Biggest overachiever in heavyweight history

Wilder...for a guy with absolutely zero skills he’s made a nice career based on freakish power and speed.

 

Marciano. Small, unathletic guy, needed relentless cardio and guts to win

 

Andy Ruiz Jr

Held nearly all the belts after potting Femi.

Not bad for a fat Mexican.

He won’t come again either

 

How Charles Martin can claim to be a former heavyweight champion of the world still boggles the mind. Wins the title under suspect circumstances and immediately loses it looking more like a clubfighter than someone holding a title that once made front page news in the '30s.

 

Evander Holyfield - blown up cruiserweight that became a 4x heavyweight champion.

Michael Spinks - blown up light heavyweight who went on to beat the p4p best heavyweight in the world at the time 2x.

Roy Jones - blown up jr middleweight who went
all the way up to heavyweight to win a title.

 

Oleg Maskaev - real life cinderella man

 

I would consider Byrds punch evasion a weapon, both Vitali and Evander threw their shoulders out and required surgery trying to fight him...

as far as my biggest overachiever, I would John Ruiz. not that he was a bad fighter, but I was just always surprised at how long he was able to hold onto his title. I thought he would be a one and done type champion like Hasim Rahman. of course he did steer plenty clear of David Tua

 

Byrd wasn't super elusive. Out of the southpaw stance, Byrd used to catch punches with his lead/jab hand. He'd keep his lead/right glove open (which was illegal) and palm his opponent's jab and try to shove it aside.

Sometimes he wouldn't even jab. He'd just keep moving his open lead hand out ... anticipating his opponent's jab.

If you are right-handed, throw a jab with your left hand and, while your left arm is extended, just jerk it a little further to the left. You'll feel it in your shoulder. Now, imagine a 215 pound man forcing to further to the left while it's extended.

That's how Vitali and Evander tore their rotator cuffs. Catching punches is an old-timer tactic. Foreman did it a lot. Moore. Norton tried.

It can cause injuries. That's why refs often stop and warn boxers to keep their gloves closed, whether punching or not.

Even when his opponents weren't injured, it acted as a deterrent. And they were less likely to jab.

 

Rahman.

I don’t think he would’ve been the pick in the late 90s between Tua, Ike, Grant, and Johnson, but he got the most done.

Brewster also went far without much hype, but his left hook and durability were genuinely world class.

 

Yes, and you left out clumsy

 

Mike Weaver. Looked the part in terms of his tremendous physique, but no real skills or great weapons to go with it. No doubt plenty of those other WBA titlists between 1979 and 1987 had more talent than him, but remarkably he was the only one of them who managed more than a single successful defence of that belt. Had given Holmes a very decent argument before that, too. What he lacked in skill he made up for in application.

 

Some good calls. Byrd was the first guy to come to mind but I think the real winner is Marciano with his - let's be honest - somewhat average skills and T-Rex reach. He should never have been a successful heavyweight, nevermind the wrecking ball that he turned out to be. Sheer guts and hunger made him what he was.

 

Absolutely .. small, short armed, average speed, started late and went on to be one of the greats .. he did have skills for sure such as a chin, two handed power, strength and terrific ring intelligence but overcame huge handicaps ..

 

He had some attributes for sure but no way does he make it anywhere near the top without desire. Some guys have based on talent alone.