Shortest fighter with shortest reach whobwas successful

Hamed

 

You're forgetting his one-sided KO defeat against Foreman, a most magnificent performance by Qawi that is often put forward as proof that he would have success against all kinds of heavyweights.

 

Tony Galento was about 5'9 with a 69" reach

 

Marciano and Tyson.

Duran had a very short reach as well.

Essentialy if you have t-rex arms, you need a good inside game and some power.

 

...and excellent head movement (or a rock-solid turtle shell with a high threshold for muscle/bone pain and strong arms that can stay up without fatiguing to absorb everything) for the journey inside.

 

marciano had the same reach as pacquaio..who was a flyweight world champion... 67"...

*67" is what was listed when he fought walcott 1st time ...although in the following years a lot of listing quoted 68"

 

Originally Posted by Mendoza

Marciano and Tyson.

Duran had a very short reach as well.

Essentially if you have t-rex arms, you need a good inside game and some power.

I assume you are talking about Duran. Agreed, but I still think short fighters with limited reach first need an inside game and power as the foundation for success.

 

We're discussing what is commonly called the ape index, where arm length is considered relative to height:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape_index

Good introductory article here about the ape index relative to swimming:

www.swimsmooth.com/ape-index-swimming.html

Qawi had a very overall long reach for a man of his height, 71 inches, the equivalent of a symmetrically normal 5'11" man. The idea of having a "normal" reach is that fingertip to fingertip measurements equal overall height, so a "long" reach surpasses height, a "short" reach is less than overall height. Marciano was 70-1/2 inches tall with 67 inch arms. Aside from Freddie Beshore, he may have gone his entire career without having both height and reach on an opponent.

Reach is a tricky thing. There's fingertip to fingertip, then there's jab length, end of collarbone to end of arm, which Randy Gordon tried to incorporate into the tale of the tape, but it didn't catch on.

Officially, Liston's reach was 84 inches, fingertip to fingertip, but much of that was because of a long clavicle. Cleveland Williams was listed with a fingertip to fingertip reach of 80 inches, but when he squared off with Sonny, it was obvious the Big Cat had the longer arms, longer enough to give Liston some early trouble. Ali wrote that he found his arms were also longer than Liston's. It was instances like Liston-Williams which Randy Gordon wanted to address with the incorporation of jab length into a boxer's measurements.

Vilomar Fernandez was listed as having a reach of 59" in the televised tale of the tape graphic prior to Duran. I believe he was 5'4" or 5'5" so if 59 inches is accurate, he had the reach of a normal 4'11" person. Most successful short fighters have long arms proportionate to their height, and their reaches are usually looked up and compared to their heights readily enough.

Arm length factors into other sports as well, where it's not always recorded. Michael Phelps stands 6'4" tall overall, but allegedly has the arm span of somebody 6'8" with the lower body of somebody reportedly 5'10" so extremely freakish proportions. 5'7" Sam Langford had a 74 inch reach, so that of a proportionate 6'2" man. At the lower weights, he was supposed to stick and move quite well. At the same height, Tommy Burns was one inch less than Sam at 73 inches.

Jerry Quarry's height matched his reach at 6'0" and 72 inches. A half inch shorter than JQ, Frazier's reach was an inch longer at 73 inches, and it seemed to make a difference in his jab during their rematch.

For an example of a tall guy with a short reach (which explains a lot about how he fought), the 6'5" Chuck Wepner had the same reach as Jerry Quarry at 72 inches, so the wingspan of a man five inches shorter than he was tall. 77 inches would be "normal" for somebody 6'5" tall.

Galento was normal in this respect, height matching reach, and was recognized as having a good quick double jab when the occasion to use it arose. At 5'7" with a 67 inch reach, Duran would have also been in proportion.

Canto's reach is listed as 63 inches at a height of 5'0" even, so arms three inches longer than he was tall.

You're looking for a short version of Wepner here, reach wise, and Vilomar Fernandez might merit consideration if his reach was indeed 59 inches. (I thought Vilomar defeated both the 5'11" Kenty and Howard Davis, Jr. by the way, and did upset Arguello in their first bout.)

 

Ricky Hatton had very short arms.

 

:good

 

http://boxinghalloffame.com/wp-cont...O-AND-WALCOTT-COMPARISON-TALE-OF-THE-TAPE.jpg