The most suspect tale-of-the-tape measurements?

It's just a suspicion, really. There have been several anecdotes from people who've met him who said he's shorter. I also think nearly all major boxers heights are exaggerated these days.

 

Many of the measurements are off.
It is a good observation that those who grew larger never were given bigger muscular dimensions, so they can be understated too.
HGH does not make you taller.
Hearns could easily have 15" biceps-at least when in the heavier weight classes. Even as a MW that is niot so big.

Who knows what Liston's reach was. But there are folks with a +11" "ape factor"-though rare-& one B-Ball player + 13".
His arms were more than slightly long for a man just over 6'. His hands were enormous & long. His chest was very broad, which adds to wingspan.
But the biggest I ever read for his fist was 15". Where does anyone even see the claim for 16"?
Yes Andre the Giant's hands would be somewhat larger than this.

 

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sonny had bloody big hands....

 

Not sure if that previous link worked so,,
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=i&...aw2q6t1e176ZsmLaZs5Ho69m&ust=1551952301320257

 

Some interesting "ape factors" that can be found on BoxRec:

Patsy Perroni +14 (6'1½", 87½")
Ted Morgan +12 (5'8", 80")
Sonny Liston +11 (6'1", 84")
Efe Ajagba +11 (6'5", 88")
Phil Terranova +10 (5'2", 72")
Maurice Hooker +9 (5'11", 80")

But I wouldn't bet on all (or any!) of them being correct - though I can believe Ajagba's and Hooker's numbers, as they both seem to be very long-limbed.

Perroni's reach looks very unlikely for a 6'1½" man!

 

You can tell Boxrec that Mr. Perroni's listing is almost certainly an error. His arms look unremarkable, & here you can see him listed at exactly 10 less of a wingspan: https://hunterboxing.net/tag/patsy-perroni

But thanks for the listing, he was a great fighter.
Morgan also looks like he has conventional arm length in the video on this link-otherwise he would not need to bend down so far to do his training. But his is a fascinating & bizarre story...
https://sports.vice.com/en_us/artic...n-who-fell-in-with-britains-fascist-firebrand

This man has the longest "Ape Factor" I have ever seen. At + 12", I thought it was 13", which it coyuld e only if his height is overstated.
If you look at the videos & photos with care, you can see that while he was thick, so his arms do not look as long as slim men with the same dimensions do, theyt were extremely long, & he was very broad across the chest.
He may have had a longer wingspan at 7' 9" than anyone in the NBA other than Manute Bol, who was reportedly a +11" & an insane 8' 6" wingspan!

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=anya+basketball

 

Not a tale of the tape but what about the perception that George Foreman was some physical monster in his prime. He was 6'3 220lbs, just 4lbs heavier than Ali in their fight and the same height. He wasn't very lean either.