeed. can anybody point me to a video where one would be like "WOW!!!11"??

I agree, quite a few of my boxing history books claim he was the fastest ever, but I've yet to see it...

[Jim Jeffries]

LOL.

Tyson is so much quicker than Louis, In fact Louis is in my slow book.

Try watching some of Louis' fights when he was younger. Not as big a difference as you claim.

[Hawkins]

Try watching some of Louis' fights when he was younger. Not as big a difference as you claim.

I think the deal with Joe was that he was such a compact puncher, and didnt really need the leverage most fighters do to deliver a devestating punch, that people fail to notice his marvelous hand speed.

[-CANE-]

It's difficult to judge and I couldn't really vote for on or the other unless I suppose I'll just go for equal.

Tyson threw quicker combos no doubt, but Louis I think could just flick out the jab and an overhand right quicker than Tyson.

[sleazyfellow]

I agree, quite a few of my boxing history books claim he was the fastest ever, but I've yet to see it...

that should show you sumthing...floyd was VERY fast esp. with that leaping kangaroo punch of his. Hes a notch above tyson when it comes to handspeed. EVERYBODY whos into classic boxing should look at the guys profile on youtube, hes got sum gems in there.

[The Iron Man]

Im going to go with Tyson, he hit with amazing speed. 5 or 6 punch combos which are rare for heavyweights. Cus also said he hit quicker than Floyd Patterson!

[judge_jab]

11 punches in 4 seconds??? Ali has the fastest hands, nuff said.

[metalinmybrain]

Close, but I'd give the edge to Joe.


Who had the fastest hands for a HW ever? Only one answer there, folks - Floyd Patterson.

Joe Louis was fast but he wasn't Tyson fast. I have never seen Louis lay down a 5 punch combination within seconds, he never went to the body then to the head with speed. He took his time picked his punches and released it is why he was so accurate of a puncher. Mike is the same thing, accurate with his punches because he chooses them and releases, the only difference is Mike has so much power in both arms he gets his punches off allot faster than Louis.

Tell me since when do you see a right hand body shot followed by and upper cut leading with a left hook? That combination alone is unseen in the heavyweights and to have one pull it off with unseen speed is just out of the question from the fastest hands in the heavyweight history! Mike Tyson all the way on this question buddy!

[metalinmybrain]

It's difficult to judge and I couldn't really vote for on or the other unless I suppose I'll just go for equal.

Tyson threw quicker combos no doubt, but Louis I think could just flick out the jab and an overhand right quicker than Tyson.

Just watch the Berbick fight to see how fast his hands were! If your throwing fast combinations then that means you have fast hands. If you say Tyson is throwing quicker combos that means he has faster hands. A jab will only do so much, given that Tyson was the height of Louis with his reach there would be no talk of Louis jab. Tyson is by far the fastest hands in the history of heavyweight boxing get over it!