Does last night`s KO from Povetkin prove smaller heavyweights could have beaten modern super heavies

Whyte is not AJ, Fury or Wlad...or even Wilder who can keep a defensive distance & has height.

Hughie Fury shut Povetkin down just with some footwork and using his height.

Whyte doesn't have footwork, he is static as they come. Stands right in front of you. High guards.

He was basically waiting to counter off the small steps Povetkin was making into range, but Povetkin was always moving his head and dipping under.

Whyte normally trys to counter out of that high guard at close range but he was happy to let Povetkin disengage and move back. Whyte was looking for the late fight. It didn't come to him.

He wasn't 100% confident in the jab because Povetkin was able to find his looping right hand over it, which he normally Povetkin can't do against bigger men.

Such a peach of a punch though from Povetkin, Whyte trying to come over Povetkins jab with a right hand and Povetkin is in the pocket before Whyte evens knows it and boom. That's something I haven't seen since the days of Mike Tyson.

 

I thought that was proved when Ali beat 260lb Mathis, when Holyfield beat Bowe, when Byrd beat vitali when sanders beat Wladimir, when haye beat valuev , when mike Tyson beat a lot of his opponents, when Rahman beat Lewis, when Ruiz beat Joshua, when Povetkin beat price, I could go on and on, but I won’t.

 

not really, since there wasn't anything all that "super" about the guy he beat, in terms of either size or boxing ability.

all Povetkin really did last night was beat a fair-sized, decent quality, modern gatekeeper, and was lucky to do it, having been dominated & knocked down twice inside a short space of time. all heavies of a reasonable class have always had & always will have at least a small chance of a one-shot KO against anyone, even if badly mismatched.

 

Yes. Not that it needed to. This has been shown time and again throughout history, but it doesn’t stop people from thinking they’re witnessing something entirely unprecedented. Doesn’t just apply to this situation, either. People always want to think they’re watching the shifting of the paradigm. Unfortunately they’re a bit late for anything like that, as the Marquee of Queensbury has been around for some 150 years. You don’t change the game now.

 

I'm pretty sure Fury at 274 pounds 6'8" has the stamina, skill and movement which we've never seen from a man of his size before. Paradigm shift no, but he is a unique one off. Didn't look like he had it in him when he was green but now he's fully experienced he is very special.

 

Size matters. That is why there are weight classes.

Size is not prohibitive. That is why there is Michael Spinks, Evander Hlyfield, Michael Moorer, David Haye, etc.

Hope that helps.

 

Whyte would be ''super heavy'' only due to mass, I think the real factor is height and length/range (plus mass). This is the formula you see with Klitschkos, Fury, Joshua, Wilder and so on. When they can move and use their range it is hard for smaller fighters to land and often have to walk through fire to even get in position. It doesn't mean the top SHWs are invincible, obviously. Smaller fighters can win battles, but they're clearly losing the war! Povetkin, Chagaev, Haye, Adamek, Byrd ...all hit a wall despite their skills and experience. I think they demonstrate the reality.

 

Size is more height and leverage more than anything. Deontay comes in at 215 and still knocks people cold.

 

Povetkin will always have a good chance against whyte, he just hasn't got the brain, movement or skills.. And you certainly can't just stand there, plodding along blocking shots trying to take such a fighter deep, you atleast have to move a bit lol

 

We already knew this thanks in particular to Andy Ruiz who measures barely 6 feet and stretches giants.

For my part, I have always been convinced that Wilder would have lost against Povetkin and that with two years younger, Joshua was turned on against the Russian.

 

Didn't Ruiz Jr and Chagaev prove that already?

 

Pre 1970 he'd be quite huge. Liston was considered a very big HW of his day and in his prime he was more than 10 lbs lighter than Povetkin. Povetkin would have some 40 lbs on the smaller HW champions and that's certainly not nothing. Strip away 40 lbs from him and he wouldn't have won last night. Easy as that.

 

Depends on whether or not they are a walking chemistry lab like Povetkin has been or not. Let’s all be honest, great win over Whyte aside, he is a walking advertisement for modern day performance enhancers.

 

Yes Fury is the best around, but let’s not fool ourselves and pretend this is a good era. Fury, now seen as the second coming, was a second away from being KO’d against Wilder, who is now seen by many as a bum because of his threadbare resume. Boxing is a fickle sport.