I thought I remembered hearing that he had huge fists and they had problems even getting his hands into gloves at times. Am I wrong?
Correct. Liston had fingers like a bunch of bananas. That's where most of that giant finger tip to fingertip reach was. He closed them up to make a fist and the circumference of folded fingers within his fist made for an outsized measurement. Then imagine the knuckles. Look at any photo of him. his hands were scary.
Actually I have seen Liston's fists liste as 15" too. They were enormous. But no his arms were also very long, it is marked in many photos,m even though this is not a common impression one gets when a guy's arms are thick, thinner things of the same length look longer. He had the absolute longest winspan to height ratio of any boxer EVER I believe, Rahman was listed as + 10" "Ape factor", Liston 11", I have found ONE human being ever listed as longer, a B-Ball player Beejay Anya at + 13". Having a 7' reach at 6' 1" is extraordinary. Too put it in perspective, Lennox Lewis was 6' 5", & had quite long arms even for his height. A guy on another forum "Duggerman's Ranch" sparred with him & said Lewis seemed to hit him from across the ring. And yet their reach (& Rahman's) is an identical 7' even. The average NBA player is not longer than that, though much taller.
Just looking at this picture, his hands look like they're three inches thick! [url]http://justboxing.net/images/Foto/foto_Sonny_Liston/sonni_liston_1.jpg[/url]
Very interesting information. I always assumed basketball players had the longest wingspand to height ratio. Thanks.
I remember when 7'7 Manute Bol fought William "the refrigerator' Perry in a celebrity boxing match his wingspan was listed at 102 inches!
It was all fun and games until an arrogant trash-talking chick, looking entirely unimpressed, told him he was packing that fun-sized Twizzler dong. Sonny threw in the towel that day and was never quite the same afterward.
Back in the early 70's Ring Magazine had the molds of the fists in the office on 31st st. NYC, I remember the mold but the one that stood out was the hand of Primo Carnera it looks gigantic the rest were smaller, not sure if they had Liston but I think they did. Primo's did not look of human proportions
Well Primo wasn't a normal human. He had that Pituitary\Growth disease. You should see the picture of Andre the Giant and Ali. Ali is holding Andre's fist against the side of his face and it's over half the size and Ali had a big head. [url]http://www.strength-oldschool.com/uploads/1306044808/gallery_1_9_150840.jpg[/url]
Andre the giant wins easy [url]http://beermumbo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/andrethegiant-120.jpg[/url] [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/dc-sports-bog/StandingArt/andreskins0312.jpg?uuid=xIjB4ngwEeGMp-fOk1yJQQ[/url]
Andre has to have significantly bigger hands than Sonny, he was a pituitary giant with absolutely massive hands. Sonny had about the biggest hands you can imagine for a normal sized guy, may have been 15" fists. That celevrity boxing match was almost traumatically bad. I have seen Manute Bol listed with that 8 1/2" wingspan, one of the very rare + 11" "Ape factors", same as Sonny Liston. The listing they have for The Fridge must be completely wrong, he has gotta be a 78", not an 88" reach.