The average for guys in the top 10 is probably over 240 Breazeale Joshua Miller Whyte and Kownacki are all 240 plus and in the top 10 currently
Did these boxers win their resume in an avarage 245lb-environment yes or no? This is no "I pick the stats a want to have"-game. The environment equals the difficulty or "level".
They competed in an era in which the divisions elite are generally 240 plus so I would say yes they did. The men of Holmes era were much closer to today's cruiserweights
Out of Joshua's last six opponents none were under 235 pounds and he average weight comes out to 241.3 pounds
Yep HWs become bigger! White Johnson Molina Zumbano Gavern Sprott I might continue...these boxers were everything else than trimmed! Like I said before: It might be my subjective opinion, but the 70s/80s HWs at 210-220 looked alot more trimmed.
If Holmes and Ali were around today I suspect they would both fight at cruiserweight and so would the vast majority of their opponents. Someone who enters the ring under 220 is capable of drying out before weigh ins and then rehydrating.
Being trimmed doesn't explain the height difference. Whether you want to look at height or weight the 70s heavies are still closer to in size to Marcianos competition than they are the heavies of today.
Thinking Ali would be content to fight anywhere but the big stage is quite frankly ridiculous. You obviously know nothing whatsoever about Ali.
Agreed - Ali's from the era where being HW champ of the world made you The Man and in his case, arguably the most famous man on the planet - with his character and his competitive spirit, I doubt that he would fight anywhere lower, especially with the belief that he would embarass the majority of the ill-conditioned fighters that we have around today.
Spot on Meta, but what else is new? I'll add "ego" to the mix as well. Ali won't be settling for second best just like a guy like SRL was always going to challenge for titles at higher weights.
I think the lack of success by Ali sized guys at heavyweight the last 21 years speaks for itself. The division has outgrown Ali.
In Alis era he was usually the bigger man. Why do you think he would be able to compete with skilled super heavies who outweigh him by 35 pounds
