Sonny Liston didn't have anything close to an 84 inch reach

I think that he had this reach because HE HAD giant hands and arms.. I sawe a pick of him with a very young foreman and liston had longer arms, (and foreman have been listed with 80"and 82")

 

He had strangely long arms, you can see it clearly. So does Hasim Rahman for example, he's only 6'2-ish and has the same reach as Lewis and longer than the Klitschko's iirc.

 

Makes me think that all champions share a common trait and that's long arms. A normal fighter would never be a champion no matter how good his skill level is if he had no reach.

 

Liston's arms were freakishly long for a guy 6"1/2 in height but 80-84inches is an exaggeration

If Liston was 6" 1/2 inch that would be 72.5 inches so if his arm length was 80-84 inches he his arm length would be 10-14 inches long than his height and that may look even more freakish

I think the boxing world always exaggerates and makes things longer and shorter depending on what is freakish

 

Qawi too

 

Dont underestimate the measurement of shoulder width either. Reach isnt just a measure of how long your arms are but also how wide your shoulders are and Liston had wide shoulders.

 

rahman was built like a ****ing tank, he was a power lifter and he was one of the strongest guys ever in a ring he was ****ing wide of shoulders , his back was huge, he handled lewis like a ***** in the conference, he was "only" 6´2 but he was bigger and wider than lewis

 

truth

 

Liston was listed at 80.5 inches in the Leotis Martin bout. That was done by the Nevada State Comission and seems more accurate to me.

The 84 inch listing was likely a slight promotional exaggeration to protray him as the big bad bear.

Still no doubt a monster with long arms and huge hands. He was clearly at a reach disadvantage against Cleveland Williams and the commentary observes this. As pointed out, him and Ali also seemed to be equals.

Should be worth noting Foreman's reach was listed at 78.5" for most of his initial run in the 70s. And Ali's reach was usually listed at 79" back than. So who knows.

 

So just confirm how reach is measured ?

 

Stretch your arms out at your sides even/level with your shoulders. Going across the back of your shoulders, measure from your longest fingertip on one hand to the longest fingertip on the other.

So if your actual arms are the same length as someone else's, you could have a longer reach if you have broader shoulders, bigger hands and longer fingers. Two inches on both sides will give you a "four-inch" reach advantage.

It never made much sense to measure that way. You don't start a punch from one fingertip and end at the other.

It's the distance from your body to the end of your closed fist.

But that's the way they always did it.

 

Right pm Dubblechin, & technically it is wingspan being discussed, not reach.

A few misconceptions & corrections.

A photo with Liston having his arms bent, or enormous hands & long fingers in boxing gloves shows nothing useful. Only One of the listed pictures is relevant.

I do not know for sure if Liston's reach is correct. But it is not a priori implausible. I have seen the photo with young Foreman, & yes, his reach looks significantly longer, even with hands dangling out of the pitcure.

Butwingspan measure hands + chest/back width too. So Liston MIGHT have had am 84" reach, same as Rahman who is slightly taller, & 6' 5" Louis. 7', the wingspan of an average NBA player, who is 6' 7".

Ali had varying reached listed, 78-82". But a photo with Ali is a great example of a BAD way to compare.

Thicker arms look shorter. Thicker anything tends to look shorter, & Ali's arms are thin compared to Liston's.

Liston's gloves allow his somewhat longer hands to be hidden. Ever see the photo of Liston holding up 2 fingers predicting when Ali would fall? Very. Long. And Liston's wider clavicles also are not accounted for.

So even IF Ali's arms were just as long, still each of Liston's HANDS & his chest would legitimatey give him a significantly greater wingspan, which is erroneously called reach.

Liston was either the 6' 1" he was generally lssited at, or 1/2" less. So if he had a 7' (84") wingspan, he had a + 11" or add 1/2" to the "ape factor".

The announcer was simply wrong that Williams had a longer reach. When watching that fight it strongly occured to me how little that particular broadcaster said or seemed to know. However AGAIN recall reach (actually wingspan) includes chest & hands, add these 3 things (since there are 2 hands) & it makes a significant difference.

Yes measuring just arm length makes sense to practically compute effective reach. But that is NOT what is being discussed here.

Fighters *tend* to have a disproportionately long reach. Other good & even ATG fighters have average wingspans-most humans are a square, like Tyson, identical heights & wingspan, Leonardo's golden ratio. A Tua or Marciano (reach ~ 3" LESS than height) did not need that particular advantage, though shorter reach fighters tend to rely on swarming & power.

Foreman & many others remarked on Liston's extra-long arms. Add the chest width & these hands I can see 84" as possible, & I want to see avidence for less being more likely. Some images show his length better, & his hands were usually listed at 15" the LARGEST champion ever, 1/2" more than Valuev is listed at. Who also did not have a long reach for his height.

Liston had a freakish wingspan for his height. Rahman seems #2 amongst boxers, + 10" Ape Factor. Is that exaggerated too? Likely not, his very large hands & broad chest helped just like Liston. And he landed that lunging sleep producer against Lewis near the end of his power punching range, Lewis likely underestimated his reach.

I await good evidence & links that Liston's wingspan was overstated.

 

If you go to the Boxing Hall of Fame, they have replicas of Liston's fists and they are HUGE, much bigger than ohter guys his size, closer to the size of the giant Carnera. His arms were really long, but the whole subject of reach....and how to measure it...has always been imprecise. But 84 inches does seem excessive. I had always heard 82 inches for Sonny, which is a bit more believable.