The Fist Of Pacman

[Moon]

... having a larger fist has a small advantage because it's the fists that comes in contact .... So the larger the fists, the bigger the area of contact or the better chances of landing the punch

Think about pressure distribution (or, force per unit area). Any given force (like a certain fighter's straight flush right hand) when distrubuted over a larger area, has lesser effect. You know, kinda' like 4x4 tires that are tall and skinny, so the weight (i.e., force) of the vehicle is spread-out over a smaller area, which provides greater pressure. Smaller bare hand, bigger effect, for any given fighter.

Trouble is, there's also that equal-and-opposite-reaction **** which means the smaller bare hand feels that increased pressure too, which might mean a snapped bone or two. In which case, the bigger hand would be better. With gloves though, the effect depends on how much of the glove has made contact. Which explains why alot of guys go down on "glancing" blows, which have very little area for all that force to be absorbed over.

Lecture over, time for a beer, make it a Keiths IPA.

[Moon]

Jake LaMotta had notoriously small womanlike hands and he scored only 30 KO's in over 100 fights in spite of the fact that he was an explosive slugger and one of the most savage guys to step into the ring. He had the mentality and body mechanics to be a big puncher, but his hands were just too small.

This is possibly one of the smartest posts ever. Lamotta used to say that his hands always ****in' hurt and he had to "take it easy". His small fingers/knuckles were often dislocated and Jake said he also had some very nasty finger breaks.

[Crouching Tiger]

Lecture over, time for a beer, make it a Keiths IPA.

Great lecture. First bottle's on me! Cheers!

[scottie]

big or small, don't matter to me, as long as it connects on the jaw, and harrrrd!!!

[juicyjoo]

Pacquiao by TKO, corner stoppage or ref stoppage. Speed kills. So does unorthodox headmovement and power.

[J !]

Pacquiao by TKO, corner stoppage or ref stoppage. Speed kills. So does unorthodox headmovement and power.

IM GONNA HAVE TO GO FOR MORALES THEN NEED TO CATCH YOU SOMEHOW IN THE PREDICTION LEAGUE DUDE
(J)

[diz82]

Morales needs ot box in this one for 12 rounds an dim not sur eif he can do it

[Cang-ipos]

BIG OR SMALL FIST

While a small fist creates a larger force per unit area, the damage it could do should also be considered. A bigger fist might have a lesser force per unit area but if the delivery of the punch is strong enough, I think it can be more devastating.

I believe there is critical amount of force that can negate the advantage of having a smaller fist. From there the bigger fist will cause the more damage as the force of the punch increases.

But how small is small? I also believe there is also a critical size(or area of contact) of fist in every weight division that is most desirable. It will negate the advantages of both the smaller and the bigger fist.

This can be hard to understand for some but those with good physics and engineering background can easily relate and perhaps add more inputs.

[boxernyc]

Whoever said that fist size and bone structure have nothing to do with power is wrong. It is the sole reason that a fighter's power decreases as they go up in weight. ODLH can weigh just as much as his middleweight opponents but he has a smaller bone structure than those guys and will never have a big punch at that weight.

The boxers whose power remains the same as they go up in weight either a.) hit so hard for their frame size that even when they move up they still have enough "relative power" to be devastating or b.) have a large frame and are just really scrawny (fat and muscle wise) so that they were actually fighting at a lower body weight than was natural for them. When they move up they are actually just filling in and fighting at their natural weight class. ODLH is an example of a natural welter who fought at lightweight and it was obvious when you compared his size to his opponents.

Nearly all of the big time punchers had huge hands. Liston, Dempsey, Louis, Shavers, Foreman. All of these guys had hands that were noticeably large for their bodies. Meanwhile, lighter hitting guys like Tunney and Ali for the most part had hands that were average or even small. Jake LaMotta had notoriously small womanlike hands and he scored only 30 KO's in over 100 fights in spite of the fact that he was an explosive slugger and one of the most savage guys to step into the ring. He had the mentality and body mechanics to be a big puncher, but his hands were just too small.

So hand size does play a part in punching power. It is not the only factor by a long shot (as evidenced by Tua who has small hands but is a huge puncher or Fre Oquendo who has large hands and is a mediocre puncher), but to say it does not figure in at all would be foolish.

Great post. This is really a great thread! Many good comments. I wish there were way more threads like this!

My thoughts are that there are different types of power. There is the snapping power which is evidenced by Pacquiao and there is puching power, generally used by heavyweights, Foreman comes to mind. Now I have very limited physics or bio-mechanics knowledge so this is just conjecture. But wouldn't bigger hands be much more effective with the pushing punch since it is applying force over a larger portion of the opponent for a longer period of time than the person who has power from speed. Conversely, wouldn't a person who generates power from tremendous speed do better with smaller hands. My theory is that since the contact point is samller and the contact time is shorter, the snapping motion would be delivered more effectively. It would get the person It would be like hitting a the drivers' side windshield with a fist or a samll balpene hammer. The hammer would shatter it while the person would most likely shatter their hand. (not the best comparison, but I hope the point gets across). The idea is that a smaller contact area will deliver a more localized force. In boxing this translates to the head snapping and rattling the old noggin. If my theories are wrong, I am glad to hear why. I always want to learn more about this kind of stuff. I find it great to know.

[Sinatra.Jr]

Packman's tremendas left punch knock Morales away to the out of the earth.That's funny.