BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- The best punch in boxing? It is perhaps a matter of personal preference. There is the left hook to the liver, which can paralyze an opponent as if he were instantly frozen. Some favor the uppercut to the solar plexus, which can suck the air out of the other guy’s lungs like an industrial-grade vacuum cleaner. There is, of course, the old standby, a crushing blow to the jaw, capable of sending someone crashing to the canvas like an imploded building.
But for those who have delivered it with telling effect, or to their regret been on the receiving end, the signature shot that almost always ensures one fighter’s victory and the other’s defeat is the one to the temple that lands flush and hard.