Evander Holyfield - "small" heavyweight?

When of someone being "blown up " I think of someone who does not carry the weight well. Holyfield was pretty functional.

 

He might have been on the small side for a heayvweight of his era.

 

Matter of opinion I suppose.

 

I guess it depends on what we define as a "modern" heavyweight and when exactly that time frame begins. Also, are we comparing his size to every heavyweight within that time frame or mostly the top or most relevant ones. over the last 20 years you've had guys like Bowe, Lewis, Wladmir, Vitali, Valuev, Fury, Foreman, Grant, Briggs, Golata, Wilder, etc.. Most of those men were anywhere from 6'4" to 7'0", and weighed anywhere from 235-300.. So by those standards, yes.. He's small for the period of the past 20 years.

 

I'd say his natural weight is closer to 200 flat like he was when he first moved up to heavyweight, other than that I agree with what you say.

 

Prediction :
Schmopinion will be the next word added to censored list!

 

Agree.

I did a little research on current Boxrec TOP-20 HWs.

Their average height is a shade under 6'4'', average weight is 238,5 lbs.

So while Holyfield, Moorer, Ibragimov, Povetkin etc are not that small, but they are still smaller than average TOP-HWs today (6'4'', 238,5).

13 HWs from TOP-20 are taller than Holyfield, and only one is notably shorter (Chagaev).

18 are heavier and 2 are lighter.

So conclusion is: Holyfield is not that small, but smaller than average current HW's

 

All-time? No, he was actually pretty big compared to many of the past greats. He was bigger, as big, or almost as big as-

Sullivan
Corbett
Fitzsimmons
Jeffries
Hart
Burns
Johnson
Dempsey
Tunney
Schmeling
Sharkey
Baer
Braddock
Louis
Charles
Walcott
Marciano
Patterson
Johansson
Liston
Ali
Ellis
Frazier
Foreman (clearly a bigger man but not a huge difference)
L. Spinks
Norton
Holmes
M. Spinks
Tyson... you get the point.

During his era? He was definitely not huge.

I've seen him listed at 6'2 1/2" with a 77 1/2" reach. His weight ranged from 205 - 221 Lbs. in his HW World Title fights. He was very similar in size and build to Ken Norton who was never considered a small Heavyweight... 6'3" with an 80" reach and 212 3/4 - 220 Lbs. in his HW World Title fights. Norton was 205 - 217 1/2 Lbs. in his 3 fights vs. Ali.

Holyfield fought big men like-

Douglas- 6'4" and 246

Foreman- 6'4" and 257

Holmes- 6'3 1/2" and 233

Bowe- 6'5" 235, 246, and 241

Stewart- 6'3" and 228 (he was only 213 in their first fight)

Lewis- 6'5" with an 84" reach, 245 and 242

Rahman- 6'2 1/2" with an 82" reach and 224 (he was usually much heavier, he was 238 when he beat Lewis and 245 when he beat Sanders)

Savarese- 6'5" and 242

Valuev- 7' with an 85" reach and 310 3/4

 

Height vs weight means nothing. It's a man's frame that determines how "big" he is. Mark Breland was, at 6'3", taller than Holy and weighed 147 pounds! Evander packed a lot of muscle on his frame but would have been a fat pig at 250 pounds.

I'd say he was average in his day but small in 2015.

 

Height and reach can also be deceiving, mainly I think you have to take in a boxer's build and other measurements.
David Tua was only 5'9 and a 70 inch reach, but had legs like tree trunks. short yes, small no.

 

I think you're right. Had Holy had big muscular legs, he'd have been around 235 lbs.