I thought that this was interesting to note. Even while Danny was depowered or deprived of his mystical Chi in battle threads, he still possesses some significant level of Chi, probably around Shang Chi's level. Here, he's able to shatter a steel beam with one punch. This was from Black Panther v3 #38. 
 
Just posting this to show people that even without his powers, he's not completely hindered.
 

Back in the days of Powerman & Iron Fist, it used to be an every-issue reference that Iron Fist is "a living weapon."  People trot out Shang-Chi every so often, because his title was "Master of Kung-Fu," but I think that Marvel has pretty clearly put Iron Fist in that spot at this point. 
 
Also, just as something to think about: I recall a Discovery Channel show talking about a real life kung-fu master that people call "Iron Fist," because of his punching ability.  He spends something like five hours a day punching a steel block, because anything less than steel shatters under his punch.  With that in mind, I think it's safe to say that Daniel Rand can inflict some serious damage, even without focusing his chi into the Iron Fist.

In the early years, he could only used his Iron Fist every hour or something like that, so he fought without powers a lot.

He's a trained martial artist, he can handle himself plenty fine without his chi abilities if he needed to.