Very telling interview w Emanuel Steward

We agree. 10 pounds at heavyweight means little, but giving up say 25-30 pounds, and a combined 10" handicap in reach and height means a lot if the big guy has top level skills.

 

5'11" Chagaev beat 7' Valuev.This is a fact.Chagaev was fat against Valuev.
Chagaev is slow and featherfisted.His skill is very mediocre (Povetkin beat him)
Povetkin is hardly a Muhammad Ali.
I think the abnormal tall klitschko fans' most imortant argument this height.
Some problem reign here:
- I think they don't like the Chagaev-Valuev example.
- They are inconsistent because W.klitschko never had chance against Valuev by their opinion.
-Marciano is unbeaten.The klitschko fans maybe including some journalists
don't wanna accept a Marciano or Joe Louis type guy can beat the overrated wladimir.
But this is just a speculation.
The fact: a fat bum Corrie Sanders quality fighter never beat Marciano.
But Marciano destroyed Joe Louis. Yes, Louis was 37 years old like Sanders against the
size king wladimir.
(The 37 years old Joe Louis was far better fighter than this bum Sanders.)
Every decent/good fighter beat Sanders except wladimir klitschko.
Why is this size problem so important for some klitschko fans?
Because some klitschko fans are sick.Their biggest mania is this head to head stupidity.
(Klitschko brothers haven't good wins, they never beat an ATG.)They hope this head to head idiotism can save the klitschko sisters' legacy.
Biggest argument is this "size matters" thing.Skill,Speed,stamina,power,chin etc.
aren't important.Good wins are unimportant.Popularity and enertainment don't matter.
Only size and size.
I think this klitschko business doesn't work well.Maybe the size blah-blah will save
the money.

 

The boxing- history destroyed your opinion.
Carnera was heavier than Wladimir.Their height are nearly equal.
Maybe some guy said similar things like you.And?
Joe Louis destroyed Carnera.After the Louis era. Marciano was a lighter and shorter champion than Louis.
Maybe somebody knows the future.You can't do this.
The size based boxing mania is very close minded thing.
Especially because a good fighter doesn't care his opponent height.
Otherwise he isn't a good fighter.A good fighter can't say" i am 6'6" (like wladimir)
and i don't wanna fight a Valuev type guy."This is hardly a good fighter's attitude.
But i can see a bizarre thing.
The prime W.Klitschko couldn't knock the taller bum Wach.
(Wach is hardly an all time great)
The prime Vitali Klitschko couldn't knock the bum Timo Hoffman out.
Hoffman's and Vitali's height is nearly equal.
( I think the prime version Tyson,Lewis,Holyfield,Bruno,Ali,Frazier,Foreman,Marciano,Joe Louis type guys can knock similar bums like Hoffman or Wach out.)
Maybe the klitschkos aren't so good fighters....
Other fact: Stiverne an absolute modern day champion is fat and shorter than 6'3".
In the eighties the elite heavyweight fighters' typical height was about 6'3"(Of course a 6'3" or taller guy can't compete well in the middleweight division like a skeleton.).And 5'10" unexperienced Tyson ruled the the division.Like it or not !

" Exceptions": 5'11 Chagaev,Povetkin,Adamek,Stiverne,Chisora,Jennings,Takam
are shorter than 6'3".They are elite fighters nowadays.Glazkov is maybe 6'3".
The exceptions aren't fewer.

I can't see the changes.
Especially nowadays:some w.klitschko opponents:Leapai,Mormeck,Chambers,Povetkin,
Chagaev,Brewster,Brock,Peter,Ibragimov,Rahman,Byrd. They are shorter than 6'3".
Maybe Tyson's shortest opponent for the world title was the 6'1.5" Seldon.
Leapai,Mormeck,Byrd,Chambers,Chagaev are shorter than 6'1.5"
Ok, Fury and Wilder are taller than 6'6". They aren't too talented fighters.
Fury is fat, Wilder is a chicken otherwise. W.klitschko 6'6" he never was undisputed
champion.Pulev 6'4.5" and featherfisted. Is it the big modern ,super-athletic size fighter revolution?
The numbers say different things.The klitschko propaganda is another question.

 

HE,

There has not been a sub 205 pound lineal champion since Mike Spinks. By 2016, 30 years will have passed.

One thing I find humorous is there is group of fans who shares the belief that size doesn't matter much and the heavyweight division is awful these days. Most in the group are older boxing fans.

Okay assuming the division is awful these days, my question to them is such. Why don't we see curisers or light heavies moving up for larger paydays?

 

Okay, thinking Tyson who had issues and lost to bigger fighters who stood up to him.

Ali might have been the biggest opponent Liston fought, and we know how that worked out. I do think a 215 pound guy would have to be a puncher, and not a boxer to beat a skilled super heavyweight.

Will a 215lb fighter ever dominate the heavyweight division again? Ever is a big word. I would guess not in the next 15 years. Reasoning? Wlad is good for a few more years, and the amatuer super heavyweight divison has several large and skilled heavies that are young. Some will likley go pro.

This is not to say that a 215 pound heavyweight can't become a champion and make a defense or two.

 

Good trainers and good managers know there is a " best in shape weight " for their fighters. If someone is better off at 214 than 230, I think we'd see it.

To your point we have not see any punchers at 214 + or - a few pounds in a while. This is the type that can upset a super heavy.

The fast and skilled 215 pounders at heavyweight without power are dead in the water vs a skilled super heavyweight. We have seen a few of them lately. ( Byrd or Chambers )

If you are the shorter side with less reach, you're better off building power which is what some of the 230's guys have done. If the entire top ten in the divison was below 225, then and only then would guys who fight at 230 drop to 215.

 

I tend to agree with Mendoza that a 215 lb. guy would need to be a puncher to have success these days. But 215 is just a number...Ali was 216 I think against Foreman and I think that is big enough provided the guy is skilled. Okay that was Ali and 99% of heavies don't have his ability, but I'm just saying.
215, 220, whatever...these are just numbers.
Sanders was 220 when he destroyed Wlad, Tucker was 220 when he went the distance with Tyson...

I also tend to agree with McGrain that the trend tends to be to bulk up, because that seems to be in vogue. Byrd and Chambers were essentially blown up smaller guys, but a proper heavyweight will rarely weigh less than 220-225 today, and I don't know if it's always to their benefit.

 

But Tyson's "issues" with the big fighters that stoof up to him were overwhelmingly after his peak, which muddies the waters. You cannot show Tyson "only" winning clear decisions in his prime as evidence he did not have enough size. All the ATGs had some close fights around their prime, or even losses. Ali could not close to drop & was troubled by Mildenburg, Chuavlo put him in the hospital, let alone closer fights before & after his prime like DOug Jones, losing to Frazier...Louis KOed by Schmelling, almost losing to Conn, very close with Farr all at his peak...

Now just as these guys had challenges against various styles, Tyson could be pushed by a bigger excellent fighter. Though this does not show that if at peak motivation w/mobility & combinations they would have beat him.

Liston past peak with the continual allegations of fixes is not a good example. And Ali as a boxer had an edge against an equally great slugger. Size helps all other things being equal. I just do not see them the defining characteristics in these examples.

 

To be fair the big men that Tyson fought in his so called prime were B and even C level fighters. The best of the bunch was Tucker and he was winning until he broke his hand in the 4th round. There is a quite clear pattern with Tyson were his performance dipped when he fought big fighters. Compound this now onto a A+ level fighter like Ali, Lewis and Klitschko who possessed the ring savvy, athletic ability and skills in order to exploit Mike's physical liabilities (short reach, short height, inferior physical strength) and devise a strategy to beat him.

Steward is one of the best trainers of all time. The man in my view is pretty much bang on with his assessments on this topic.