Successful HW/Cruiser fighters under 6' tall

Outside of your excellent avatar ("Washington, Washington, 6 foot 10, weighed a ****ing ton"), have you ever watched the sport of boxing?

Sullivan, Fitzsimmons, Burns, Sharkey, Hart, Langford, McVey... and name another 150 fighters until you get to Patterson, Quarry, Frazier, Qawi, Czyz, .... uhh, this is just tiring...

 

David Tua

 

David Tua on a good day is 5'9

 

If any? Seriously? Patterson, Marciano, Frazier?

 

There are a hundred if there is one.

 

Why is IamLegend pretending he is not Blackwater?

Back to the thread - Marciano.

 

Post Mike Tyson in the 1980's, there are none. It has been over 20 years since Tyson won his first heavyweight title. Prior to Tyson there were many successful cruiser and heavies under 6' tall, however there were also no skilled larger heavies for them to compete against...for the most part.

I have observed that the #1 middles are pretty much very close to or over 6' these days. Height and reach is important in boxing. It is not the end all be all, but it is important.

 

Dwight Muhammad Qawi was 5'6 and pretty damn successful at cruiserweight.

 

David Tua??????

 

I personally dont consider Tua to be a great succes he was an ok contender thats it .

 

When Rocky Marciano became heavyweight champion in 1952 he was the first champion (linear) under 6 foot since Tommy Burns in 1908.

Then in 1956 Floyd Patterson, (according to some accounts marginally under 6').

Then in 1970 Joe Frazier.
Then in 1986 Mike Tyson.

So, for 44 years there was no sub-6' heavyweight champ, then there were 4 within a space of 34 years.

Now, there's only been about 20 years without a sub-6' champ.
So let's not jump to any conclusions about how tall the next great heavyweights will be.

 

The long gap between Burns and Marciano is interesting, given that men tended to be smaller in those times.

Where were the Joe Fraziers and Mike Tysons in the 20's, 30's, and 40's?

 

Walcott, Charles and Louis, if I remember right, were around 6'-6'1, so they weren't that much taller than Frazier.

There really isn't THAT much of a difference in height between Patterson (considered a shorter champion) and most of his lineal champion peers. Patterson was around 5'11.

If I remember correctly, something like 75-80% of lineal heavyweight champions have been between 6'0 and 6'3, which isn't that big of a span. Off the top of my head, only Willard, Carnera, Foreman, Foreman again, Briggs, and Lewis have been lineal heavyweight champions at 6'4+.