Are the most durable heavyweights through history large heavyweights?

Generally speaking small guys take alot of punishment. If you are a 6'0 boxer fighting as a heavyweight it will be tough, unless you have alot of power like Liston. You see there are just a few fighters who can give a big tough booming puncher guy a real fight for his life. I think big punchers are more durable. ali was a big guy but lack durability because he fought too often, got hit alot by frazier. A boom boom bam puncher would never take those kinds of hit. They get worn down over a few rounds or caught with one bad punch. It is the bob and weave and the movers who get worn down over rounds and end up in wheel chairs when someone finally catches them, as far as heavyweights go. I have to think Liston was more durable he fought well past 40.

George Chuvalo likely had a thicker skull than most people, and had a very thick neck and did 30 minutes of neck exercises a day which included rolling on his neck upside down, and all other kinds of weird exercises, we use to think he was crazy, but he claimed that he was training to take a punch (a novel idea at the time because most of us are taught don't get hit to begin with) I use to do road work with him when I lived in Toronto, we'd run through high park together, that guy use to chew a mouthful of bubble gum for 30 minutes a day.

I seen Chuvalo go toe to toe with the hardest punchers in sparing, they buckled his legs but NO ONE ever dropped him, not once, not that I saw. I saw him take the best hits of a guy who I saw drop holmes in the 80s with a bodyshot. He buckled Chuvalo's knees but never could drop him. I think that guy hit harder than Foreman or Shavers.

I have no clue what Oliver McCall secret is.

 

All big dudes for their eras. I would add Willard, too.

And maybe it is this watching Price gas and flail this weekend, but it seems the overly tall, overly gigantic sort are more prone to stamina issues which makes them not so durable.

 

what do yous guys think of neck thickness making a better chin?

 

I think a lot of it is vision and a sixth sense anticipation thing. Like LaMotta (or I have heard Chuvalo talk about this)... when a fighter can anticipate the punches and take them without surprise... It's not just a thick cranium or neck, it's a base level intuition of how the punches are coming your way.

 

So very true S. I have seen no-necks get flattened, whilst pencil-necked fighters take the shots...

 

Name?

 

The most succesful SH of all time could not contend with a battle of attrition whenever it faced him.
Imagine Wlad fighting off the ropes. Impossible.

 

No.

 

Holyfield came up from CW when the limit at CW was 190 Lbs. He wasn't down until after age 30... vs. Riddick Bowe at Bowe's very best. Bowe had a 2 1/2 -3" height advantage (depending on the source), a 4 1/2" reach advantage, and a 30 Lb. weight advantage. Did you all see this knockdown? Not a very good knockdown. Bowe landed a shot to the back of Holyfield's head (in the head and neck area at the base of his skull). Holyfield almost went down and used the ropes for support. Now, using the ropes to hold yourself up after getting hit is a knockdown... but what if you get hit in the back of the head?

The knockdown vs. Cooper was clean... again he used the ropes to keep from going all the way down.

Point? Holyfield was very durable and not a huge HW.

 

Oliver McCall, Vitali Klitschko, a prime David Tua... almost impossible to drop.

Marion Wilson... remained upright vs. some very big punchers while blocking their best punches with his face.

Ray Mercer... part flash knockdown, part just went down to avoid more punishment vs. Holyfield... got dropped and stopped a few times when he was washed up, but at his best he was very hard to drop.

Marciano was down just twice in 49 fights. Once vs. Moore (who scored more KOs than anyone) and once vs. Walcott (a very good puncher). Both times he was up right away and went on to stop his opponent.

James Toney was once a very good MW. At HW he took punches from Holyfield, Rahman x2, Peter x2, and others and remained upright.

 

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G. Tunney, R. Marciano, R. Bowe, N. Valuev, S. Ibragimov, J. Toney... are the only HW Champs who never lost by stoppage. Yeah, Toney was stripped of the title and his only HW Title won was changed to a NC... but I'm gonna give him a break here.