How big does a Heavyweight need to be?

That would be another way of putting it.

 

I'm thinking that we may see something else come down the pike eventually that may or may not increase size to the point where current men considered Super Heavyweights today could then be considered too small to have competed. Genetic Enhancements? Surgical Enhancements? Implant Enhancements? Perma-Exoskeletal Enhancements? Whatever Enhancements!

 

UNDER 6' 5" in Height ...
(above that is a different division - S-HW)

and Up to 225lbs in Weight.

 

I honestly feel like height has become a more necessary characteristic than weight. yes there aren't any guys fighting at 187 in heavyweight any more, but Wilder fought most of his career at 220, which isn't that heavy. there's exceptional people but generally seems like a heavyweight can't be in the top 10 if he isn't at least 6'3", and most of the top top guys are over 6"5'.

Obviously Usyk is an exception. exceptional fighters are like that that but generally speaking I think to be a top hw in this day and age means being a certain height.

 

Bigger 'n a MAH!

 

This is a loaded but interesting question. Even Cruiserweights these days commonly walk around well into the 220s. Usyk isn't an example that works for me because he is so big for historical standards. The cruiserweights of older times would not have been on par with him size-wise.

As far as steroids: Testosterone was first synthesized in the 1930s and in common use by the 1950s, and I think Primo Carnera and some others did take steroids before it was common practice. Attitudes toward what a heavyweight could be changed, because even these days lightweights such as Lamont Peterson get caught using PEDs and aren't enormously sized for their division. So pointing entirely to pharmacology is a red herring.

I think a heavyweight needs to be big enough to keep someone off of them at minimum and not fall apart under leaning and roughhousing. Different men carry different strengths at different weights. Tyson didn't appear outsized until his athleticism had greatly diminished, but was not among the heavier HWs of his time. Chris Byrd did a lot vs big HWs and could have easily been a cruiserweight for his whole career. It depends, but I think the styles matter more than the size. That's why Rock and Dempsey suffer a lot in h2h. They had styles that "didn't age well" when imagining them in there with big bangers who learned from their example and used their information except with more size and speed.

 

Steroids were only common in a few places in the 1950's.
Mainly in the Eastern Bloc, & a US meeting with one of their Olympic coaches made in more common here in the 1960's.
Why do you think Carnera ever used anything?
Did you not know that Primo had a Acromeglia, & produced excessive HGH from childhood?
A disorder of the pituitary, & amongst his jobs in the circus was wrestler & strongman.
The vast majority of his fights were before steroids were even invented, let alone common.

Ironically this massive man who grew up hungry & never ate much is about the least likely fighter to have ever used PEDs.
In fact although many of his fights were fixed, he never was a part of any of it.
He was deceived & bled dry by com men & heartless mobsters, believing their lies about his fighting proress.
Although extremely powerful, he was taken advantage of by many, guileless, good hearted.
Finally finding peace when a professional wrester after returning to America.
Kind to everyone, even former tormentors.

The venerable Janitor may not accept that his matches were mostly as fake as pro wrestling, but this excellent, detailed article describes his tragedy & eventual redemption well.
[url]https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2006/10/26/the-strange-case-of-carnera/[/url]

 

It's extremely, extremely unlikely that Carnera took steroids. It's so unlikely that I would probably straight say he didn't.

 

You're thinking of Bridgerweight.

 

If his HGH and T levels fell outside of normal, it wouldve been an unfair advantage regardless.

 

Not really.

 

I suspect that Byrd was juicing.

 

Yes, really. If a pituitary tumor was ramping up his hormones, that's an unnatural state. That's an "if" and not a certainty.

 

He probably was. But he still wasn't that big. A lot of guys who "aren't that big" were juicing. Chris Byrd went from 194-209 lbs which is a big increase in lean mass late into adulthood. It has been hard to find an elite heavyweight who I could say was "definitely natural," many elite fighters of lower weights are obviously sauced. Most of the elites, I'd say.

 

He weighs like 160 now and at one point dropped to 175. It's very suspect.