ANATOMY OF BOXING’S BIGGEST PUNCHER

BRAIN

COACH JOEY SCOTT: It’s easy to say, ‘I’m great’. It takes a special individual to actually — from the core in his heart, mind, body and soul — believe he’s the greatest of all time. How do you stop someone who believes he’s destined to be great? ALAN RUDDOCK (BOXING SCIENCE): Because he’s so confident in his abilities, his size, and he’s had all these wins, it enables him to be more relaxed and know he has potentially 30-odd minutes to land one punch.

UPPER BODY

SCOTT: Think about a car: your arms are your steering wheel. Your legs are going to do whatever your arms do. You can’t go into a war without bullets so I make sure his steering wheel — his arms — are right.

CORE

SCOTT: Can you drive a car without an axle? No. That’s your core. You can’t drive that body without a strong core — so I make sure his core is strong, too.

RUDDOCK: You can also liken it to the chassis; the component that enables that force transfer. A lot of boxers have a really thick core. Look at Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez — look at how thick they are in their core and how devastating they are with their punches. That gives you an indication of how important core is.

LEGS

SCOTT: I make sure his wheels are conditioned enough so he’s able to maintain his strength and power throughout the fight. He might not have big legs but Deontay is very strong. Genetically, he’s not going to have big calves but that doesn’t matter.

RUDDOCK: You can look at somebody and see they have a lot of muscle. But what that doesn’t tell us is how athletes can activate and co-ordinate that muscle with the rest of the body. Bodybuilders have a lot of muscle but can they lift as much as a powerlifter? Absolutely not.