Banshees, Chargers, 60T Ost-series mechs are all great. Can’t argue with the Grasshopper either. Javelin is decent for a light, since it tends to survive just a bit longer than something like a Spider. It isn’t light, but an Assassin can fill the same role. You want stuff with ALL the arm and hand actuators if you intend to punch a lot. As mentioned, torso weapons are also helpful since you can fire them and still punch.
Oddly, the Marauder and Warhammer aren’t too bad as you may not care to use the PPCs at close range anyway, and they are only missing hand actuators. For slightly less optimal choices, the Goliath can be fun if you can deal with a quadmech. Of course, the Atlas is always scary if you can manage to get close with it. The BattleMaster is also decent for an assault doing physical attacks, and it wants to get close anyway. I like it better than the 80-tonners anyway.