Is punching power simply a combination of speed and bodyweight?

[AlexKid]

Or is there more to it? More contributing factors?

Is speed and bodyweight the most important factors accounting for say 90% of a punches power?

Or is power comming from other major factors as well?

[boliodogs]

Yes, that will determine how hard the punch is. Timing and accuracy will determine how effective the punch is. A tighly closed fist is nessessary for best results.

[Prince Mongo]

Or is there more to it? More contributing factors?

Is speed and bodyweight the most important factors accounting for say 90% of a punches power?

Or is power comming from other major factors as well?

Go to an ice rink wear normal shoes on the ice and get someone to hold the pads and punch away and see what happens. Your body is just as fast your weight is the same but there will be pathetic power. So something else is going on in normal circumstances to creat power. It is using the ground for leverage. You will hear of amateurs learning to sit down on their punches when the turn pro to load up the power. That is learning to use your body in such away to be able to use the ground as leverage for ground upwards power.

[kadyo's]

Power = force x distance / time. Which means the larger the force and the shorter the time, the greater the power.

[Prince Mongo]

. A tighly closed fist is nessessary for best results.

Wrong, a tightly clenched fist tightens up the muscles in the forearm that inhibits speed. For the first part of the punch you want a degree of relaxation in the fist to have relaxed muscles in the forearm for maximum speed just as you would have a degree of relaxation in those muscles if throwing a ball at high speed. You can clench the fist more at impact but for max speed you don't want that before.

[SonnyDempsey]

Wrong, a tightly clenched fist tightens up the muscles in the forearm that inhibits speed. For the first part of the punch you want a degree of relaxation in the fist to have relaxed muscles in the forearm for maximum speed just as you would have a degree of relaxation in those muscles if throwing a ball at high speed. You can clench the fist more at impact but for max speed you don't want that before.

Exactly. Well said.

There are about 10 posts a week about punching power, and 98% of all the responses, while well-meaning, are totally wrong.

If it was just force = mass x acceleration, we wouldn't have different levels of punchers in the same weight class. They all have good technique - they're professional fighters. There are intangibles and little eccentric elements to being a puncher that don't work from a purely scientific standpoint.

[NEETzsche]

i suspect that bone density must have something to do with it, though i haven't done any research.

[DeadLikeMe]

legs, legs, legs, and legs

[Prince Mongo]

There are intangibles and little eccentric elements to being a puncher that don't work from a purely scientific standpoint.

Nearly right but EVERYTHING can be explained scientifically. Guys that use leverage to really load up on their punches are constantly moving foot pressures around from foot to foot. The idea of 50 50 weight and neutral balance is a myth. If you had a set of scales under the feet of a banger like the young John The Beast Mugabe those scales would be shooting around all over the place and would go crazy when he throws a big one. In order to get maximum leverage from the ground the big puncher creates huge ground forces in the leg and feet of the foot he will be driving off and firms up the other leg his pivot will be rotating round. The pressure in the leg is increased just before the punch is thrown and has to be used in a split second because it is gone in a blink of the eye. If you watch some of Hearn's best right hands there is a loud foot stump in conjunction with the punch. That is what is going on. It is internal and what people call intangible but it can be scientifically explained although for the most part is hidden from all but the trained eye.

[Prince Mongo]

]

i suspect that bone density must have something to do with it, though i haven't done any research.

All things being equal bone and muscle density is a factor and in this area black guys have a big advantage.