Can a 5'7 man beat a 6'7 man?

Good one.

 

Lets start by saying could Sam Langford beat Jess Willard or Primo C. or Valuev....who were the best of the big men other than the Klitschko's

 

Anyone else find it hard to believe that Junior Witter thrashed anybody of that size?

 

Or -

Anyone over 6'0 was considered extremely tall back then, anything over 6'2" a giant. In other words, the amount of people taller than 6'3" was very small and the amount of fighters over that even smaller. So, there was barely any talent and at that it should be no surprise that they lost to midgets.

 

A fine old time Australian boxer called Hughie Dwyer who was 5'7 KO'd a Hindu fighter called Kid Silva who stood 6'7.
This was at welterweight apparently so I'm tipping Silva was no adonis but it proves it can be done.

 

I would dispute the claim that people have got that much taller in the last 80-100 years.

You see those Hollywood guys like John Wayne (6'4 or 6'5), Ward Bond (6'2), Errol Flynn (6'2) and Cary Grant (6'1) all born around 1900-1910. In the films and photographs they dont look any more freakish than you'd expect men of those heights to look nowadays, just normal tall.

Franklin Roosevelt was apparently 6'2, but so was George Washington about 150 years earlier.

 

Yeah, and Jess Willard was 6'6", proving that men were taller back then.

 

ingle with a hw..lol.

look up pele reid.

 

No, it doesn't prove that.
Willard was 6'6", which is considered very tall now, just as it was then.

 

Some studies claim that Americans are actually shrinking.
Either way, the average height of an American male has been estimated at 5'9 in 1850, and the same in 2000.
At no time has anything above 5'10 been claimed.

The studies differ tremendously in regards to trends and reasons though.
Some actually cite POOR NUTRITION among MODERN populations as why growth trends have stopped or regressed.

 

Anyone have a link to back up this claim that the average human height hasn't changed since 1850? I find it highly dubious.

 

I have read a report that states the average height of the American male has decreased since the mid-century possibly due to immigration or even malnutrition. However, I have also read the exact opposite, that the average height has increased 1 1/2 inches since 1960.

 

Before we assume too much about such statitistics, immigration trends should be considered as smaller races and ethnicities will skew the results. Fact: the Hispanic population has dramatically increased -both legally and illegally. Their average height is shorter than previous waves of Irish immigrants, for example.

 

Good point.
And I suspect that all the studies done, incl. ones that single out certain ethnic groups, have numerous flaws and error margins due to problems of methodology, samples etc.

That's why I doubt and dispute claims that say it's a fact that men have gotten significantly taller since the days of Jack Dempsey and that Jess Willard's 6'6 was significantly rarer in America in his day as is nowadays.

I dont know which of the studies are correct, if any. And I suspect they are all deeply flawed.

People throw things out as "facts" without much to back it up.