How does a slender heavy like Wilder compare to other heavyweights that have had freakish power?

But they were smaller in height and a similar weight. Bulky or lanky is irrelevant, I mean look at Thomas Hearns weighed the same as his opponents, rake thin and was knocking bulkier guys than him out all the time.

True during Tyson era most of the guys were not much bigger but he did knock out some clearly bigger guys like Golota, Savarese, Bruno etc and he was quite often out weighed even if it wasn't by a lot.

 

off topic but ever hun deer or elk

 

What would their bicep size matter? If big biceps made you a big puncher I'd hit as hard as Hearns or Ali as I have 15 inch arms, but I can tell you for a fact I couldn't punch my way out of a wet paper bag.

 

Guys that can crack come on all shapes and sizes but lanky dudes like Wilder, Hearns and Trinidad seem to simply be born with that power. Then again, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I live in St louis and watched Corey Spinks a lot when he was coming up. He was a decent sized welterweight but couldn't crack all that hard. His uncle Michael was a pretty lanky lightheavyweight that could absolutely crush anyone regardless of size with his right hand. Punchers seem to be born-- you either have it or you don't. If you don't you better be able to box like Corey could.

 

Earnie Shavers weighed 210lbs and punched about as hard as any CW in history, and probably harder than a lot of HWs as well. He's very comparable to Wilder, although his power was more in his heavy hands, whereas Wilder's power stems from the whip like effect he generates with his speed and long arms.

Max Baer was also 210lbs and was said to hit pretty hard, though I'm not sure if he's comparable to the above two.

Aside from them, fighters like Herbie Hide and David Haye had very respectable explosive power for smaller heavies, as did Marco Huck. Tyson of course had phenomenal power, although he was around 217lbs, and more of a coiled ball of energy than Wilder.

 

Baer reminds me more of Marco Huck, though I see some similarity with Wilder as well. Wilder reminds me more of a really uncoordinated HW Tommy Hearns. His punches are like whips: all leverage and speed.

 

same way tommy hearns did at ww to mw.

 

I can see that man!

 

I've always thought he's incomparable to anyone on account of him throwing a punch from down near his ankles,ending up at head hight.
scary thought that he's essentially arm punching most of the time.Can you imagine Wlad who imo is one of the heaviest hitters of all time,go wild like Wilder does?
there's is one other thing to consider,not disputing his power but before Ortiz and Fury his resume was made up of ordinary fighters at best.
I don't think Fury will get dropped in a rematch,so long as he avoids ducking into his punches I can't see a way that Wilder can catch him.

 

that's a great point,you can't improve on the perfection that is known a super heavyweight,Wlad,Vitali,Lennox all had great timing,skill and power whilst looking proportionally right.Valuev may of won on account of his size but it wasn't because he had great skill,timing or power,more of a freak show to be honest.
foreman and Tyson had tremendous power whilst being nowhere near super heavyweight status.

 

Man I can't stand him but I really respect in the belief he has to get that knockout despite being outweighed all the time.

 

All those guys knew how to plant their feet and create leverage with their shots. You watch their feet, watch their waists and shoulders when punching it's clear where the power comes from, technique and timing.

Then you watch guys that are not great punchers, like Malignaggi, Ottke or Eubank Jr and you can see things they do wrong in comparison. Either they don't sit down or shots or they arm punch. Eubank Jr for example seems to load up throwing big hooks and uppercuts but you look at his punch mechanics, it's all arms and shoulders, sometimes some waist, but he doesn't utilise his legs in his punches, it's like there's a disconnect between what his legs and upper body does. But you watch someone like Hearns, from the setting of his feet to the pivot of his ankles to the extension of his calves and activation of quads, to the torque created at the waist, to the drive with the shoulders and the final extension of fist, his while body is put into his power punches.

I think the idea that punchers are born is true to some extent. Some guys just have the natural timing the ability to connect and instinctively time separate parts of their body to work in conjunction to create tremendous power. Some guys can be taught the technique but never get it or can't time each part of the body to work in proper time and so breaks the kinetic chain which then takes away from their power.