The science behind one handed heavyweight hitters

Yeah, spending a few years training amateurs and professionals convinced me that punchers are more born than made.

Two people of the same build and height could walk into the gym the same day and I could teach them the same thing the exact same way and one of them would be heavier-handed than the other. Just as one might be quicker.

Best natural power puncher I ever trained was a young lady who was 111 1/2 pounds soaking wet. Every single male she ever sparred with (and bigger guys obviously didn’t unload on her), she busted their nose with that right at least once. Mine about 3-4 times. She obviously wasn’t that big or strong but when that right landed it felt like she had a roll of quarters in her hand or something. And she had that from the day she walked in the gym.

She went 5-0, 4 KOs, as a pro — the lightest opponent she ever fought weighed 118, she usually weighed in wearing her clothes and shoes because we couldn’t find opponents in her weight class — and then she joined the Marines and became an officer. She was one of the few females who operated in the front line in the second Gulf War because her unit was a demolition unit and they would blow up bridges and stuff.

I only trained one fighter who was as tough-minded as her. We’d close up the gym in 100-degree heat in the summer and well-trained pros would be wilting and falling out and she would just grin and ask if she could do more.

 

That's some top reading Pat. I totally agree punchers are much more born than made. Even when making them they have to have the raw ingredients. The obvious gold standard is Hearns being quite feather fisted in the amateurs but then turning into one of the greatest punchers in history when Steward showed him leverage and how to turn his punches over etc. The thing is he had to have that ability and snap laying dormant. So i guess punchers can somewhat be "made" on rare occasions but they would have to have some very very poor technique with regards to generation of power, going on earlier.

It's like golf. Once semi set you can eke out a bit more distance here and there but there's absolute choppers with poor technique who when they hit that good shot hit it miles further than old mate who is of similar size, has played golf for years and has quite a decent gold swing. In an even more raw form we could go to sprinting. Some guys are fast, some are not.

 

Good points.

I 100 percent agree that punching power can be improved (to a point) and the right coach/training can help a boxer realize his (or her) potential as a puncher, but some have higher potential and those in my experience you pretty much know right away that they have ‘it.’

Hearns is an interesting example. I remember Emmanuel Steward saying he discovered around the time that Thomas turned pro that he had been hitting with an open fist all that time (in an outstanding amateur career) and that a lot of it was him just closing his fist. I always taught that you squeeze a punch, same as you do a trigger, and make the first harder as it accelerates to the target. And, as you mentioned, the snap of the wrist (different technique but same in a lot of ways as snapping a bullwhip — ideally right at the point of impact).

Lots of other factors of course, but if you work the bag with guys and hold the mitts, you feel the different types of power — the thudding punch (think George Foreman) and the sharp, sniper-type punch (Hearns, Holmes).

And of course all boxers to some degree, and especially beginners, want to work on power all the time. At our gym you spent a LOT of time on footwork and conditioning before we got beyond the basics of punching.

 

Power is something that is more unpredictable than say your durability ... If you have a thick, shirt neck and robust skull you likely have a decent chin ... But someone who is lanky and thin can have incredible power ... And someone who is musclebound naturally large can have lesser power ...

Interesting to say the least

 

That's the riony. Perhaps if Frazier didn't get injured he might have merely been a "good" or above average swarmer without his insane dedication to the hook?

I think it's kind of like when someone become a jack of all trades vs someone who focuses on only one skill set religiously. Like a soldier who can use all kinds of guns: pistol, machine gun, rifle, etc vs a guy who spends day and night practicing only with a sniper rifle. The sniper is obviously going to be way better at long range than the guy who only practices with the rifle every once in a while.

Frazier would still be a good fighter, but like you said probably not as good without being a specialist and standing out. The hook is a power punch and Frazier whipped it out as if it were a jab with high speed and bad intentions. Most opponents got broken down despite the fact he didn't throw many right hands, jabs, or uppercuts except to the body.

 

I'm right handed but I have similar characteristics--just in reverse. My left hand has way more finesse. I can jab, throw a flicker, up jab, straight power jab, parry, hook off the jab, deflect shots, throw a "smash", vary the speed and angles, etc. I would much rather be stuck with my left if I had to choose a hand that got broken 5 minutes before a fight. My right hand is basically an unguided missile that doesn't have nearly as much grace, but I can throw it straight down the pipe for a reliable power shot. My right hook is pretty meh and the uppercut is a wild grenade.

I do have power in both hands but my right obviously has more impact. I developed more power in my left when my coach told me to "jab like a big man and stop letting these little guys crowd you". So I studied the big heavy jabbers at HW and put more bad intentions behind mine so that it would give people something to think about twice before charging in. Before I would just paw with it or throw something quick and flashy merely as a range finder or to set up a combination. Stepping into shots and putting more weight behind them adds power to a hand regardless of if it's your natural one.

That's what my coach told me, and it worked. This southpaw was beating the daylights out of me, I didn't know how to deal with weird heavy jabs coming from a right hand. So I grit my teeth and throw right hands of my own-throwing a jab is tricky because it's much easier for a southpaw to see it coming or block/deflect it. I kept stepping forward and it became a close range war and then his advantage was gone. He could not fight backing up or use lateral movement.

The rare exceptions are guys like Whitaker who were wizards in the ring.

 

In some cases ......
..... a fighter will master a certain punch first, or just naturally be able to throw it with very little training, and find they are knocking people OUT with it. With relative ease.
So they end up building their style around that, and never do master much else. They become lop-sided.
But it works, so there's less incentive to fix it until they find their limit .... and the better they are, the higher that limit will be .... so, at that point, it's often a very hard task to change them.

 

Well the thing about Hearns is he had a very lanky body with long arms. Guys like that get a ton of leverage and snap from their deceptive "wiry" strength. He had the ability within him but didn't know how to use it. I don't believe he had no power at all and then suddenly developed scary knockout power just through sheer practice. It's just that Steward showed him how to use it and instilled better technique.

 

Exactly hence my "laying dormant".

It's quite exciting watching those beanpoles with massive KO power. Bob Foster is another, Zarate too. Not all have it of course but there are some truly great examples.