December 31st 2018 in Tokyo, Floyd Mayweather fought kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in an exhibition boxing match.

The rule of bout was no kicking and regular boxing rules, with weight limit 147 lbs or 66.7 kg.







The match result was that Mayweather had a crushing victory over Nasukawa. Before I watched the fight, I anticipated that Nasukawa would be able to keep fighting until the third round. But, I was wrong and surprised to see the punching force of Mayweather. Nasukawa was struck to the canvas three times by Mayweather, prompting his corner to throw in the towel in the first round.

Did the weight difference matter in the match between Mayweather and Nasukawa ?

Many people, including boxers, argue that the punching force depends on the boxer’s weight; leading people to comment that this match was a farce because of the weight difference. When I really focused watching the fight, I could see how strong and effective Mayweather’s punches were to Nasukawa. This led me to wonder how much difference weight can make in punching force.

I found some studies on the internet and was able to pull information that I thought was interesting in light of the Mayweather/Nasukawa fight.

A brief explanation about Mayweather and Nasukawa and the weight differences between the two fighters

First of all, I explain the background of Nasukawa and Mayweather briefly.

Nasukawa is a 20-year-old kickboxing star who has held featherweight, flyweight and bantamweight titles during his short career. As a kickboxer, he has an excellent record of 28-0 with 27 KOs as of December 2018. He typically fights around 121 lbs or 54.9 kg. He had never boxed professionally before the fight against Mayweather.

Mayweather is 41-years-old and one of the pound-for-pound greats of boxing, with the single greatest perfect record in boxing history at 50-0.

The day before their bout, Mayweather and Nasukawa measured their weights for the record. Mayweather was 147 lbs (66.7 kg) and Nasukawa was 136 lbs (62.1 kg).

Therefore, the difference of their weights was about 11 lbs or 4.6 kg.

Relation between weight and punch force

Secondly, I give a brief explanation about the study that I found. The study is T.J. Walilko, D.C. Viano, and C.A. Bir. Biomechanics of the head for olympic boxer punches to the face. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 39:710–719, Jan 2005.

The study examined seven Olympic boxers from five weight classes. The weight of the boxers ranged from 112 lbs (48 kg) to 240 lbs (109 kg). They delivered 18 straight punches to the frangible face of an instrument called Hybrid III dummy and their punch forces were calculated.

Here is the graph that shows the relation between weight and punch force.









The study found out that punch force was higher for the heavier weight classes and the severity of the punch increased with weight class.

Using the trend line in the figure above, the 11 lbs difference between Mayweather and Nasukawa would make about 100N difference of punch force. 100N means the power you would need to hold a 22 lbs or 10 kg weight.



In my opinion, the 100N, in the boxing world, would not make such a big difference in the damage that a punch can deliver. From the figure above, it can be observed that the punch forces ranged from about 2,400N to 3,900N even in the same weight class of 112 lbs. There is over 1,000N difference in the punch force within the same weight class. Therefore, 100N difference should be relatively small.

Conclusion

Further research is needed to see the effect of weight on punch force. However, according to the study “Biomechanics of the head for olympic boxer punches to the face” mentioned above, the hearvier the weight is, the higher the punch force is. In conclusion, I think that the difference of weight wasn’t a significant deciding factor for Nasukawa to lose the bout against Mayweather. The difference of boxing skills and experience was probably a more significant factor in determining the outcome of match.

Lastly, I would like to show you the Nasukawa’s comment posted on his Instagram after the fight. He seems such a great fighter. I wish for his continued success in the future !





