Interesting article re: the Pro's & Con's of "Fat" Heavyweights Analyzes the "usual" suspects, and surprising, the "not so usual" suspects. http://www.heavyweightblog.com/126/heavyweight-division-overweight-division
I really don’t believe an overweight fighter has any benefits over his slimmer leaner self. Skill is different, some fatter guys have enough skill to out class thier opponent. Skill is skill. But in terms of any benefit in carrying excess fat into the ring I really can’t see it.
I don't see a great deal of advantage of being a "fat" heavy weight. A porky heavyweight is just a lazy one in my eyes.From the late 70/s onward it's being a curse of the division IMO
For me it's more just its a sign of poor discipline, a big strong guy has to carry quite a lot of fat before they really look fat.
It's not as common as it used to be. Remember fat Tim Witherspoon knocking out Bruno and the roll of lard around Bowe's middle.
Being a little overweight wasn't a terrible thing decades ago as more wrestling/clinch was allowed. These days, being fat is bad as almost all heavyweights are over 215, and a fat 240 ( say 20 pounds of fat ) is going to slow that guy down and drain his stamina to throw lots of punches and move around the ring.