Is anything under 6’4 too short to become a heavyweight champion these days?

Mike Tyson proves you wrong.

Had a 5 foot 10 Mike Tyson from
1987 been in today’s HW division he would have beaten the vast majority of the top 10, and perhaps beaten them all.

Then we have those who are nearly 6ft 4.
Are you saying that Usyk at 6ft 3 and Murat Gassiev at 6ft3.5 are not tall enough?

 

Being tall doesn't make you a beast. Barkley scooped Shaq in his prime.

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Ortiz was very close to taking out Wilder, Parker held a title, Usyk may well prove very capable of doing so, these guys are all 6ft 4 and under.

 

You have to be better than the bigger guys to break even, significantly better to win. So they tend to hit the wall when they face big guys who are also skilled and/or athletic. One of the best examples of that would be Haye v Wlad. Haye told Wlad something like a 'great small guy beats a good big guy' but actually Wlad was a great big guy and won easily. Booth was surprised how fast and athletic Wlad actually was for his size.

I guess we'll see if it's possible when Usyk gets going, because he's probably 6'2 tops. But he's definitely an exception to the rule skill wise, so ...

Tyson was surely roided to the gills, we know for certain Evan Fields was. It's hard to believe you can naturally be 5'10, 220lbs+ of pure muscle and even maintain that with the kind of boxing training needed.

 

Great+short > Good+tall
Great+short < Great+tall

The super tall heavies are like a separate weight class.

I don't care how great you think Loma is, he would be inadequate against guys like AJ and Luis Ortiz.

Same thing happens with shorter heavyweights. There's a ceiling.

 

You don’t think a prime Tyson could have beaten a prime Lewis? Looked to me like Tyson showed up for 1 round and won that round.

I would absolutely pick Tyson to beat all of them right now. Given what Povetkin did to Joshua and that Tyson had an iron chin, Lewis basically had free shots on his chin before he went down on accumulation, I’m pretty sure a prime Tyson stops joshua.

 

It will be real difficult .

Anyone under the 6'4 Mark will either have to have power or be very good boxer.

Guys under who could still be dangerous.
1. Usyk
2. Trey Morrison
3. George Arias.

There's not really many guys hovering around 6'0/ 6' 3

Current proven guys like Povetkin who's 6'2 is the shortest top guy.

Ruiz at 6'1 isn't going to fare well against Joshua he's to heavy footed and needs to be at least 255 , he's lost a lot of movement as years gone by both head and feet.

One thing shorter guys have is the taller ones aren't used to that range but it's an uphill battle .

Ortiz vs Wilder is a perfect example. Ortiz was within inches to landing a few clean shots throughout the fight, once again Wilders 6' 7 range bailed him out.

Wilder is the poster boy for this thread bc he relies on height and reach more then anyone. Without it he'd have taking several losses already.

 

This. Tyson whups there asses
Povetkin 5 years ago would be a serious threat to Joshua and Fury, and I'd pick him to beat Wilder
I'd pick the 90-92 to beat the top 3 but have problems with them

 

I don't think so, but you'll need a special fighter to be overcome the physical disadvantages. Once 6'3" would of been tall for a heavyweight during Tyson's and Holmes era, now that's perhaps not even average. 6'4" is about average now for a super heavyweight, so there might simply be a smaller proportion of fighters now at heavyweight at the lower heights, much like there were not many heavies below 6'0" during Tyson and Holmes era.

So the chances of such a small fighter succeeding was smaller but not impossible which is why guys like Tyson, Frazier and Marciano had success against bigger guys. But just like before you won't see it happen very often.

As for Ruiz Jr his size isn't really his problem it's his lack of height and reach combined with his slow feet, lack of head movement, lack of power past 4-5 rounds and of course the fact he's probably at least 40-50lbs above his optimal weight, he's going to be a sitting duck. Regardless of his size if he was some clone of Tyson or a prime Povetkin people would be giving him a much better chance.

 

I don't know. Let's ask Mike Tyson.

 

Nah, this has been endlessly litigated here with no decent evidence Tyson used PEDs.
He was bulky by thirteen when poor, no training or good diet, or access to 'roids. Tyson had many flaws, but it is unfair to smear him as a cheater with no evidence.
Yeah some with the right genes can have those dimensions with his workouts, which were more explosive than endless enervating cardio.
Though you rounded the weight and height in your favor.

 

No he won't, unless it's the WBA Regular.