This whole query is an unnecessary hypothetical. Evander Holyfield actually fought here, and, WAS the greatest Cruiserweight of all time. Guys like Tyson and prime Ali could never have effectively cut down to below 200 pounds.
I voted Usyk for his actual cruiserweight resume. That said if you count guys like Ali, Louis, Marciano etc as cruisers then it gets much more murky on a H2H basis.
patterson weighed in at 197 1/2 for his war with chuvalo. he regularly fought at cruiserweight. i think he could win a decision over holy at cruiser.
I don't dispute that possibility. I just think that in a series, Holyfield would eventually break Patterson down and come out victorious.
But the others I cited, including Ali & Tyson, easily or reasonably could have made CW. See my original post-it is fine if you still pick Louis, but do you favor him over all other ATGs who were natrally bigger? For a bunch of decades guys routinely de & rehyrate up to 10% of their body weight. Sometimes more, but that is what is "reasonable". Even every version of pre-prison Tyson falls within that scope. And if you have more muscle for your weight-as opposed to say taller & leaner-muscle holds more H20, so it makes losing & regaining weight easier.
Nah man, because Foster could not even do at all well at HW! My question was & is who would be best IN RING at under 200. Again, that would include guys like Ali & Tyson-who could clearly lose the water & weigh in as I specified & guys have now done for a couple generations, under 200. Spinks would not be nearly as good as the best who could weigh 200 the day before-not even a good candidate for the best same day weigh in at that size! Although he is a fine candidate for best LHW ever-especially if you make it the IN RING, not day before, weight.
Also you understand how Tyson or anyone 215-220, especially if muscular (which hold more water), could very credibly weigh in THE DAY BEFORE at a little under 200 & not sacrifice strength in the ring?
I understand most of what you post. When I don't, I know that it's clearly my failing, not yours. When it comes down to small particles, at the Quantum level, the laws of physics become murky and not necessarily consistent. Maybe that's why I've never been good at measuring fighters and predicting outcomes in the Straw Weight Division. Have you ever read about that experiment where they shot out two, tiny, individual straw weight fighters at a screen with two slits to see where they might splat on the wall behind? The varied and paradoxical outcomes were crazy and have baffled scientists for years. I'd like to say that no straw weights were harmed during the course of those experiments, but I really can't vouch for that.
Mcvey you are one of the longest active posters around, we should thrown a virtual party when you the odometer reaches 100,000 posts! But you are like a freakin' Rocky Balboa (the actual last movie of the series), you now most every argument by now, like he knew all the in ring tricks... So especially perusing this thread, you must know I'm a-gonna challenge you about... Do you really believe, great as they were, who weighed @ 187 (Langford ~ 10 lbs. less) in their prime... Are going to be beating prime Ali, Tyson who can make 200 through day before weigh ins without sacrificing strength? Why would you even pick them over Louis? Langford Dempsey & Marciano over a Usyk & Holyfield whose in ring weight is way over 200 is hard enough to justify! But arguable... Did you misunderstand the premise? Your holy trinity would be best (against all comers, in their prime) at MAX LHW. Langford likely max SMW.
That is all good my man, it is just the guy did hold the title & was very good, so I did not know if it was national partisanship or something!
Ha ha sorry didn't mean to derail the thread. I will post a more thoughtful answer when I have time to think about it. Marvin was an interesting fighter though as you say.
Not sure if mentioned but wasn't there a recent thread about Patterson being a possible Cruiser ATG due to his combination of speed and power?
I meant that if we ask who would the best LHW be with day-before weight-in, we eliminate guys like Ali because any experienced version of him couldn't reasonably make 175. Sorry if that was not clear.
