Why do people rate old fighters so much?

BrocktonBlockbuster49 · Post by **BrocktonBlockbuster49** » 04 Nov 2005, 12:04

walcott was a hard hitter, i never said he was devastating, but he packed a wallop and KO punch in both hands especially his left hook.

dempseyfire · Post by **dempseyfire** » 04 Nov 2005, 12:21

Actually big hands usually do equate greater power, for obvious reasons . .

Corrie Sanders, Lennox Lewis, Sonny Liston, Joe Louis, Dempsey . . .they all had almost abnormally big hands.

If you have thinner smaller hands even if you punch hard you are likely to hurt them when throwing with full force, a problem Tunney, Greb, and Loughran all had, thus affecting their styles.

Controversial · Post by **Controversial** » 05 Nov 2005, 06:56

dempseyfire wrote:Actually big hands usually do equate greater power, for obvious reasons . .

Corrie Sanders, Lennox Lewis, Sonny Liston, Joe Louis, Dempsey . . .they all had almost abnormally big hands.

If you have thinner smaller hands even if you punch hard you are likely to hurt them when throwing with full force, a problem Tunney, Greb, and Loughran all had, thus affecting their styles.

I disagree, Marciano had the smallest hands of ANY heavyweight champion EVER. His fist only measured 10.25 inches in circumference which is tiny. Listons were something like 14 inches in circumference, one of the biggest measurements of any heavyweight champion.

Hand size has nothing to do with how hard you punch, thats like saying if you have big feet you can run faster or jump higher.

Cap · Post by **Cap** » 05 Nov 2005, 11:57

There is NO 185 pounder alive today who punches like Dempsey, Marciano, etc. These guys were freaks in their own eras, standing heads and shoulders over the rest, which is why they're remembered. Dempsey was fast enough to land his left hook on any modern heavyweight's chin. When that blow lands, bones crack! Big men fell in Dempsey's path then and would crumble today. Most modern heavies are ponderously slow giants with few defensive skills who are content to throw a punch or two then fall into a clinch to catch their breath. Dempsey or Louis would've laughed and slugged them so hard they would have looked for some place to lay down.

Cap

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 05 Nov 2005, 12:28

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:walcott was a hard hitter, i never said he was devastating, but he packed a wallop and KO punch in both hands especially his left hook.

In Walcotts case I always felt that his KO's or KD's (that I have seen on tape) were as much to do with his outstanding timing as opposed to physical power and strength.

Jaclem · Post by **Jaclem** » 06 Nov 2005, 00:18

..jess willard was a ponderous giant....and though those "dynamic" punches dempsey threw...while standing right by him...sometimes behind....kept hitting him as soon as willard's gloves came off the canvas.....and he kept going down...and kept getting up again....and lasted two more rounds.

i think there are many fighters since that who could have done the same if the rules about going to a corner had been the same. i am not the biggest booster of joe frazier....but can you see a fighter getting up again and again if frazier were allowed to hit him in the sasme circumstances.

firpo....large and not fleet of foot.... got up...what....seven times in one round? i don't see that as an example of the great demspey power either.

over rated puncher....no...make that VASTLY over rated puncher..

barry · Post by **barry** » 06 Nov 2005, 02:19

>>>has there ever been a fighter who hasn't said (name of guy I knocked out) hit harder than (name of the guy who knocked me out)?<<<

Yep...Billy Conn said that Ray Actis, who was a viscous puncher at middleweight and light heavyweight, hit him harder than Joe Louis did, though Conn beat Actis!

Jaclem · Post by **Jaclem** » 06 Nov 2005, 03:22

..decagon...good questiion....barry...good answer.

dempseyfire · Post by **dempseyfire** » 06 Nov 2005, 11:37

no, the question rested on the assumption that fighters usually say the hardest puncher they ever faced was someone they beat, not someone who knocked them out.

The answer-B/c most fellas won't remember their knockout losses!

I'm sure there are a few exceptions however . . .

Seamus · Post by **Seamus** » 06 Nov 2005, 11:56

Along those lines, one of the most outrageous post fight claims I've ever heard was the interview where John Mugabi said (after being knocked out) something to the effect, that he really wasen't impressed with Hagler.

Jaclem · Post by **Jaclem** » 07 Nov 2005, 03:04

..i was so miffed at decagon's smart-ass repeat of my "just tossing this in" and my general respect for barry that i went by this one to fast. now that i think of it , though, the little punk's comment is a good one...and i've been trying to think of an exception t and damned if i can come up with one. who hit patterson hardest? Not liston....Patterson always said ingo. ezzard...never commented much on his fights, but did say he didn't even feel walcott's punch because it knocked him cold...which really isn't in the equation here, but i just tossed it in. lamotta....not sugar ray, but satterfield...although that one is no doubt true.

the hell with it....i give up.

barry · Post by **barry** » 07 Nov 2005, 03:50

I see what you're saying Jaclem about the smart ass, but then again the youngster also said that Stanley Ketchel was an unskilled, 160 pound John Ruiz, so that pretty much says enough...

barry · Post by **barry** » 07 Nov 2005, 05:55

Why do people rate the old timers so high?

I think a lot of this question was answered by Vitali Quitschko this weekend...because the old fighters fought with broken jaws, dislocated limbs and just about any other kind of serious ailment known...they still fought on and never would a very light sprain keep any of the old timers out of a bout! And to think, some people actually tried to claim that Vitali to hang with some of the greats, hell, he cannot even hang with mediocre heavyweights...the greats would have destroyed him, or at the least chipped one of his teeth, which no doubt would have caused him to throw in the towel!