Guys with freakish reach

Well fuck it. Why wouldn't Helenius be your best ever? He'd pop Brian Nelson for one ^ ... 'the pasty' was a smirking crook, master of the tote.

 

Holy fuck , that's even weaker than i tought.

 

Since we are a bit off-topic, here's an interesting note about the prestige that boxing carries.

In 2000 there was a vote among sports writers in Sweden about the best Swedish athlete of the century. Björn Borg won, before Ingemar Stenmark (the greatest downhill skier of the history).

Ingemar Johansson placed 3rd, ahead of all other tennis stars, hockey and soccer players, best ping-pong player of the history etc . This despite there have been literally 500 fighters better than Ingo, who wouldn't fit in the top-50 of heavyweights.

Boxers are plenty respected even in countries that don't produce greats

 

Yeah, Borg was far and away the greatest Swedish athlete.

Where did they rank Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander?

I mean, objectively, Edberg and Wilander are greater sport-for-sport than Ingemar Johansson, but I'm glad they placed Johansson so high.

 

I can't find the original results. In a later ranking (gathered by a web site that concentrates on lists) neither of them broke into top-15. Johansson was 6th, and Borg had lost his top spot to Zlatan (soccer star)

 

Ingo absolutely ranks in the top fifty heavyweights.

 

Probably. Depends on how you rank the Joe Jeanettes and Jim Johnsons of the early days and do you stress greatness or being better (Ingo vs Tony Tucker gor example) but yeah, Ingo is probably in.

But you get the gist. Considering his place in boxing history he ranks really high compared to tennis stars, even though tennis is a huge individual sport

 

Yeah, Edberg and Wilander are both top 20 all time greats in tennis overall.

Ingo isn't even top 20 all time in his division.

 

Celestine Caballero
Kingsley Ikeke (didn't help him much though)

 

Abraham smashed Ikeke to win his first title. Thats the only fight of Ikeke I've seen.

 

I didn't stray off topic for once, I just misread "Battling" for "Brian".

 

Joichiro Tatsuyoshi was 5'5 Bantamweight at most and had a listed 68″ reach on boxrec, though Japanese sources say 70''. From what I see on film, I'm inclined to agree with the latter. I think the average is 65'' at 118lbs. Either way, he was long limbed.

However, a freak is Hilario Zapata. He is listed at 68'' on boxrec even though he was a 108lber. Meanwhile, Art Hafey was a featherweight but only had a reach of 63″.

 

If we're talking freakish reach, we can't forget that stubby, compact guy:

 

Zapata was very much a freak.

 

I always thought those leaping hooks of Hagler's were to compensate for a lack of reach, but turns out he just liked putting everything into his punches.

 

Marvin's follow up left hook as he shifted to orthodox is one of my all-time favourite punches. Both to watch, and throw. When he closed in one someone and they tried to escape to Marv's left, he'd quickly shuffle and throw a left hook to cut them off or take them out. He landed an absolute peach of one which hurt Geraldo. Just perfect for shutting down any sudden movement change, especially when he'd overextended with a right hook to the body.