Do fighters have to look like physical fitness models in order to be good or can they look like Goyo Vargas, Roberto Duran, Ray Mercer, Sultan Ibragimov to be effective? Gil Clancy said that old time trainers used to say the guys with the kind of soft body look could actually take much more punishment to the body than the 6 pack abs guys.
99% of soft body fighters are average to cannonfodder there are always exceptions but not many yes at the heavier weights they seem to be able to take body shots better / but carrying around all the lard seems to also make them slow . tony tubbs thinking back is the quickest fat man i can think off /he was a decent figther.
Roberto Duran is a big exception, Muhammad Ali is a big exception Possibly the greatest fighters of all time. Proves that theory wrong
2TON Tony Galento Tony Tubbs The White buffalo - Francois Botha Tyson Fury - undefeated Lineal Champion of the WORLD (still) Snot nose De Gale
Baby Bull Juan Diaz had a hell of a motor on him despite his midsection lacking any type of definition.
Not necessarily fat, just not that chiseled six pack abs. I wouldn't say Ibragimov was fat either but he wouldn't turn any of the girls' heads walking down the beach if you know what I mean.
duran was cut albeit he fought to 49 years of age. ali was also fit until his last few fights. granted they were not specimens but my definition of soft is being able to see fat rolls
Ali used to lift his arms in the air and let his sparring partners throw their hardest shots at his body for 10- 20 secs at a time.
They weren't ripped. They didn't have really low body fat percentages like for instance rigo and Loma today
Nothing wrong with not being a ripped Adonis with chiseled abs, boxers are not fitness models. Being a little soft is fine but anymore than that then it will usually effect conditioning which may not be detrimental most of the time but if you're pushed during a fight that lack of conditioning suddenly then becomes a big issue. Mercer for example rarely if ever fought for the full 3 mins of a round. His work rate was often poor and he gassed so badly vs Ferguson he infamously tried to bribe him mid fight.
ok then just a matter of body types. when i say soft i mean rolls of fat you can see on the sides of there back and belly