Hamed's thighs were ginormous for a featherweight. Agreed with Neil, it all came from the legs. He was absurdly strong in general though, McCullough said he was the most physically strong guy he faced. You just have to look at the way he body slammed Soto using just his neck and shoulders, don't think he used his hands at all.
Because similar to Tyson before him, and now Davis today, all three catapulted themselves in the air from a low center of gravity, generating tremendous leverage and force from their lower bodies up. Tyson mentioned it about Davis before the Ryan fight. Hamed was similar.
Right so he's basically leaping into the shots....Tyson and Davis were just way way more subtle about it.
Well, Mike was just much better than both of them. Talent wise and skill wise. But comparing Hamed to Davis, it's worth noting that Hamed was wrecking good fighters. Davis is wrecking cab drivers and Instagram models.
Prince Had Large CALVES For a '26 Pounder Also...Gymnasts Have Abnormal CORE Strength for Their Size and Prince Flipped/Pranced Around Similarly... Prince's LEGS, Yeah... REED
Frietas is another guy who had huge legs for a junior lightweight. His power too came from his legs... until Oscar Suarez fucked up his style.
HEAVY Hands, Elite Level HandSPEED and Unusual ANGLES, Bolstered By a THICK Lower Base...It Wasn't JUST Prince's Legs, But REED Would Certainly Attribute MOST of Hamed's Power to Them...Similar to Pacquiao in THAT Particular Way, Especially in the CALVES.... REED
All serious power comes from the legs. When a coach says put your hips into it, they're absolutely right. When you twist, you put your one side of your glutes in a stretch position, which springs back as they contract and the power is sent down the kinetic chain to the floor and back up again. Twisting also stretches the muscles of the Serape Effect - mostly the Rhomboids, Serratus and Obliques - so they snap back as you punch. Keeping your hand slightly behind your centre of gravity as you punch adds tons of power too. Joe Louis did it with his cross, circling his first around his ribs like he was literally winding up the punch. Inoue does it with his hooks to the body, where he lets his hand lag slightly behind him as he turns into it.
Theres a guy on YouTube showing people how to throw killer slaps with a "double hip"....this is really old school stuff too, not that Dana White bullshit ...
Hamed was Basically Undisputed @ '26... Already Possessed the WBO Title, Unified the IBF vs. Tom Johnson, Unified the WBC vs. Cesar Soto and Wilfredo Vazquez was Literally STRIPPED Of His WBA Title for Signing to Face Hamed... Johnson and Vazquez were Good Fighters w/Noteworthy Featherweight Reigns...Both Got WRECKED...Kevin Kelley Had a Grand Total of 1 Loss in 50 Bouts, Good Fighter, Former World Champion....He Got WRECKED...Vuyani Bungu was a Good Fighter....He Got WRECKED... There's Also DECENT Guys Like Manuel Medina and Paul Ingle Sprinkled In, Both Former World Champions Themselves...Both Got STOPPED...Hamed's Resume is SUPERIOR to Tank's, Undoubtedly... REED
Bungu alone is a better fighter than anyone Tank has beaten, P4P. You factor in guys like Robinson, Johnson, Vasquez, Medina, Kelly, Ingle, and it becomes lopsided in favor of Hamed. And Hamed was 21-24 years old beating these guys. Duck Davis is 29 and his best win remains Pedraza, a guy he beat when he was 22. He's fucking embarrassing.
Beside the point but Cruz is better than Pedraza. Pedraza never did shit. I agree Hamed's resume is superior but hamed's playbook was similar, feasting on bantamweights. I give you and REED Kelley. Bungu was shot and never did shit at 126.
Hamed was only a small featherweight himself though, he was a bantamweight up to Euro level when that title still just about meant something. He just wasn't disciplined enough to keep his weight down and didn't want to battle with the scales all the time. It's right that a lot of his power came from his massive thighs/hips, that he was able to effortlessly generate kinetic energy from there upwards through his torso, and that he was deceptively strong despite not being a particularly notable infighter. Wincobank has always produced strong fighters tbf, it's one of the things they've always taught well despite the otherwise ambivalent approach towards some of the other basic tenets. It seems to be a trait little appreciated in their fighters though. Graham was another who was immensely strong and dirty up close. Very adept at using good balance and leverage from just below his centre of gravity upwards to flip, spin and manhandle opponents. It was just as important a part of his style as his reflexive unorthodoxy, though he rarely seems to receive credit for it. Ironically it arguably cost him the McCallum fight when he did his body slamming party trick and got docked for it.
Aye, well noted Georgie, the lagging your hand behind your centre of gravity to generate that extra centrifugal force. The likes of Louis, Robinson, Moore, Olivares, Jofre and Napoles were great at it. Hearns too when he punched to the body. It can be hard to do though sometimes without telegraphing punches, which makes the likes of Olivares, Napoles and Jofre all the more impressive when you think that they weren't notably fast of hand. Louis was especially devastating though because of how it combined with his impeccable weight transference and contributed to making each subsequent punch of a combo harder than the one before.
Popeye was a pretty good puncher. His strength came from his massive forearms that he sometimes wound up before punching. He also gained strength from eating cans of spinach.