6'3"-ish is a great height for a heavyweight

Neither has Vitali Klitschko or Deontay Wilder, but you included them. Are you cherry-picking fighters?

 

They're double digit title defense champions who have seen the one spot, arguable or not.

 

But never were top of the division any more than David Haye, so you are cherry picking data, and thus, suspect.

 

There are simply a lot more 6’3 guys then 6’6 guys so the talent pool at 6’3 is much deeper.

 

I think 5-11 with stumpy 69 inch reach, AND weighing in at 190 is optimal.

 

Thought Douglas was 6'4

 

You are talking about godlike qualities now! Perfect to fight out the catcher's crouch.

 

6'3 is the perfect height as long as the 6'6 and above guys are not allowed to lean on the smaller men with impunity aka Wlad.

Emmanuel Steward mentioned in the Rummy interview that guys 6'5 and above tend to lose coordination. Fury is a bit on an exception to this but Steward is technically correct.

The best movers in heavyweight history like Ali, Holmes and Usyk were 6'3 and below. Douglas at 6'4 had excellent movement too.

 

I think the NBA disproves the theory about guys above 6’5” losing coordination, about guys above 6’5” not being able to be excellent movers.

I think the actual problem is that basketball steals the majority of the athletic talent at those heights because basketball is objectively a “better” sport for the athlete. Far more opportunities for earning real money for the guys who aren’t one of the top players in the world, without concerns of CTE. If you’re a young man who is 6’7”, with aptitude for both boxing and basketball, you’d kind of have to be nuts to purse boxing.

Although this kind of proves why weight classes are great. Think of all the amazing boxing talent among the little guys. Without boxing, what sport do those guys have as an avenue? I guess soccer and baseball to an extent, but even then, not being 5’4” is a big advantage. How much athletic talent is just left on the table due to the way most sports work?

 

lol david haye is 6'1 max no way he is 6'3.. holyfield was 6'1 1/2 .. Ali was 6'2 1/2 like max baer.. Larry holmes and norton were legit 6'3. Norton appear to be a little bit taller than george foreman. foreman's height is a tricky one, I think he was 6'3 but a weak one. And larry was every bit of a 6'3 but his head is very small

 

Vitali was number one after beating Sanders and Deontay (to me and a lot of us) was number one after Joshua lost to Ruiz. Haye only had a couple defenses and was never number one to anybody. Just stop.

 

I like the NBA but i think the kind of coordination needed in boxing is more difficult. The ability to balance yourself while avoiding or being hit by 200 + lb fists, ducking in and out, moving side to side, its just far harder IMO. In Basketball, you have the benefit of having 4 teammates you can pass the ball to. You also have the benefit of drawing fouls and going to the free throw line.

I could be wrong but based on my limited experience playing basketball and sparring, i found the coordination needed in boxing to be far more difficult. And i say this as someone who has no natural ability in basketball and a good amount of natural ability in boxing.

Agree with the rest. If i had a son who was 6'5, i would encourage basketball and discourage boxing.

 

Haye is a little taller than Holyfield -

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I wouldn't be concerned about being exact to the nearest half an inch - men are at least half an inch taller first thing after waking up than just before going to bed - but for what it's worth the "experts" have Haye at 6ft 2ins - https://www.celebheights.com/s/David-Haye-47971.html

and Holyfield at 6ft 1.25ins https://www.celebheights.com/s/Evander-Holyfield-4506.html - which seems about right to me given how they compared to various opponents.

 

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Wlad and Haye faceoff starting at 7.55. Wlad who claims to be 6'5 looks 4 inches taller than Haye.

 

Wlad is more like 6'6 or 6'6.5 IMO