In boxing, there are only a few physical attributes that can easily be quantified. This does not mean that they tell everything about the individual under study. While a boxer can change his weight class, his height and reach remain the same throughout his career.
Height and reach can easily be measured. For height, all you need to do is stand on a flat surface and measure from the top of the head to the floor. It is easier to calculate reach; You don’t even need a flat surface or standing, it can be done lying down or sitting. All you have to do is extend your arms horizontally and take the distance from fingertip to fingertip. In simple terms, just rate the arm span.
A boxer’s height is an important and natural trait. This is his reach, after all, boxing is about throwing punches with your arms. But why this simple statistic is an integral part of sweet science. The simple answer to this is that it determines your boxing style. It will also have a significant impact on their strategy for their opponents.
Read here how reach is determined in boxing and mixed martial arts.
In this article, we will talk about 10 boxers with the longest reign in history. This list is full of heavyweights, but we’ll be jumping up and down the weight classes to give you a good description of how these boxers use their natural gifts to their advantage.
It is worth noting that the following are relative to weight class (not absolute).
The longest reach (by weight category) in boxing history
10. Thomas Hearns – Lightweight
The average reach for a welterweight is about 71.2 inches. Thomas Hearns’ arm span was 78 inches, much greater than what is considered normal in this class. This is probably why he was able to lift five weight classes all the way up to the light heavyweight. The Memphis native was a devastating teaser and put many to sleep. But that’s not why he was given the nickname “Motor City Cobra”. Standing at 6’1″, his reach was greater than his height and allowed him to take out anyone he met from a great distance.
9. Charlie Burley – middleweight
Let’s move from the welterweight to the middle weight category. Successful champions average reach 72.9 inches, while Charlie Burley reaches 75 inches. Not bad for a petite boxer at only 5’9″. Burley held the World Colored Middleweight Championship and was never given a chance at a world title. Even Sugar Ray Robinson dodged in his fight, which says a lot about him. He was a keen boxer who put his long reach to good use with a devastating jab.
8. Tommy Burns – Heavyweight
Mike Tyson was a small heavyweight by everyone’s standards. However, Iron Mike seems huge when you think of Tommy Burns. Burns, Canada’s only heavyweight boxing champion, stood at 5’7″, but it was his reach of 73″ that set him apart from his peers. Marvin Hart was five inches taller than Burns when they met for the world title. The height advantage wouldn’t be held accountable. Anything as Hart was beaten, the Canadian boxer would go on to defend his title 11 more times. Burns stood out from his contemporaries not only in size, he broke barriers when he became the first heavyweight champion to give Jewish and African-American boxers a shot at the title.
7. Panama Al Brown – Flyweight
Panama Al Brown started at flyweight and changed his weight class to bantamweight and then featherweight. The average reach of the Champion is 64.6 to 66.7 inches. No one in these weight classes has come close to Brown’s arm span of 76 inches. He made history when he defeated Gregorio Vidal via a fifteen-round decision to become the first Latin American world champion. He successfully defended his title 12 times before losing it to Baltasar Sangsheli. He later defeated his Spanish boxer to regain his IBU bantamweight title.
6. Roger Mayweather – Featherweight
At featherweight, boxers have less reach than their colleagues in higher weight classes but not Roger Mayweather. And while Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t make it into our list, it’s his uncle who cuts the list. At an arm span of 73.5 inches, he easily had a 7-inch advantage over his contemporaries. Roger put his advantage to good use in the ring and became a world bantamweight champion from 1983 to 1984 when he claimed the WBC light welterweight and added it to his WBA and super featherweight titles. He is remembered as one of the most active fighters of his generation, entering the ring 72 times and raising his hand 59 times.
5. Tyson Fury – Heavyweight
The King of the Roma should have been on this list. He is an energetic boxer who uses his reach to his advantage. Not to say that this is the reason for his success. Ask Deontay Wilder, and he’ll agree that 85 inches wasn’t the only reason he lost a fight. The Manchester native was unbeaten in 31 bouts and was supposed to win the WBC heavyweight title but had to wait an extra fourteen months. He has an awkward fighting style that fuels his game plan. The Covid-19 pandemic postponed his rematch with Wilder, and he kept himself busy participating in WWE, among other things.
4. Michael Grant – Heavyweight
Let’s be a little shorter and add that to her wingspan. Michael Grant is two inches shorter than Fury at 6’7″, but at 86 inches his reach is greater than the Irishman’s. The Chicago, Illinois native had an orthodox stance and used it to good effect to claim the IBC heavyweight title. He would add the NABF heavyweight title but would lose it all to Lennox Lewis equal Grant spent time in the shadows but was in the championship reckoning again when he won the NABA USA Heavyweight title in November 2008. Before taking up boxing as his profession, Big was a three-sport star at Chicago’s Harper High School, where he Equally talented at baseball, basketball and soccer.
3. Efe Ajagba – Super Heavyweight
At 6’6″ and with a reach of 88″, Nigerian Efe Ajagba is a physical wonder to behold. The 26-year-old is a bronze medalist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and followed it up with a gold medal at the 2015 African Games. During his career, he fought in the super heavyweight division and is now enjoying life in the overall heavyweight division. Ajagba is undefeated in 14 professional bouts, and has raised a hand in 11 knockouts. With the Fury and Wilder trilogy postponed, the Nigerian boxer is on the shortlist to face Gypsy King in a December 2020 fight. He also holds the record for the fastest victory when his opponent left the ring within one second.
2. Julius Long – Heavyweight
The average reach for a heavyweight is about 76.3 inches, but as we know many don’t abide by the law of averages and stand behind them. Julius Long is the outlier. Romulus, from Michigan, had grown to over 7’1″, but that was still smaller than the 90-inch range. However, it was his height that earned him the nickname “hell towering”. Long’s exceptional reach did not improve his luck in the ring, and he has a record Negative against his name. He has only won 18 out of 43 fights, losing 24. His last fight last year ended in a draw. Despite this, Long was able to challenge for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship, which he lost to Peter Graham. And with However, he did claim the WBA Oceania heavyweight title in 2016 but never defended it in a competitive match.
1. Jojia Mito – Heavyweight
Julius Long holds the record for the largest documented reach among professional boxers. However, we have to go back more than a century for the man with the unofficial record in this category. These claims are easy to understand since Dumitru Stefanescu, better known as Joggia Mito, was 8 feet 2 inches (8’2″) tall. He suffered from gigantism, which adds to claims that his arm was over 100 inches. In addition to the allegations About his reach, Roman Goliath is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest professional boxer of all time.Mitu was trained at the Paris Boxing School, but only managed to have two professional matches under his belt as he died at the age of 26.