Heavyweights get the shaft on P4P lists.

Just because a guy wins titles in several weight classes doesn't mean he is a P4P great. Sometimes a fighter needs to leave a weight division because the competition is too tough in his weight division.

Bobby Czyz was a decent LHW, he was considered one of the best if not the best at CW during his title reign at CW. Joey Gamache won titles in 4 weight classes but never beat a top fighter.

Muhammad Ali fought at HW. Is he not a great P4P fighter? What about Evander Holyfield? Holyfield was a CW World Champ first were he was often the bigger man in the ring. At HW he was often the smaller man in the ring.

 

Ezzard Charles fought at MW and is considered the best LHW ever by many people... he was also a very good HW Champ. It would make sense that he'd be considered a P4P great by most people.

Greb was another guy who eventually fought at HW... not really a HW.

Tunney was a top LHW before winning the HW title. Michael Spinks was a great LHW who also won the HW world title.

Ali was exceptional... but he also won Gold as a LHW in the 1960 Olympics.

 

Louis was also exceptional but small by modern day standards. Much of his P4P status had to do with how well we think he would do (and how well he actually did do) vs. guys much bigger than him.

 

My point is that just because a man is big and uses his size well... why does that mean that he is not a great "P4P" fighter?

Naturally some of the great smaller HWs are going to be on the list... but why not a guy like Lennox Lewis or even one or even both of the Klitschko's?

Take a guy like Tommy Hearns. He's one of my all-time favorites. He was a monster at 147 and even 154. He was taller than most, had a wicked long reach that was way longer than most, and his upper body was huge compared to others in his weight class. At 160 and above these advantages started to go away... he was stopped twice at 160. Anyway, he really was a great fighter with excellent power but as he fought bigger men the fighters he faced could for the most part handle his punches better than the smaller guys. Still, he was good enough to be competitive even as a CW despite his age at the time. Does he get more credit in a P4P sense at 160 and above than he gets at 147 and 154? At 147 and 154 he could just bully most fighters.