How do you think Conteh would have done if he'd spent his entire career focusing on the heavyweight division? And why?
I think he would've done fine. He looked good at heavyweight. His power was decent. And the top heavyweights weren't too big yet. Spinks only weighed 197 when he knocked off Ali in 1978. But I doubt Conteh would've won any titles. Still, I would've liked to have seen him against Richard Dunn, Jose Urtain, Joe "King" Roman and those types of guys. I think he could've beaten them. It would've been cool.
Brit champ, Euro champ … probably gets a title shot and loses somewhere along the way. Maybe gets smashed by an up-and-coming Bruno as a career-ending payday. That’s about it. A small footnote in Brit heavyweight boxing history.
Same could be said for most light heavyweight champions in history, though. Still, Conteh weighed 195 when he beat up Terry Daniels ... a year after Daniels fought Frazier ... on the Ali-Bugner undercard. John would've been better than some guys who fought Frazier, Ali and Foreman for the title. Like you, though, I don't see him beating the titleholders. Unless he caught the Ali who fought Evangelista in 1977 or the Ali who fought Spinks the first time. That would've been interesting.
Physically fitter than the heavyweights he'd be competing against, and aside from the bodyweight disparity, probably about as strong. At least from a purely physical perspective, leaving aside craft, inferior physical bulk, and such.
Anecdotally correct me if I am wrong. John Conteh was intending to campaign at heavyweight and if I am right it was Muhammad Ali who personally persuaded him to box at light heavyweight based on his physique or something to that effect? I am sure I read that somewhere? interestingly I think John Conteh has stated he could have pursued athletics/track and field or football/soccer if he hadn't of settled on boxing. Nevertheless an exceptionally talented sportsman with a great jab. Champions Last Fight The Struggle With Life After Boxing by Nick Parkinson goes into his background and career although it's been a while since I last read it.
There would be a lot of heavyweights walking around still with knots on their heads from his headbutts. He’d be butting bigger heads, though, so maybe it would have affected him more.
