How do certain boxers generate punch power?

Power = speed multiplied by force. If you're very strong you can still be powerful even if you're slow. A slower punch also gives more contact time at the point of impact which helps to pass on the momentum.

 

they use their leverage

 

Technique for a lot of fighters

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=339871

 

That doesn't really explain things. Take Paulie Malignaggi, around the same mass as Pacquiao, almost as fast yet nowhere near the power.

 

anybody think hand size has anything to do with it? im sure a guy like foreman had bear paws for hands. probably be like getting hit with a club

 

Punchers are born. Technique helps you reach your potential but ultimatly you can't learn to punch hard. Just like you cant learn how to get hand speed or sharper reflexes

 

George Foreman had incredible core and leg strength. Pull up some video of him hitting the heavy bag or watch some highlights where he throws consecutive body shots. Consider the right body hook: he'll drop his right hand while turning clockwise and shifting weight to his back foot. This telegraphs the punch, but we're talking about punching power, not a gameplan. When his core is twisted and his right foot heavy, he can push off of that back foot to provide leverage (props to StillWill) for turning his core counterclockwise. Like his right leg to his waist, his heavy torso provides the leverage for pulling his arm through the punch. Some of George's punches may be "slow" in that he takes extra time to load and throw them, but his hands look plenty fast to me at the point of delivery. I'd call him a power puncher because he chooses to throw these harder shots, not a slow puncher.

If you don't understand the importance of leverage, find yourself an office chair. Sit down, pick your feet up, and throw a hook. The chair will spin away from your punch, not only hurting your hand speed, but if you were to actually hit something the collision would cause you to spin even further away. The way you hurt your opponent is by applying a force to him. You do that during the collision, but if you have no base to stand on, you just bounce off. Sure you can do a little damage and it helps to be a bigger guy, but if you're not set and the little man with his face in your fist is, he can absorb the punch and stay standing.

"Momentum from the ground to the leg then from the swing of the pivot the momentum goes to the shoulder and punch." I know they said that on TV Juxhin, but that's wrong. Momentum doesn't hurt, but changes in momentum do. Impulse is a change in momentum, so that's your target - cause your opponent's tissues and crunchy bits to experience high impulse. This isn't accomplished best by generating momentum. You can swing your arm out at a fast speed and let it bounce off the target and it will have had the same momentum as a power punch. It's better to continue to generate power in your punch while the collision is still producing a high impulse in your target. You do this with good form and a chain of muscle from your hand to your leg so that the collision must move either your opponent or the ground you walk on. Once the glove, skin, and tissue all compress, momentum is transferred very quickly. When the impulse starts to drop is when the punch is essentially done and you should pull back.

Spooner21 - yeah, hand size can help. Hand size and hand mass go hand in hand, so if you have big hands and you can really turn over your punches right before impact, you could generate plenty of extra force at the end of your punches. I haven't seen enough footage of Foreman, but I'm guessing he's thrown some lazy punches in his career where his arms fly out slow before the snap shoots his heavy hands forward.

Here's a good video on delivering power to your opponent from a guy with great intuitive understanding of what he was doing.
Edit: Watch Bas deliver the roundhouse at 3:10. He could just as easily deliver the hardest right hook from that stance. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5iTWCwlZyM[/ame]

 

Okay, everybody has different body mechanics that will recruit more or less body mass into the motion (some big guys waste momentum, they don't put their size behind the punch).

The truth is I feel like, yes, wrist size and fist size may discourage you from punching as hard as you actually can. Take me, with 6 inch wrists. If I actually hit every time as hard as I can, I know I am going to hurt my wrist and maybe break my knuckles. So I am used to punching "hard" - but my hardest punch really isn't as absolutely hard as I can punch, it's as hard as I know I can punch without hurting my wrist, and that's always in my head now that I have enough experience to apply it. My father's wrists are 7.5 inches on a shorter guy ... and yeah, he seems to just have heavier hands than me when I trained with him. Pac has an 8 inch wrist, he can throw as hard as he possibly can without worrying about hurting himself, and he's quick as heck. Guys who hurt their hands all the time learn not to throw with actual maximum power, but still throw hard.

 

Watch out Julian Jackson punched.

 

The Psychcodynamics of pain will prevent the sympathetic nervous system from executing full force.