Punching Hard Without Strong Legs :Story of Today’s Elite Heavyweights

By Kunle Awosiyan

Their legs had given way severally except one of them, Oleksandr Usyk who happens to be the lightest of the four elite heavyweights.

To be a durable boxer, it takes more than ability to throw hard punch or fast jabs. Most times, it’s about good chin and strong firm legs.

The great Muhammad Ali will look so fragile among these four but then he had the strongest legs more than all of them.

Every landed punch on the head of a boxer sends message to his legs and when one of the legs gives way, the boxer embraces the canvas.

It takes the strength of the legs to obey the message from the brain as the referee begins to count. Many boxers stumble in a hurry to obey the brain when the legs had lost the balance.

As big as he is Tyson Fury had fallen more than seven times, four of which were under Deontay Wilder, however he rose to win two of the trilogy. Strong legs.

Wilder fell about five times fighting Fury while Joshua had fallen about three times fighting Andy Ruiz Junior and Wladimir Klitschko.

While Joshua survived Klitschko’s knocked down in round five of their epic bout, he never survived Ruiz.

His debut in the US against Ruiz showed his shaky legs and why he could not continue the fight. Just as Wilder could not survive the blast from Fury in their last match.

Wilder’s ear was ruptured by a terrific Fury’s blow that wobbled the American’s legs. He never rose. Though athletic, Wikder has bad legs.

Despite his fragile look, the great Muhammad Ali had what many of these boxers lack. Ali was firm. His legs were pillars, yet elastic that were never made to break.

With 56 professional fights, Ali only fell four times with different boxers in his career and he rose to win three of those falls with Sonny Banks, Henry Cooper and Chuck Wepner.

Only Joe Frazier survived Ali’s rise in their first ever bout. However, Ali revenged the loss and crowned it with the Thriller in Manilla where he battered Frazier to a standstill.

I would have loved to mention Mike Tyson as another boxer with good legs but the fact that he never won any bout where he had fallen will not make him to make the count.

When he fell fighting Bouster Douglas, he lost. With Evander Holyfield, he lost; with Lennox Lewis he lost. It shows that his recovery rate is nothing to write home about whenever he falls. He had got the punch, the tactics but lacked the firmness under rains of punches.

When a boxer falls once, it has just about 30 per cent chance to stay up and continue and this is a factor of strong legs. How much the boxer had punished his legs in training. Ali once said that he does count his press-up until he begins to feel the pain.

George Foreman, as big as he is, failed to rise against Ali after he was knocked down in round eight of the “Rumble in the jungle”. His legs fell under his weight.

Lewis could not rise against Hassim Rahman in their first bout in South Africa. A stray blow kept him on the canvas. He revenged the fight in style about six months later.

I will still rate Lewis over Tyson in this leg show but surprisingly I will choose Andy Ruiz above all of them for having very strong legs.

Ruiz had fallen severally fighting at this level and had risen to win the bouts in which he bit the canvas. A very good example was his survival in round three of his bout with Joshua.

When legs stand firm, it will be so difficult for a boxer to lose as it has been for Usyk in the last few years. I see Usyk as Ali’s reincarnate in the heavyweight division but with a lot of pound-for-pound style.

Usyk has got strong legs as shown in his fight against Dereck Chisora when the Briton knocked him down, yet he rose to win the fight. His escape in the cruiserweight where he became the undisputed champion, his two fights with Joshua are testament that Usyk can stand in the kitchen on his feet when the heat is so hot.