Usyk and Crawford have demolished the bigger is better argument (historical significance)

We will be seeing more of this in due time, I can't wait

 

No, they haven't. Usyk narrowly beat a slightly past prime Fury and Crawford did the same to Canelo.

If it were true, little guys would've been conquering bigger guys ever since Mayweather beat Canelo or Haye beat Valuev.

 

The way the sport is structured guys who are capable of these feats don't just the oppurtunity. They've got to go through an elaborate labber climb.

Crawford only got the chance to fight for a 168 title and we're only questioning his ability to move up to 175 because he was dominant at 140 and 147 then won at 154. Hes only gotten to this point at very end of his career. The sport is set up for guys to win titles in their division not to break glass ceilings.

 

Not at all. Canelo had been sliding for some time and a lighter man, one stylistically suited to the task, exposed this. It's a lot like Spinks - Holmes, with Canelo never being the champion and performer at 168 that Holmes was at heavyweight. Many people picked Crawford, Teddy Atlas picked him loudly from the outset. Great performance and effort by Crawford, though, I'll acknowledge that.

Additionally, the lines can be a little blurred by the day before weigh-in era getting perfected. There's a lot of noise around about just how big Crawford really is and if it's to be believed, he's a bit of a freak and perhaps not at as big a disadvantage as many thought, size-wise.

 

PAST, completely past it, shot and washed, coming off from a loss to an MMA fighter.

 

I tend to agree. The undersized guys who have dominated, such as Usyk, Crawford, Pacquiao, Tyson, Duran, were all highly skilled outliers. Those will always exist, but they will always be in the minority of fighters.

Anyone who’s not just watched but participated in combat sports knows that when skillsets are roughly equal, size and strength will often be the determining factor in who wins.

 

Neither fight was particularly close

 

Crawford was taller than Canelo with a 4 inch reach advantage and his walking around weight was 180.

The size difference argument between Canelo/Crawford was heavily overstated and I never understand the argument TBH.

And I picked Crawford prior to the fight and really didn't understand what people were on about quite honestly.

It's not like Crawford was Duran for example fighting a much bigger Middleweight in Barkley who dwarfed him in size and dimensions.

Crawford was always Middleweight sized it's just boxers today cut a ridiculous amount of weight.

Look at Haney for example he's the size of Marvin Hagler and yet he's competed at Lightweight due to his ridiculous weight cutting of 25+ pounds.

 

I think most people who have studied history, to even a small extent, would realise that the sport travels within a continuum. What is happening today is part of a succession. It is not a revolution.

To your point about the perception of great fighters being based on what the most recent ones look like, it would be fair to say that modern fan bases, for sure, imprint on their generation's leaders in the sport. So, now we see a return to the realistic idea that size disadvantages can be overcome by skill.

Smaller fighters have been beating bigger fighters throughout. Perhaps one of the originals is the marvel that was Sam Langford. Didn't Fitzsimmons beat bigger opponents? Ezzard Charles? Holyfield moved up from cruiserweight.

Yes, a generation has grown up watching SHWs dominate the heavyweight scene, expecting this to be a permanent state of the division. Usyk has come along to remind us that nothing is permanent in the sport of boxing.

 

All true, but let's remember that Usyk is the same size as a prime 70's Foreman. Bigger than Louis, Liston, Tyson, Frazier, Holmes. He's hardly Tommy Burns.

 

Usyk, at 225 or so pounds, is a bonafide heavyweight. If he were 190 or 195 beating AJ and Fury, I'd be more willing to concede the point.

Usyk is also as big as the heavyweights of the past. In fact, even a cruiserweight Usyk would have been a heavyweight, say in the 1960s when Ali was champion. And Usyk at heavyweight is bigger than Ali circa 1967.

 

Crawford was barely any smaller than Canelo with a reach and length advantage lmao, in fact Crawford himself said that he wouldn’t have fought Benavidez because he was ACTUALLY a bigger guy as opposed to Canelo.

 

Oh, i forgot to address the Usyk aspect. He urinated on the grave of super heavyweights being immune to smaller guys.

 

Usyk is a full heavyweight, 225 pounds. No one who knows something about boxing ever thought 225 pounds was "too small". He beat a fat 265 pounder Fury, who can barely beat old MMA fighters now anyway.

Crawford is impressive moving from 147 to 168 in two years. But Canelo Alvarez was only 155 pounds in his prime anyway.