Question about reach.

Reach might be the most underestimated asset in boxing imo.

People look more at size instead of reach advantage, while almost all the greats had a massive reach for their size/weight. Just look at your top10 and compare their reach to their opponents'.
And look at the current P4P #1 for instance. Floyd wouldn't be able to use his shoulderrol/counter effectively without his (often much) longer reach.

It's so much easier to be able to hit someone while he can't reach you.

 

For some things reach isn't very important.
Hooks for example, a short arm is better suited for it because it makes the hooks quicker and much less telegraphed, longer arms give stronger hooks but they're also easier to dodge.
But most of the time reach is pretty important

Height really isn't important at all (most of the time as it has some drawbacks too)

 

Yes height also has a lot to do with it, as you pointed out, a bigger fighter will be able to step in further with his shots relative to the rest of the body

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the ability to lean back and get away from a punch also makes a difference

 

Yes it is

The two punches with the furthest reach are the jab, and straight

Before you can be in range to throw a hook, or uppercut, you theoretically have to get through the range in which you can be hit with jabs and straights

Having shorter arms on the inside is an advantage, but you still have to get there in the first place

 

Reach is so ****ing irrelevant it's not funny.. If you eliminated things such as footwork, skills and timing then it might mean something. It's always people who haven't boxed or don't understand boxing that talk about physical attributes as if they make a significant difference. I once heard a guy claim he would beat his mate in a fight because he has a longer reach. Ward outboxes everybody on the outside and inside and he has the arms of a midget. Pac, Lomachenko, Tyson, Gamboa etc...

 

Reach isn't irrelevant, but like everything else it matters with combined with other factors

Ward has good enough feinting, upperbody movement, footwork and most importantly, handspeed, that he can negate his opponents longer reach (Ward actually has 71'' reach, not that short but definitely under average, I'm fairly certain most people have a reach 1 or 2 inches above their height)

Two guys with absolutely equal attributes, but one with longer reach, and the one with longer reach will do better

 

You can have a short body and long legs.

To get on the inside, footwork is the most important thing besides the ability to either parry or slip the punches.

 

Tyson was an inside* fighter, so his short reach worked to his advantage, he would get inside his longer opponents jab and work the body and head with short hooks and uppercuts, the taller, rangier opponents were much less effective on the inside due to their longer arms

Pac has rarely faced an opponent with a signifigant reach advantage over him, Gamboas lack of size will probably prevent him moving up too far...

*middle distance, but inside his opponents reach

 

Hmm, I don't see how this is relevant to my post?

I was not explaining how a fighter would get inside, I was explaining that in order to do so, the fighter with shorter reach will have to come within range of his opponents punches, which is a disadvantage

Control of range is one of the biggest assets in boxing, and reach plays into that (as do other things)

 

Okay, name me two fighters with absolutely equal attributes? That's nice in theory but absolutely no two fighters are the same, they do different things in fights and throw different punches, have different timing, reflexes, iq, speed etc.. Kostya Tszyu is another one with short reach who mostly fought from the outside.
A fighter with longer arms takes longer to extend his arms so a reach advantage is negated by that anyway.
Reach is absolutely meaningless to everybody other than the casual fan and the fan who thinks they can tell who will win a fight by looking at a weigh-in and some stats.

 

Ideally your reach (fingertip to fingertip) will be around your height or greater...

So if your 180cm tall (5'11") your reach will be 72" 180cm...

An inch or two in difference of reach doesn't mean much... all to do with how you throw the punch and of course fast feet in bieng able to get in and out of range helps hugely.

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Being able to hit your opponent before he hits you = not meaningless

Not the be all and end all, but still an advantage, especially considering the jab is the most frequently used punch in boxing

 

Sonny Liston looks like a gorilla with those extremely long arms, he was also much bigger than Floyd.