Fastest hands in combat sports history?

[Iroh]

There are way too many combat sports athletes in lets say the past 150 years for me to have a good conclusive answer to that question.

 

[LLLZZZ]

roy jones jr

 

[moosaev]

Love Inoue but that’s more timing than speed. Inoue’s my current P4P #1 right now ahead of Canelo.

 

[Iroh]

Also having the fastest hands doesn't necessarily mean they became historically, significanttly successful combat sports athletes Hand speed is onely one aspect of fighting, if you suck at the rest, you still aren't gonna get far.

And if some smuck in the1890's had great handspeed, but terrible footwork and head movement and got KO'd a bunch of times, then ended his boxing career and pursued a different career, chances are I haven't heard of him.

 

[TitoSchaubHighIQ]

Pound for Pound: Roy Jones Jr

In MMA I would say Cody impresses me. John Dodson is lightning fast too. He was speed blitzing Moraes in the 1st round of their fight. Moraes is very fast himself but couldn't match Dodson's speed.

 

[Herwald]

In UFC, prime Michael Johnson should be up there.

 

[Poatan Power]

Parry 1-2 and a back step just in case, in like 3 seconds jesus

It was a little south of 2 seconds by my count. Pretty god damn amazing.

But in combat sports? Def a boxer, not a MMA guy.

Floyd is right up there.

With hand speed it's typically economy of motion and the perfection of muscle contraction and relaxation during extremely precise technique

 

[fzoid4454]

There was question of whether Sonny Liston took a dive in the rematch because Ali's punch was thrown so quickly that many didn't see it, so it was called the "Phantom Punch."

So..... that seems to set the standard for fast hands, I'd think.

Nice video breakdown of it. What's really amazing in this video is all the footage of Ali slipping punches. Such a shame that he lost his prime to a legal battle over the draft.

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Manny
Khan
Vitor
AJ
Arlovski
Cody
Aldo

 

[PalmStrike]

Pound for pound its Mike Tyson.

When its pound for pound the answer is always Mike Tyson.

 

[Delerator]

Some great names here, I’d like to add Zab Judah to the list, he gave Floyd a good run for the first five rounds due to his handspeed if I remember rightly

 

[machidafan99]

Michael Johnson

 

[Stuart0502]

Also having the fastest hands doesn't necessarily mean they became historically, significanttly succeedful combat sports athletes Hand speed is onely one aspect of fighting, if you suck at the rest, you still aren't gonna get far.

And if some smuck in the1890's had great handspeed, but terrible footwork and head movement and got KO'd a bunch of times, then ended his boxing career and pursued a different career, chances are I haven't heard of him.

Andre Winner was an example of a guy with very fast hands by MMA standards who didn’t achieve much in the UFC.

 

[Stuart0502]

Zab Judah
Meldrick Taylor
Roy Jones
Manny Pacquiao
Amir Khan

For those saying Naseem Hamed - Completely disagree he was a power puncher not a speed guy by featherweight standards.

 

[Stuart0502]

There was question of whether Sonny Liston took a dive in the rematch because Ali's punch was thrown so quickly that many didn't see it, so it was called the "Phantom Punch."

So..... that seems to set the standard for fast hands, I'd think.

Nice video breakdown of it. What's really amazing in this video is all the footage of Ali slipping punches. Such a shame that he lost his prime to a legal battle over the draft.

Ali might have the GOAT hand speed P4P but Liston clearly took a dive in that fight.

 

[BluntForceTrama]

I'm such a goof I always thought Naseem and Amir were the same dude so lolol This whole freaking time holy shit

 

[ONP1]

 

[The Bloody Nine]

There are many, Meldrick Taylor and Joe Calzaghe came to my mind inmediatly.

Calzaghe is a decent shout. Not the best form, but he could slap the piss out of you 10 times in a few seconds.

 

[Street Samurai]

A young Camacho is in there

 

[Heelhook71]

Amir khan is not a terrible answer. Insane handspeed.

P4P? It's Roy Jones and it's not particularly close.

Amir Khan is a decent choice . I’d have to go with Manny though . His hand speed is insane . Sugar Ray Leonard had some speed on him as well .