Were Rahman, Peter, and Stiverne superheavyweights?

It is, but I certainly wouldn't say that's a super heavyweight

 

Andy Ruiz is not the average fat guy which people don't seem to understand. When he's properly trained he has good cardio and fast hands, he's always had a good chin so now the mass helps him take shots even more similar to how George Foreman and James Toney always had great chins which helped even more when they added on mass. Ruiz has been training since he was a kid and has been fat since he was a kid so his body has got used to it, of course it would help if he was like 40 pounds lighter but that's something his team needs to take up with him.

 

Do we have any sources yet that body fat can add durability against concussions?

It's a claim that comes up a lot, and I always annoyingly pester people for a source on it. But thus far there hasn't been anything definitive posted.

 

No fighter under 200 pounds beats Tyson, Lewis, Fury and probably the Klitschko's. There's just too much size and explosiveness to handle for a man under 200 pounds, people don't like to admit it but that's just how it is.

Trevor Berbick wasn't as good as any of those guys but not even a middleweight would be able to take the power of 215-220 pound Trevor Berbick who was very durable and took shots regularly from heavyweight only being stopped twice by massive punchers. Berbick had no problem walking head on with guys like Tyson (Yes it wasn't successful) But there's no way Berbick would be worried about anyone from lightweight to middleweight and possibly light heavyweight as all of them guys would be experiencing power they never have before.

 

George Foreman claims the mass helped him, let's just use the eye test for a minute. Do you think James Toney weighing 160 pounds could of taken shots from Samuel Peter?

 

Toney gained lots of muscle as well as fat (even using steroids to do it.) So no, I doubt that a 160 pound Toney could take Samuel Peter's shots like the bigger one did.

However, I also don't think that a 160 pound Toney would become more durable if you reverse-liposucked 70 pounds of pure fat into his body. I don't think the fat is the crucial protective bit.

 

I feel as though it relates more to being hydrated. fluffy guys usually don't need to make weight and are sitting pretty and aren't going through regimes to lose much mass. But there are tons of examples of this being true and false though...

 

Hm, maybe it had something to do with steroids and not needing to make weight?

 

That, too.

EDIT: Though who's to say he wasn't taking PEDs as a middleweight...

 

Not sure. But his bulk at HW was highly miscalculated he just blew up so rapidly maybe he upped his dose lol.

 

Yes. And that also explains why Old George tanked shots from 90s punchers while Young George got KD'd by Lyle and Ali.

That said, I've seen enough defenses of the fat specifically = durability argument that I figure there ought to be something cited as evidence for it if it's going to keep getting used.

 

Mm, I wonder if there is a point of no return. Where no matter how much excess you have it doesn't help.

On Foreman when he was at his lightest in his comeback he was rocked by Dwight Qawi just something to note.

Is it 10lbs? 20lbs? 30lbs? before the extra durability kicks in? who knows. How much over your natural weight do you have to be to benefit and is it strictly fat mass?

 

https://www.boxing247.com/Hasim-Rahman-Interview.html

 

Very cool.

 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/249...t=For every one pound increase,% CI 0.92-0.98).

I'm making a wild leap in assuming neck circumference increases with weight gain.