Who are the best "tall" fighters to study?

You agree with yourself a lot, do you guys have regular debates in front of a mirror?

 

A guy who wasn't that tall but fought tall was Roger Mayweather. He had a good reach, speed and could be (Hearns like) in his best form because he also had that right hand.

For perspective I would say a guy that didn't use his height an example would be Poison Jones who was a force at 122lbs still good at 126lbs. Junior just wanted to rumble.

 

According to this i would say George Foreman comes to mind. He could smother a shorter guy's offense. Force them backwards, take away leverage, rip uppercuts (his wheelhouse for power.

 

Alexis Arguello and Mike McCallum are obvious answers if you want to study tall fighters with great fundamentals.


Antonio Cervantes, Carlos Zarate, Masao Ohba, Genaro Hernandez, and Vernon Forrest are also good tall fighters to study.

 

Hearns
Arguello
Foster
Lewis
Wlad
Saddler
Fundora
Cooney

 

In my opinion Arguello is the best answer to this question; he was the guy I watched many years ago when I was a 6'3" 155 pound guy and he is the one I use as a model to this day with tall fighters. Arguello understood that the most effective way to keep a pressure fighter off of you is to hurt him when he gets where he wants to be- you cannot possibly always maintain your preferred distance. Here are a few key things that define why I think Arguello is the guy.
First, he varied his jab. Sometimes he popped it out there, other times it was a slower, but very stiff, jab.
Second, his right uppercut to the body. This punch is basically a freebie for a tall fighter. You can get your lead foot close to his, get outside his jab and the right uppercut is there; this move also sets up the right hand back over the jab, like what Arguello hit Rooney with.
Third, his left hook. Again, he would throw this punch in different ways. Sometimes it would be a wide heavy punch. But, in my opinion, he was most effective when he shortened it up. he would do this by putting a jab out there, then stepping back as his opponent came forward. That would get his weight onto his right foot and he would throw a very short, very hard hook.
Fourth, the way he used his right hand to set up his hook to the body. He liked to put the right out there to make a guy react, to slip the punch. then he would drop his right arm across the opponent's shoulders and hold him there long enough to hook to the body. And come back with the right uppercut.
Arguello understood something that most never do.
When a guy is fighting a taller guy like Arguello, he is focused on slipping the jab to get inside. He is focused on avoiding the right hand. There is no way that you are going to land a high percentage of those shots at a world class level. Arguello understood the value of missing shots- if not deliberately then purposefully. You see it again and again in his fights. He puts a jab out and the guy slips it and gets caught with an uppercut to the body, or a hook as Arguello slides back. And i guess he understood something else as well; the value of taking your time. Fight your fight, do your work and the punch that ends the fight will find itself. If you come out looking for that punch without doing the work you can look all night and never find it.
Incidentally, my favorite version of Arguello was while he was at 135 with Eddie Futch in his corner. even though Arguello was probably on the back end of it by then Futch added some nuances to his game that were perfect. It is a tribute to them both, really, that a guy of Arguello's accomplishments was still willing to learn and that Futch improved the fighter instead of just cashing the checks.

 

Tony Tucker was really good when in his prime. That was before 6-5 was the barrier for entry to elite heavies.

 

Incredible insight, thank you for this post. If you're willing and have the time, could you please direct me to which of Arguello's bouts you would consider best highlighting the characteristics and traits you point out in this post?

I've never really watched Arguello that much. Weirdly, he's the only one of the Latin American greats who i haven't even watched one full bout of (besides his fight with Marcel)

 

Angelo Dundee said that Ali fought “tall” when explaining why some people perceived Ali to be taller than he actually was.

Dundee himself possibly lent a little bit to the perception of Ali being taller when, heading into to the Terrell fight, he claimed that Ali was already getting on for 6’4” in height.

Lol. Sure Angie. He was obviously trying to falsely dilute the height difference between Ali and 6’6” Terrell.

 

Any of his fights at 135, the fight with Kevin Rooney. The Mancini fight is a good place to start; it is a long fight and Mancini fought his heart out and made Arguello work for it.
The fights with Roberto Elizondo and Andy Ganigan highlight his right uppercut and, again, those guys came to fight. His fight with Busceme- I hope I spelled that correctly- shows him using a long, heavy hook (almost an overhand left hook) to keep the southpaw in front of him.