while Liston has a long reach and gigantic hands, im not too sure his wingspan was actually 84 inches like most people suggest. You're thoughts ?
Not sure how accurate the sources are but it seems to be consistently listed that way. Perhaps he was just someone with unusually long arms for a person of 6’1”
Probably not. He was described as having a shorter reach than that before the Martin fight and in some newspaper articles earlier in his career. Might have been discussed in this old thread: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/did-sonny-liston-really-have-an-84-inch-reach.594263/
Let's not forget that shoulder width has a lot to do with reach. Wide shoulders will add a lot, narrow shoulders will mean less than normal. Sonny had wide shoulders...but I still question 84".
No. There is a fight where he is listed with less (78 iirc) and in the Williams fight the commentator goes on about how Williams' longer reach is helping him. To me he looks about the same as Williams tbh.
No, everyone’s reach is pretty exaggerated. I learned this when I started boxing. There was a pro who measured like 68” at the gym and like 72” on fight night. Then I noticed literally all of the other pros were also lying lol.
It's possible. I'm 6 feet tall with an 80 inch reach and a similar body structure to Liston. The nurses were confused when they measured me. When it comes to reach in sports people often measure from finger to finger with your arms out to the sides in a T formation. Liston had exceptionally big hands and long fingers with a wide chest so it isn't actually far fetched at all. Just rare.
NBA apparently reports height in shoes Height weight reach and other physical attributes are exaggerated in most sports And this is all overrated anyway ... Tyson had a short reach yet found the target regardless