Boxers with short reaches, that weren't brawlers???

[TheGreatA]

Sugar Ray Robinson was 5'11 with a 72-73 inch reach.

[Navyboxer1109]

LOL I forgot, the brits suddenly hate PR boxers because of what Cotto said about hatton. Get over it guys, its just hype.

[old cat]

Roberto Duran( 5-7 66" reach )-- Would be the first to come to mind. He is only an All Time Great.......

[TheGreatA]

Michael Spinks 6'3, 76 inch reach.

[Dynamite Kid]

Hey guys,

I'm an 18 year old amateur boxer.

I've been boxing for nearly two years and I am 6ft tall with a 73inch reach.

I'm English and white and most of the fighters I study and idolize are afro-americans and have very long reaches. All of them are master boxers and possess amazing speed and elusiveness such as Ali, Roy Jones, James Toney, Mayweather, Terry Norris, Tommy Hearns, Shane Mosely, Marvin Hagler, Lennox Lewis etc etc etc.

However, when I see their stats, I am disheartened, they all seem to have long reaches for their heights, is this what helps them be so effective with their styles?

Mayweather is 5ft 8, 72 inch reach
Mosely, 5ft 9, 74 inch reach
Roy Jones, 5ft 11, 74 inch reach
Tommy Hearns. 6ft 1, 88inch
Marvin Hagler, 5ft9, 74 inch reach
Ali, 6ft 3, 82 inch reach
Lennox Lewis, 6ft 5, 84 inch!

I have fast hands and can definatley **** but I love the outside boxing that these fighters are so adept at.

Fighting on the outside suits my temperment perfectly and I cannot see myself fighting any other way, but are my proportions going to be working against me? My reach is an inch shorter than Mosely's and I'm 3 inches taller than him!!!

Are there any fighters with average or below average reaches that are considered effective outside boxers and are reasonably slick? I'd like to study them as studying fighters such as Mayweather is probably not in my best interest.

thanks a lot!

I think timing is the most important thing. Dont get disheartened because you still have a pretty generous reach anyway imo.



Slick fighters dont tend to fight tall anyway. To be a slick fighter you dont fight with a short stance like you would if you were a long range fighter.

Long range fighters fight tall meaning they have shorter stance to maximize their reach. Problem with fighting like that is that your are making yourself a bigger target for anything that comes over the top.


Also the reason its difficult to be Slick when you fight tall is that when your feet are so close to together its more difficult to bend from the knees, i mean you try bending from the knees and feel how akward it is, but if you open your stance up wider its much easier to bend from the knees and pivot etc.

[D-MiZe]

LOL I forgot, the brits suddenly hate PR boxers because of what Cotto said about hatton. Get over it guys, its just hype.

He's not a lightweight you dumb fuck.

[D-MiZe]

Michael Spinks 6'3, 76 inch reach.

Cleverly is 6ft3 with 74 inch reach.

[Dynamite Kid]

In theory a tall fighter should never have trouble with a shorter fighter and if the tall fighter fights the right fight he should always win, but not many tall fighters do fight the right fight and they dont maximize their advantages to the fullest and thats where the shorter fighter can have his success.

The emphasizes is on what the tall guy does wrong more so than what the short guy does right because the tall guy has the advantages.

If Michael Spinks had not fought a disciplined fight against Qawi he would of been in for a major head ache but the fact that he did fight so disciplined and fought the right fight it was a shut out.