Marciano Harder Hitter than Lennox Lewis

On the other hand I am 5'' shorter than my farther and my sister is 5'' shorter than my mother. All of our grandparents are a similar height to our parents except my paternal grandfarther who was my height. So all kinds of factors can come into play.

 

Not really most people on average are taller now than 50 years ago, this is a fact, just becuase some people are shorter doesn't change the fact that the average height is greater. Also if you look back hundreds of years the average height's where alot smaller than now as show by things like the entrance and door heights of older buildings.

 

Having said that the average height in some saxon setlments was higher than that in Victorian London. Nutrition is probably the most important factor.

 

I didn't take them critically at all. I love the discussion.

I do know of Ottey. That she is that relatively low is surprising and interesting. Perhaps the most interesting thing about her career is its extreme length. she just competed at age 47 in the world championships (not a great showing, but i hope im half as fast at that age).

There may be no small correlatiion between her fiber ratio and her career length, in the end.

I think the points you bring up about body parts and how actual differences in fiber types in locales in the body is extremely interesting.

 

Average statistics point to a gradual increase in height over the last 50years.

 

Yes the amazing thing about Ottey is I think she started in the 1980 olympics (I think it was that 1), which I think she medaled in. And I think she hit personal records around 1996. Shes seems to be the Holyfield of sprinting in that she just can't let go. She did fail a drugs test once late in her career but the lab she tested in did have issues. Its also possible to fail a drugs test from eating beef (where the cows been fed steroids)

 

The thing about power is that we dont really understand it. If you hope to predict it based on certain parameters of a fighter you will come away disapointed. There are no common factors of build reflexes or even punching method common to all big hitters.

If there were a way of scientificaly comparing the power of all the heavyweight champions from diferent eras then I would not be surprized if either Rocky Marciano or Lennox Lewis came out on top of the pile.

Too many oponents of little Joe Choynski said that he was the hardest hitter of his era to dismis the posibility. Who are we to tell them he wasn't?

 

I stand to be corrected here, but wasn't Choynski one of the three men who broke Jeffries' nose? ( Source )

 

Acording to Jeffries yes.

“Choynski rushed out and we went at it hammer and tongs, with the crowd going wild. He fought so fast he was all over me … He convinced me that he was not only the cleverest boxer I had ever seen but also a terrific hitter. He fought so fast I could not use what skill I had to best advantage, and was taking a wonderful boxing lesson every minute. He hit me so hard he broke my nose and wedged my lip between my teeth. He drove my head so far back I thought my neck stretched a foot … During the remainder of the fight I knocked Choynski down three times but at the end of the battle [Referee] Graney called it a draw. I had no regrets. I had taken a boxing lesson from a master and an artist”

 

It certainly sounds as though Jeffries received a hard learned experience from the far more seasoned Choynski. Boxrec however, reflects that Jeffries was only in his 6th ( recorded ) fight though. Nevertheless, it would seem as though Choynski was more than a formidable opponent for anyone in those days.

 

He was a dangerous asignment for anybody.

Choynski esentialy had every quality you could ask for in a top heavyweight except size and durability. While these limitations prevented him from wining the title he beat an awful lot of top heavyweights much bigger than himself.

 

It varies over time. The earlier Middle Ages were apparently a time where much larger heights were standard--Anglo-Saxons were about the same height as modern British, and many bones have been excavated from 6'0"+ people.

In any event, evolution is not the reason for an increase in height from the 50's to today. That's hardly any time to adapt.

 

Looking into the Olympic records...

http://www.canoe.ca/2000GamesCapsules/records_weightlifting.html

http://www.iwf.net/iwf/events/wr/record_cur.php

A few interesting things come to light.

It would appear (using the late 1980's, pre-reorganization records--little different in performance from modern records) that there is no difference in power generation ability at all between 217 pound men and 237 pound men. The modern "superheavyweights" do not--according to C&J Olympic records--hit harder than their 70's predecessors. Men over 237 pounds DO have higher poundages, but they're often obese and much larger than today's superheavies. Bringing post-reorganization stats into the fray, it appears that 207 pound men can lift about the same as the 237 pounders as well. 185 pound men lift slightly less than 237 pound men--about 10% less.

Going by these figures--IF we assume that both represented the absolute hardest a man of their size could hit, AND IF Lewis weighs the same as he did for the McCall fight--Marciano had about 90% of Lewis's power.

CONCLUSION: I don't want either of them to hit me.