Were Rahman, Peter, and Stiverne superheavyweights?

The only evidence for it realistically is the eye test, for example old Foreman never held on for dear life from one shot like he did again Ron Lyle where he weighed 222 or 225 I believe. Now when I say the mass helps of course these guys like Foreman, Toney and Ruiz would still have good chins if not as fat as they are/were. Roy Nelson is an MMA fighter who weighed anywhere from 247-260 with a huge gut and could withstand some terrible punishment, he did get knocked out two or three times as eventually it will catch but I'm sure that mass helped, even if he weighed 220 he would of been pretty durable but I doubt he would of taken all the punches, kicks and knees he did as easy as when heavier.

 

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Rahman and Sanders in shape are around 230, I wouldn't consider them super heavyweights.

 

I think they were mediocre heavyweights.

 

"Super Heavyweight" is any fighter weighing over 91kg.
Its amateur boxing weight division.
At professional nowadays it's just called "heavyweight".

 

“Smaller mean neck circumference, smaller mean neck to head circumference ratio, and weaker mean overall neck strength were significantly associated with concussion.”

A person’s weight gain will correlate directly with increased neck circumference, greater neck:head ratio and I assume strength.

Nobody is gaining fat and nothing else.

 

Tyson was lean and ripped at 220 with a thick neck and already a very good chin which somehow gets underrated, he had to take massive punishment to be dropped/stopped, it possibly could but we will never know. We just have to go on the eye test of guys who got fatter and were able to absorb punches better like Foreman and Toney.

 

Mickey Walker, Charlie Mitchell and Dick Burge were super heavyweights.

 

Here's another interesting one when talking about super heavyweights, current number 2 kickboxer in Glory Antonio Plazibat used to fight at 90kg but has move up to heavyweight in the last three to four years and recently fought as heavy as 122kg! He's listed as 6'4 but I'm not quite sure if he is exactly that. Here's he would have at least 30 pounds on prime Rahman and be heavier than The Klitschko Brothers, Lennox Lewis, Joshua, Foreman, Peter etc while still being relatively lean, he's more closer to Fury's weight while carrying it much better:

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I disagree about Toney and Ruiz. You can visibly see how much muscle and fat Toney put on. I've never seen Ruiz thin to begin with. A better example is Jarrel Miller. He was kind of skinny fat as a kickboxer, but turned into a brickhouse as a boxer and gained 80 pounds or something absurd (yes he was juiced).

Fat is padding. Obviously, abdominal fat has little to with resistance to the effects of getting punched in the face, but the stuff in the shoulders and neck probably helps.