These HW's today are just so incredibly massive/huge. Just freaks really.

many athletes nowadays are taking Human Growth Hormones.

TRT, Steroids, EPO, and many other PEDs, enhancers, etc.

 

Then they don't have what it takes to be a boxer.

 

The most incredible athletes never went into boxing.

Frazier sucked as an athlete.

 

Actually, I just looked up heavyweight heights for another thread and this is the first time we've had 9 superheavies in the top 10 at once. Povetkin's the only one under 6'4". You were lucky to get more than three or four superheavies even into recent times.

 

Yeah, their fight looked like an advertisement for steroids. One of these men is on steroids and one isn't.

It works out funny that way. If you are tall enough for heavyweight you usually get sucked into the NBA or NFL because there is so much more money and more opportunity to play the game here. But those are body types. The NBA isn't having any effect on middleweights or welterweights from the US. Now, I'm not well informed about Soccer, Rugby, or Cricket which they play over the pond, but I think that a massive heavyweight body would probably be an impediment or at least not nearly as much of an asset as it would be in American sports. I think the average soccer and rugby players were between 5'10" and 6'1" probably top out around 6'3". You need different body types for different games. Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua would look normal on a football field or basketball court, but might be out of place playing soccer. My point is that American sports poach the top heavyweights away in a way that British sports probably don't. British sports are probably poaching their light-heavyweights.

I was listening to an mma guy give an interview yesterday and he said that there are fighters, athletes, and competitors in his sport. Some guys aren't athletic but they can fight. Some athletes aren't really fighters but their natural physical abilities make up for their lack of mental ferocity. And some guys are competitors who are work horses, have a winning mentality, and just like to beat other people at things. Then there are mixes of the three.

Ideally, what you want is a highly athletic highly competitive person who enjoys fighting, like a Duran or a Robinson. But you can probably get by with just athleticism. Floyd Patterson didn't really like boxing. Ray Leonard I think liked other sports better too, but boxing paid the bills. It makes sense with Leonard because he fought so few fights and only for a ton of money. Duran would woop your ass if you spilled his beer.

But I agree with you, if Lebron James or Kobe Bryant had wanted to be heavyweight champ of the world instead of basketball stars they would have been.

 

Tell us more about how you've worked with athletes your whole life and never seen a hint of steroids.

 

I honestly haven’t. There are genetically gifted individuals. In most athletic events technique is more important than physiological superiority, even with steroids there is very little you can do to make up for a lack of natural physiological talent. Even in the most drug fueled sports (road cycling) the level of abuse is close to nothing now (look at the times).

 

Why are people so enamoured with AJ’s ‘size’? He’s like 242lbs. You watch any pro rugby team there will be 5-6 guys bigger than that out of 15 starters.

If AJ is 6’6”, huge biceps, apparently so muscular and only weighs 242...doesn’t that make him naturally kinda small? ‘Little’ Joe Parker is 235 at 6’3” without muscles.

 

Because it's in combination with exceedingly low bodyfat.

Joshua is 240-250 lb of lean muscle.

Parker looks like a fat kid next to him.

 

It’s hard to deal with ‘theoretical physiques’ but I think you’d be surprised how little weight Parker is actually physically capable of stripping off his frame.

If AJ is only 240 but actually the largest human alive because he has low body fat, by that logic no-one is really a heavyweight.

Also is it really ‘lean’ muscle when AJ is by everyone’s account carrying a tremendous amount of bulk in certain areas?

Hell, you could even say AJ is a blown up cruiserweight if you strip off some of the muscle bulk.

 

Well of course athletes are getting bigger. The strict diets + some medicament ( banned or not ) are just forcing the human bodies to the limits.

 

Basically every elite lock forward in rugby union is between 6’6”-6’9” and 255-280lb

 

Nicolai Valouev was 7 feet 2 inches tall............................Fury is 6 feet 9 inches tall..................