Heavyweight size - An objective look on the modern "super-heavyweights"

110 percent correct. In addition there is more money to be made at heavyweight, yet we see few cruisers trying to move up.

 

I got your original point, like I said, its a good one. It may have influenced it, but overall, I just think its an inadequate answer. Also, how about the time frame from the 50's through the early 80's when the weight class stayed the same but the height progression was similar to the 80's forward?

 

Would be a nightmare to watch Louis against the likes of Klitschko or Joshua...

Ali could at least lose an respectable decsision due to his feet.

 

Heavyweight boxing has transcended so much since the 1920's, 1970's etc.


Tyson Fury would have his hands down and would be potshotting and bolo puinching Joe Louis and Larry Holmes at will to be honest. They are old and outdated compared to the new age modern Super Heavy Heavyweight Champion

 

And it's not a bad thing to say it.

They all were true champions for the sport to evolve. No disrespect at all.

 

How did Browne and Martin achieve what they did any way? It must have been political or shrewed management. A bit of both and some luck I think.

I struggle to see how a few cruisers would have stopped them. Martin's best win was either Tim Dallas or Joey Dawejko ffs. He got a shot by a miracle, he must have been destined.

 

If they are dismissed as semi-bums it is by posters who don't know anything. Those guys were all ranked in the top ten, sometimes the top five of the heavyweight division rankings. Besides, I don't think anyone would consider Holyfield a bum and too small. He's a top ten all time H2H heavyweight.

Chris Byrd has a victory over 6'6" Jameel McCline. Haye has beaten 6'6" Harrison and 7' Valuev. Adamek beat 6'7" Kevin McBride, 6'7" Michael Grant, 6'4" Andrew Golota. Eddie Chambers beat 6'7" Alexander Dimitrenko. You have to remember that Holyfield beat Bowe once, and that he's beaten 6'5" Lou Savarese, drawn with Lennox Lewis, and beaten 6'4" George Foreman.

The guys these cruiserweights are losing to are primarily just the Klitschkos who beat everybody big or small.

 

You must not have ever seen Joe Louis and Larry Holmes fight. Joe Louis would knock out Tyson Fury just like he did Abe Simon, Buddy Baer, and Primo Carnera. Littler guys with skill like Max Schmeling or Billy Conn gave him more trouble than the superheavies. Tyson Fury wouldn't have been able to do any more against Larry Holmes than the 6'5" Gerry ****ey did. Ali would wipe the floor with him like he did to the superheavies of his day: Joe Bugner, George Foreman, and Ernie Terrell.

I doubt very much if Tyson Fury could beat 1930s Max Baer. Their fight would look like Baer vs Carnera with Baer savagely battering the superheavy Carnera around the ring.

 

They made the top 5 by carefully handpicking their opposition. Both Toney and Jones had TV money behind them so they could fight opponents that suited them instead of guys who stood to destroy them.

 

Primo Carnera was the Valuev of his era, huge and slow with minimal skills. Its nuts to compare him to a fast agile SHW like Fury. Also, Valuev was MUCH bigger than Carnera. Shows how much the dimensions have changed in the sport.

 

Yes but he carefully avoided Klitschko x 2 although he was offered $1.5 million for a fight. He chose to fight 43 year old Holyfield or soft guys like Ruiz and Oquendo. As I said, a cherry picker.

 

Obviously there are cruiserweights who could beat CERTAIN top heavyweights and it does happen here and there, just like guys like Pacman and Floyd moved up during their careers.

But it's one thing to beat a stylistically suited opponent and another thing to dominate a division and beat many of the elite fighters..

Heavyweights of the past would be heavily undersized in almost all of their fights if they could theoretically fight in modern HW division. They would have much bigger problems with guys that are considered "cans" or "bums" even if they could beat them. The damage they'd receive would accumulate and they'd be shot very soon. It's just the reality of the sport and why we need weightclasses in the first place.

Also, Klitschko was the first of the new breed of a heavyweight, a tall giant who can box and move well, now we're seeing more of these with Fury, Joshua and Wilder. It's an evolution of the division.