what is more important at keeping the distance? klitschko brothers don t have long reach for their height,but they are very successful at keeping the distance. i mean,sonny liston with his reach or wlad with his height,who has the advantage?
I'd say reach. If we are talking about range, if Sonny Liston was facing Larry Holmes and fought using his whole reach, Holmes would be "3 out of range to hit Liston while in punching range himself technically. But if Holmes fought the far taller Vitali Klitschko, he'd still be an inch back out of range of Vitali while in punching range himself. Unless it's not that black and white and I'm making ridiculous assumptions.
Reach is much more important than height, which is evident in many cases. You had a guy in Tommy Hearns who was tall and had a long reach which allowed him to outbox his opponents from a distance with the terrific jab he had, while on the other hand you have a fighter like Diego Corrales who was tall, but had short arms which limited him as a fighter and allowed him to be outboxed by smaller fighters. Plus, you have Paul Williams who is tall and has ridiculous length and doesn't have a clue on how to use either.
reach every time. guys with alot of hieght and a short reach have the disadvantages from both points. small reach means you cant cover enough distance to keep a guy off you, while extra hieght means your a bigger target. the plus is that smaller arms makes you a better in-fighter and the hieght means you have more body to get leverage off. small hieght plus long reach means you are a smaller target and would have bigger arms (in relative to size) which can block more while also being able to jab/box and a smaller frame so in-fighting is more natural. good example would be hagler. had both and could do both.
guys you do have a point,but again take the klit bros they are skilled boxers,but some guys did have the reach advatnage over them,and stil got outboxed from the outdside..gomez,rahman,thompson,mccline,kirk johnson,donald... klits are more skilled boxers than those fighters,but those fighters did not cause any troubles to the klits from outside even through they did have the reach advantage
If a fighter is tall for his weigh class but knows how to keep the distance well, he can overcompensate fighting someone who has a longer reach than him. For example Vernon Forrest was able to beat Mosley by keeping the distance and not allowing Mosley to get in a combination's of any sort, and the kicker here is that Mosley actually had the longer reach against Forrest. So in a way it does depend on the fighter style in how he uses his physical attributes.
well maybe but you can also lean and get some extra distance with a lean tall body. pernell whitaker shouldnt statistically beat taller rangier guys to the punch or outbox them but he can embarress people. paul williams as already mentioned has everything but doenst seem to be the last ne to know about it. also styles makes fights forrest was commited to boxing and using his jab where as mosley has always been more of a explosive combination puncher. also at heavyweight it doesnt matter as much as the smaller,suttle attributes are not as pronounced as they are in the lower division i.e. more or less below 160lbs. which is why wlad who even though has a t-rex reahc for his size is able to box and is able to move so well.
