View source for Punching power


[[Image:Kickboxing right hook landing.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Strikes to the head can result in a knockout]]

'''Punching power''' is the amount of momentum in a person's [[punch (strike)|punches]]. '''Knockout power''' is a similar concept relating to the probability of any [[Strike (attack)|strike]] to the head to cause unconsciousness. Knockout power is related to the [[impulse (physics)|impulse]] delivered and precision of the strike.

In order to increase the mass behind a punch, it is essential to move the body as a unit throughout the punch.  Power is generated from the ground up, such that force from the ankles transfers to the knees; force from the knees transfers to the thighs; force from the thighs transfers to the [[core (anatomy)|core]]; from the core to the chest; from the chest to the shoulders; from the shoulders to the forearms and finally the compounded force transfers through the fist into an opponent. So the most powerful punchers are able to connect their whole body and channel the force from each portion of the body into a punch.

Generally, there are 5 components to punching power that must be present for a puncher to be considered truly powerful: lack of arm punching, proper weight shifting, stepping during a punch, pivoting with a punch, and using proper footwork.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://heavyfists.com/increase-punching-power | title=Checklist to increase your punching power}}</ref>

This body connection requires the development of a strong core.  The core is perhaps the most important element in a powerful punch, since it connects the powerhouse of the legs to the delivery system of the arms.  Basic core conditioning [[physical exercise|exercises]] include abdominal [[crunch (exercise)|crunches]], [[sit-up (exercise)|situps]] and leg raises.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.learnhowtobox.com
| title=How to box
}}</ref>

==Fighters known for their punching power==
{{Collapse top|1=In boxing}}
{{col-start}} {{col-break}}
* [[Henry Armstrong]]
* [[In-Chul Baek]]
* [[Buddy Baer]]
* [[Max Baer (boxer)|Max Baer]]
* [[Paul Berlenbach]]
* [[Riddick Bowe]]
* [[Lamon Brewster]]
* [[Shannon Briggs]]
* [[Tommy Burns (boxer) |Tommy Burns]]
* [[Charley Burley]]
* [[Frank Bruno]]
* [[Georges Carpentier]]
* [[Marcel Cerdan]]
* [[Julio Cesar Chavez]]
* [[George Chuvalo]]
* [[Gerry Cooney]]
* [[Jack Dempsey]]
* [[Roberto Duran]]
* [[Eric Esch]]
* [[Luis Firpo]]
* [[Bob Fitzsimmons]]
* [[George Foreman]]
* [[Bob Foster (boxer)|Bob Foster]]
* [[Joe Frazier]]
* [[Tony Galento]]
* [[Khaosai Galaxy]]
* [[Joe Gans]]
* [[Ceferino Garcia]]
* [[Arturo Gatti]]
* [[Wilfredo Gómez]]
* [[Rocky Graziano]]
* [[Ricky Hatton]]
* [[David Haye]]
* [[Thomas Hearns]]
* [[Oscar De La Hoya]]
* [[Julian Jackson]]
* [[James J. Jeffries]]
* [[Ingemar Johansson]]
* [[Marvin Johnson]]
* [[Roy Jones, Jr.]]
* [[Stanley Ketchel]]
* [[Vitali Klitschko]]
* [[Wladimir Klitschko]]
* [[Sam Langford]]
* [[Artie Levine]]
* [[John Henry Lewis]]
* [[Lennox Lewis]]
* [[Joe Louis]]
* [[Ron Lyle]]
* [[Rocky Marciano]]
* Tami Mauriello<ref>{{cite web|title=Tami Mauriello|url=http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=12138&cat=boxer}}</ref>
* [[Gerald McClellan]]
* [[Terry McGovern (boxer) |Terry McGovern]]
* [[Sam McVey]]
* [[Ray Mercer]]
* [[Freddie Mills]]
* [[Carlos Monzon]]
* [[Archie Moore]]
* [[Michael Moorer]]
* [[Tommy Morrison]]
* [[Shane Mosley]]
* [[John Mugabi]]
* [[Eddie Mustafa Muhammad]]
* [[Ken Norton]]
* [[Young Otto]]
* [[Ruben Olivares]]
* [[Manny Pacquiao]]
* [[Floyd Patterson]]
* [[Kelly Pavlik]]
* [[Aaron Pryor]]
* [[Hasim Rahman]]
* [[Sugar Ray Robinson]]
* [[Sandy Saddler]]
* [[Lou Savarese]]
* [[Max Schmeling]]
* [[Carlos Zarate Serna]]
* [[Tom Sharkey]]
* [[Earnie Shavers]]
* [[Young Stribling]]
* [[John L. Sullivan]]
* [[José Torres]]
* [[David Tua]]
* [[Randy Turpin]]
* [[Mike Tyson]]
* [[Edwin Valero]]
* [[Felix Trinidad]]
* [[Barbados Joe Walcott]]
* [[Jimmy Wilde]]
* [[Cleveland Williams]]
* [[Jess Willard]]
* [[Bruce Woodcock]]
* [[Tony Zale]]
{{col-break}}

Women's Boxing
* [[Jenifer Alcorn]]
* [[Laila Ali]]
* [[Ijeoma Egbunine]]
* [[Jacqui Frazier-Lyde]]
* [[Hanna Gabriel]]
* [[Christy Martin (boxer)|Christy Martin]]
* Monica McGowan<ref>{{cite web|title=Monica McGowan|url=http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=14357&cat=boxer}}</ref>
* [[Leatitia Robinson]]
* [[Natascha Ragosina]]
* [[Lucia Rijker]]
* Agnieszka Rylik<ref>{{cite web|title=Agnieszka Rylik|url=http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=14400&cat=boxer}}</ref>
* [[Maureen Shea]]
* [[Vonda Ward]]
* [[Ann Wolfe]]
{{col-end}}

{{Collapse bottom}}

{{Collapse top|1=In kickboxing}}

* [[Cyril Abidi]]
* [[Peter Aerts]]
* [[Dennis Alexio]]
* [[Jérôme Le Banner]]
* [[Mike Bernardo]]
* [[Remy Bonjasky]]
* [[Raul Cătinaș]]
* [[Branko Cikatić]]
* [[Lloyd van Dams]]
* [[Ramon Dekkers]]
* [[Carlos Condit]]
* [[Dewey Cooper]]
* [[Nathan Corbett]]
* [[Gago Drago]]
* [[Ben Edwards (kickboxer)|Ben Edwards]]
* [[Mirko Filipović]]
* [[Hesdy Gerges]]
* [[Daniel Ghiță]]
* [[Manson Gibson]]
* [[Badr Hari]]
* [[Ernesto Hoost]]
* [[Andy Hug]]
* [[Alexey Ignashov]]
* [[Igor Jurković]]
* [[Rob Kaman]]
* [[Changpuek Kiatsongrit]]
* [[Albert Kraus]]
* [[Melvin Manhoef]]
* [[Jean-Claude Leuyer]]
* [[Frank Lobman]]
* [[Hector Lombard]]
* [[Vitor Miranda]]
* [[Mighty Mo (kickboxer)|Mighty Mo]]
* [[Cătălin Moroșanu]]
* [[Petro Nakonechnyi]]
* [[Alain Ngalani]]
* [[John Wayne Parr]]
* [[Dževad Poturak]]
* [[Patrice Quarteron]]
* [[Kevin Rosier]]
* [[Rick Roufus]]
* [[Jamal Ben Saddik]]
* [[Gökhan Saki]]
* [[Ray Sefo]]
* [[Matt Skelton]]
* [[Paul Slowinski]]
* [[Maurice Smith (kickboxer) |Maurice Smith]]
* [[Andy Souwer]]
* [[Jean-Yves Thériault (kickboxer) |Jean-Yves Theriault]]
* [[Andrew Thomson (kickboxer)|Andrew Thomson]]
* [[Gregory Tony]]
* [[Benny Urquidez]]
* [[Adam Watt]]
* [[Don "The Dragon" Wilson]]
* [[Tetsuya Yamato]]
* [[Mike Zambidis]]
* [[Errol Zimmerman]]
{{Collapse bottom}}

{{Collapse top|1=In mixed martial arts}}
{{col-start}} {{col-break}}
* [[Tank Abbott]]
* [[Bernard Ackah]]
* [[Jose Aldo]]
* [[Houston Alexander]]
* [[Thiago Alves]]
* [[Andrei Arlovski]]
* [[Ryan Bader]]
* [[Bryan Baker (fighter) |Bryan Baker]]
* [[Vitor Belfort]]
* [[Joey Beltran]]
* [[Michael Bisping]]
* [[Diego Brandao]]
* [[Paul Buentello]]
* [[Shane Carwin]]
* [[Daron Cruickshank]]
* [[Paul Daley]]
* [[Nick Diaz]]
* [[Jake Ellenberger]]
* [[Alexander Emelianenko]]
* [[Fedor Emelianenko]]
* [[Rashad Evans]]
* [[Maiquel Falcão]]
* [[Tony Ferguson (fighter) |Tony Ferguson]]
* [[Mirko Filipović]]
* [[Rich Franklin]]
* [[Patricky Freire]]
* [[Travis Fulton]]
* [[Dan Hardy]]
* [[Dan Henderson]]
* [[Johny Hendricks]]
* [[Mark Hunt]]
* [[Takanori Gomi]]
* [[Lyman Good]]
* [[Gary Goodridge]]
* [[Neil Grove]]
* [[Rich Hale]]
* [[Dan Henderson]]
* [[Matt Hughes (fighter) |Matt Hughes]]
* [[Quinton Jackson]]
* [[Anthony Johnson (fighter)|Anthony Johnson]]
* [[Esteves Jones]]
* [[Jon Bones Jones]]
* [[Cheick Kongo]]
* [[Mike Kyle]]
* [[Sergei Kharitonov]]
* [[Andrey Koreshkov]]
* [[Muhammed Lawal]]
* [[Chris Leben]]
* [[Chuck Liddell]]
* [[Sean Loeffler]]
* [[Hector Lombard]]
* [[David Loiseau]]
* [[Rory MacDonald (fighter) |Rory MacDonald]]
* [[Drew McFedries]]
* [[Melvin Manhoef]]
* [[Lyoto Machida]]
* [[Gilbert Melendez]]
* [[Mark Munoz]]
* [[Daisuke Nakamura (fighter) |Daisuke Nakamura]]
* [[Roy Nelson (fighter)|Roy Nelson]]
* [[K.J. Noons]]
* [[Alistair Overeem]]
* [[B.J. Penn]]
* [[Jens Pulver]]
* [[Nate Quarry]]
* [[Jorge Rivera (fighter) |Jorge Rivera]]
* [[Pedro Rizzo]]
* [[Brett Rogers]]
* [[Maurício Rua]]
* [[Bas Rutten]]
* [[Brendan Schaub]]
* [[Semmy Schilt]]
* [[Junior dos Santos]]
* [[Brad Scott]]
* [[Anderson Silva]]
* [[Antonio Silva (fighter)|Antonio Silva]]
* [[Wanderlei Silva]]
* [[Thiago Silva (fighter)|Thiago Silva]]
* [[Tim Sylvia]]
* [[Kimbo Slice]]
* [[Tom Speer]]
* [[Brian Stann]]
* [[Mike Swick]]
* [[James Te-Huna]]
* [[James Thompson (fighter)|James Thompson]]
* [[Cain Velasquez]]
* [[Brandon Vera]]
* [[Travis Wiuff]]
* [[Joey Villaseñor]]
* [[Igor Vovchanchyn]]
* [[Gilbert Yvel]]
* [[Roman Zentsov]]
{{col-break}}

Women MMA
* [[Liz Carmouche]]
* [[Laura D'Auguste]]
* [[Sarah Kaufman (fighter) |Sarah Kaufman]]
* [[Cristiane Santos]]
* [[Hisae Watanabe]]
{{col-end}}
{{Collapse bottom}}

==See also==
*[[Boxing]]
*[[Boxing styles and technique]]
*[[Chin (combat sports)]]
*[[Kickboxing]]
*[[Knockout]]
*[[Mixed Martial Arts]]
*[[Muay Thai]]
*[[Punch (combat)]]

== References ==
{{linkrot|date=November 2011}}
<references/>

{{Boxing}}


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[[Category:Strikes (martial arts)]]
[[Category:Boxing terminology]]
[[Category:Kickboxing terminology]]