IYO how could George Foreman, Earnie Shaves, John Mugabi, etc, punch so hard?

[KO'er]

How do you think they had that power? Some people say something about their muscles are knitted together right and that gives them the extra power, but I dunno.

BTW the topic title had 3 examples that are brought up much. There is also the likes of Joe Louis, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston who could punch much harder than fighters their own size. (Well Razor Ruddocks left hook was around as powerful as Tyson's punch.)

[MRBOOMER]

How do you think they had that power? Some people say something about their muscles are knitted together right and that gives them the extra power, but I dunno.

BTW the topic title had 3 examples that are brought up much. There is also the likes of Joe Louis, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston who could punch much harder than fighters their own size. (Well Razor Ruddocks left hook was around as powerful as Tyson's punch.)

They were hard punchers but they also had great timing which added a lot of hurt to there shots. It also had to with they ability to place punches to set up others that helped their power but why they hit so hard in the first place just cause....

[Sugarj]

Special, heavy handed guys come about in every era. Fitzimmons, Wilde, Dempsey, Baer, Marciano, Sadler....right through to the likes of Hearns, Jackson, McClellan and Hamed. Truely murderous punchers who you believe could take a life....some sadly did!

There will certainly be physical, muscular, skeletal, technique and timing issues regarding a boxer's ability to land truely frightening punches.

Its always difficult to pinpoint true reasons why one near identical guy at a similar weight will land with much more ferocity/impact/force than another. Some things can't easily be explained.

I can't think of an example of a world class trainer turning a guy known for being a light hitter into a particularly heavy hitter, so I don't think that technique is paramount. Some might mention Thomas Hearns......his belief was that the power in his right came from only tensing his fist at the exact point of impact (he developed some amazing power for a spindly welterweight).....a Manny Steward teaching. But not all Steward students punch hard!

If it was timing, accuracy or even handspeed, then Ali, Holmes or Tunney would have had more one punch KOs.

Reach appears to make little difference to power (Tyson/Marciano vs Hearns/McClellan).

My personal belief is that larger fisted individuals (in a skeletal sense) seem to land with a greater impact than their pound for pound contempories. Liston had huge fists and they really did the talking. But there are problems there too......no doubt Valuev has huge fists, but he isn't a world class puncher.

It must be simply down to a culmulation of factors, that cannot be set in stone. We just have to admire the real punchers when they are on our TV screens and accept them for what they are.....

[New England]

god did it.

[Scott9945]

god did it.

Or in more scientific terms, genetics. Most of the monster punchers in boxing history probably hit hard the very first time they put on gloves, even before they learned and polished their skills. Some boxers are gifted with exceptional power just like some baseball players were born to hit a lot of home runs.

[them_apples]

How do you think they had that power? Some people say something about their muscles are knitted together right and that gives them the extra power, but I dunno.

BTW the topic title had 3 examples that are brought up much. There is also the likes of Joe Louis, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston who could punch much harder than fighters their own size. (Well Razor Ruddocks left hook was around as powerful as Tyson's punch.)

I think a lot of it is in bone structure and explosiveness. since it is mass x velocity.

Foreman had insane velocity on his punches and his bones were massive his wrists were huge.

A good way to tell if someone is big boned is if they are big even when they are young.

velocity is the only other factor.

[Sugarj]

I think a lot of it is in bone structure and explosiveness. since it is mass x velocity.

Foreman had insane velocity on his punches and his bones were massive his wrists were huge.

A good way to tell if someone is big boned is if they are big even when they are young.

velocity is the only other factor.

Science/physics doesn't always explain things in terms of punchers either though.

Force = mass x acceleration: doesn't explain why old/slow Foreman was still one of the heaviest pound for pound punchers, he had next to no acceleration or velocity in his punches in the 90s. His mass at the time was rather less than the likes of Valuev who punched every bit as slow but with much greater mass (but had rather less concussive power).

The knockout blow must be a culmulation of several other factors too besides raw 'force'. Full body technique, timing, accuracy, the actual point of impact, following through the target, catching the opponents unawares.

As Scott9945 says 'Some boxers are gifted with exceptional power just like some baseball players were born to hit a lot of home runs'.

Sometimes we just have to accept that we can't fully explain why some boxers are such good punchers.

[Daddy T]

great boxers are made, great punchers are born

[monkey skeleton]

Some guys just have it. We've seen slow punchers, fast punchers hit hard and soft. We've seen tall guys and short guys hit hard and not so hard.

For a while I thought it would be the thick wrist + big hand thing and even then Ernie Lopez had HUGE wrists and fists and he won by KO only 6 times in 51 wins

[Mintcar923]

Guys like Hearns and Breland were so skinny and didn't look particularly strong. But, for some reason they could take a guy right out. I think for the most part punchers are born, not made. But, it is possible to learn good technique that may add a little more velocity, snap, and crispness to your punches. That may help to create better knockout ability.