Biggest Reach Differences Overcome???

[PowerPuncher]

After a fair amount of looking at fighters it seems the most successfull fighters seem to have the longest reaches in their respective weight classes.

Lets examine: Muhammed Ali, Floyd Mayweather, Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Robinson, Lennox Lewis, Vitali/Wlad Klitchkos, Liston, Larry Holmes ALL very very rarely ever fought a fighter with a longer reach

So what are the biggest reach disadvantages overcome AND not only that but the biggest overcome against skilled boxers with a jab.

The biggest I can think of against good boxers are:

Frazier-Ali

Tyson-Holmes/Thomas/Golota/Bruno/

Leonard-Duran

RJJ-Ruiz

James Toney - Nunn/Ruiz/Peter/Rahman

It takes an exceptional boxer to overcome reach disadvantages like this.

[Dempsey1238]

Rocky Marciano vs about any one lol.

[TBooze]

Well pound for pound Jimmy Wilde is greater than Lennox Lewis... does that count?;)

[Manassa]

Joe Walcott vs. Fred Russell

5ft 1in vs. 6ft 6in

[mcvey]

After a fair amount of looking at fighters it seems the most successfull fighters seem to have the longest reaches in their respective weight classes.

Lets examine: Muhammed Ali, Floyd Mayweather, Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Robinson, Lennox Lewis, Vitali/Wlad Klitchkos, Liston, Larry Holmes ALL very very rarely ever fought a fighter with a longer reach

So what are the biggest reach disadvantages overcome AND not only that but the biggest overcome against skilled boxers with a jab.

The biggest I can think of against good boxers are:

Frazier-Ali

Tyson-Holmes/Thomas/Golota/Bruno/

Leonard-Duran

RJJ-Ruiz

James Toney - Nunn/Ruiz/Peter/Rahman

It takes an exceptional boxer to overcome reach disadvantages like this.
Joe Grim vs Jack Johnson ,and Bob Fitzsimmons? Loughran vs Carnera.

[mcvey]

Joe Grim vs Jack Johnson ,and Bob Fitzsimmons? Loughran vs Carnera.
Sorry ,I didnt read the overcome bit

[Duodenum]

Vilomar Fernandez-Alexis Arguello I is classic. (This is true for many of Vilomar's fights.)

[rekcutnevets]

Manassa has got this one so far.

[thunder06]

rocky marciano had about a 10 in reach disadvantage over the average sized heavyweight.

lamotta had a much smaller reach than robinson as well as being the shorter man.

[mcvey]

:lol: :lol: So who had the longest reach Walcott or Russell?

[PowerPuncher]

Joe Walcott vs. Fred Russell

5ft 1in vs. 6ft 6in

I've heard about Walcott but know nothing about him. Tell me about him and what footage do we have of him?

[Manassa]

I've heard about Walcott but know nothing about him. Tell me about him and what footage do we have of him?

You'd better ask Janitor, he's more qualified to speak of Walcott than me. As far as I know, we have zero footage.

:lol: :lol: So who had the longest reach Walcott or Russell?

Somewhat surprisingly, Russell :shock:

[Minotauro]

I've heard about Walcott but know nothing about him. Tell me about him and what footage do we have of him?



I don't believe there is any footage of him but the guy was a true p4p great he fought fighters much larger then himself most of the time. Like Dan Creedon, Joe Choynski (who KO'd Jack Johnson), Jack Bonner, Tommy West, Billy Stift, Frank Childs, Dixie Kid, George Cole, Sam Langford and especially the likes of Billy Smith, Kid Carter, George Gardner, "Philadelphia" Jack O'Brien, Sandy Ferguson, George "Kid" Lavigne, Young Peter Jackson and Black Bill.

The guys had one of the hardest right hands in the history of boxing p4p he was only five foot one and still managed all this is amazing. Here are some quotes about him “Walcott was something of a physical freak. Despite his size, he had the stamina of a bull” (McCallum).
“His delivery was terrific having the force of a pile driver.” One blow from Walcott was said to be equal “to five” of his opponent’s (1895 Gazette). Nat Fleischer (the founder of ring magazine) and Charley Rose rated Joe Walcott the # 1 all time welterweight.
Jersey Joe Walcott changed his name in respect to his idol also Jersey Joe described him as the greatest p4p fighter along side Ray Robinson.

He also came up with the saying "the bigger they are the harder they fall" although Fitzsimmons popularised the term against Jeffries.

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[PowerPuncher]

Thanks to Manassa and Minotauro, as great as Walcott was I'm searching for footage of smaller reaches bettering bigger reaches. IE 10 inch reach differences or 6+ as elites meet.

[janitor]

I've heard about Walcott but know nothing about him. Tell me about him and what footage do we have of him?

If any fighter in history can be called a physical freak it is Walcott.

He was a5' 1'' welterweight. He had the neck and torso of a big heavyweight with a 42'' chest and 17'' neck.

He fought the best from lightweight to heavyweight an fought them regularly. He beat a number of the top light heavyweights and heavyweights of his day and in some cases beat them badly.

He duffed up a couple of super heavyweights who had wins over some of the top fighters of the heavyweight division.

Amazingly he called out all the top heavyweights of the day, Jeffries, Sharkey, Ruhlin, Hart, and they all declined!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This guy was avoided from lightweight to heavyweight!!!!!

[PowerPuncher]

If any fighter in history can be called a physical freak it is Walcott.

He was a5' 1'' welterweight. He had the neck and torso of a big heavyweight with a 42'' chest and 17'' neck.

He fought the best from lightweight to heavyweight an fought them regularly. He beat a number of the top light heavyweights and heavyweights of his day and in some cases beat them badly.

He duffed up a couple of super heavyweights who had wins over some of the top fighters of the heavyweight division.

Amazingly he called out all the top heavyweights of the day, Jeffries, Sharkey, Ruhlin, Hart, and they all declined!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This guy was avoided from lightweight to heavyweight!!!!!

Interesting stuff, thanks Janitor, stylistically I'd still expect him to have his head jabbed off by a long reached jabbing machine though

[Dempsey1238]

I do have Walcott talking lol. Is that good? Not sure if there are any fight footage of him out there, since a good 90 percent of film in general before 1920 are lost forever.

[janitor]

Interesting stuff, thanks Janitor, stylistically I'd still expect him to have his head jabbed off by a long reached jabbing machine though

He seems to have been verry adept at slipping jabs if I can judge from newspaper acounts of his fights (always a big if).

Stylisticaly he comes across as being a bit like a miniture Mike Tyson. Offense orientated but highly polished and hard to tag cleanly coming in.

[elgar102]

Not so impressive as the aforementioned, but 'Baby' Jacob Matlala gave up 10" in reach against Peter Culshaw in May 2000. Tony Galento, although I'm not sure what his reach was, must have given up a lot of range to Max Baer at 81".