I was watching Ali vs Chuvalo 2 the other day and i realized they had the healthiest looking legs i've seen in boxers for a long time, with the same or even more muscle than the upper body, and the same can be said about Frazier, Foreman, Liston, Quarry, Lyle, etc (maybe not so much Norton or Patterson) But nowadays heavyweights all have skinny calves. Is it because of more explosive capability and less endurance? Weightlifting?
All you gotta remember is how much guys like those went out on the road for. You did squats, you jumped rope, and you ran. They didn't have as diverse means of training as we do now, so they simply worked harder for longer periods of time.
Modern heavyweights are mostly just lazy individuals who should be cruiserweights but theyre too fat, thats why. If you look at the actual hard workers like Joshua and Usyk, they have well developed legs. Fury and Wilder specifically just have weird bodies. A boxer's legs are a key sign of who is a hard vs non hard worker, imo. If you do your squats, sprints and lots of footwork drills, you will have good legs; but most are content to just hit the bag and spar and lift weights in a mostly upper body portion Prime James J Jeffries had the most impressive and natural athlete looking body that i had ever seen, he was fit but not too lean, well proportioned everywhere and lived before anabolic steroids had even been invented, and he was all of this despite being a heavyweight and never "having" to be in shape to make a weight class. It was just how he was naturally built from training heavily. Tom Sharkey also had an extremely impressive body. Marciano was similar when he was still training his hardest from 1951-1952. By the time of his later fights he looked flabbier from training less intensely (due to back related issues and less motivation, even stated he boxed half the rounds for Moore that he boxed for Walcott) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James...Fitzsimmons_and_Jefferies_(HS85-10-13751).jpg Jeffries upon his return was still "big and muscular and lean", but you could tell he was drained. He is still lean while having a healthy amount of fat here, as compared to his self that fought Johnson. This content is protected Marciano's physique at 3:50 is pretty much what a natural boxing athlete whom isnt kept at a specific weight should look like. Nothing body-builder-ish, built from specific set and rep ranges with barbells compared to a boxing workout that is held back by cardiovascular work being integrated as well, and you can tell his muscle is soft by how it exaggerates when it contracts compared to it at rest. Perfectly proportioned. Of course, nowadays we have short half life anabolics, peptides that are undetectable, designer drugs, paying off drug tests, using fake penises, etc. So many ways to skirt through drug testing, so noone is natural. Physiques get to insane levels and fluctuate frequently. Being on strong use anabolics and then having to come off permanently or start short cycles that are broken up also tends to cause fighters who looked good during their amateur days to develop flabby-ness and gyno, due to the testosterone drop and lack of natural production of Luteinizing Hormone. Big respect for old school athletes, they were the picture of health (minus taking all of those shots to the face) This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
To be honest the difference in leg to torso ratio is significant This content is protected This content is protected
