Have heavyweight skills declined as they've got bigger?

If you lump the cruiserweights in with the heavies then no, the skills haven't declined at all relative to the earlier eras. If you just focus on the huge behemoths then yeah, the division's going to suffer, since bigger guys rarely have the same type of speed and athleticism as their smaller brethren. How strong would Louis's division look if it just consisted of guys like Galento, Buddy Baer, Carnera, Simon and assorted other big guys? Or the 60's/70's era if it just had guys like Mathis, Wepner, Bugner, and Mike The Giant White?

 

Have basketball skills declined as they got bigger over the last 50 years? What about NFL football?

 

Lol, here's Miller weighing in at 304 pounds vs Duhuapas. If you honestly think Miller is fat, overweight or out of shape while he's arguably the fittest man in the division, your plum dumb. He threw almost 800 punches in his last fight, let me know when you can find another heavyweight who can even get close to Miller's work rate. Miller is thick set, built like a brick wall/tree trunk/tank, he's neither fat, overweight or out of shape. Yeah, old Buster fought tougher opposition alright, beaten to a pulp by Frazier, iced by Lyle, and lost every single round to not only Ali, but also Jerry Quarry. Like I said, last time I checked Miller just beat up and mopped the floor with 3 world title contenders, not lie down against them. Old Buster was the Eric Molina of his day, luckiest journeyman/club fighter alive.

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Thats what I’ve been trying to tell you

 

technical skills are eroding in every sport (in North America at least) as athletes now just substitute superior athleticism for fundamentals.

 

yes, fundamentals most certainly have. no Nba player can dribble ten feet without breaking a myriad of now ignored rules.

 

Excellent input


Fully agree

 

We will have to agree to disagree, we are going round in circles, looked at the video big fat tits, flesh underneath them looks like he’s wearing a body suit who you trying to kid me or yourself, club fighters don’t get world title shots, like I said earlier out of shape Wach and contenders like that just prove the threads point, these larger fighters have lost skills and are poor that’s my opinion you have yours best leave it at that.

 

Eric Molina and Buster Mathis, theres 2, how many more you need? Gerald Washington? Alex Leapai? Artur Szpilka?
Rocky Balboa? Wach took both Klitchsko and Povetkin to the 12th round, Miller stopped him inside 9, the larger fighter stopped an opponent more decisively than the 2 more technically skilled fighters, go figure.

 

Looking at the bigger heavy weights in general you could clearly make an argument for the case some skills are no longer taught or utilised. Very few big super heavies have much of an inside game, they have less head and upper body movement compared to their smaller counterparts in previous eras.

But I think it's because the game has changed. These bigger more coordinated fighters that can now fight can never fight like the smaller 200lbs heavyweights and it would be detrimental to them if they tried to do so. If you have a guy with a huge reach who can't shorten their punches, why would they learn and utilise an inside game where they give up range on smaller men? Why would a 250lbs fighter drain themselves utilising head and upper body movement that expends too much energy for a guy their size to go 12 rounds?

Heavyweights now do what works for their size, they have ditched certain skills that were more often detrimental to them than beneficial. If you call that declining then yes there is a decline in skills as certain skills are discarded while others are prioritized. But you could also call this refining.

How many big tall super heavyweights of the past could move like Fury, or could box like Lewis, or were as athletic and technically proficient as Wlad? These superior super heavies of today compared to the lumbering super heavies of the past could signify an improvement in the skills of modern heavies in comparison to their giant sized counterparts from previous eras.

 

wach was early thirties when fought Klitshcko not knocking up 39 and Povetkin fought 3 years ago, not the same fighter as he was for them 2 fights, and a few poor heavyweight s that are from this large declining skill era don’t make them club fighters just poor top contenders in a poor era making it possible for a large guy like miller to look half decent, you are answering your own questions lol

 

Wach was 37 and coming off a victory against Euro level Teper for a European title when he faced Miller, wasnt in decline at all. Not at all. You simply dont understand that when size is used correctly its just as an important factor as skill. Perhaps you should be asking why boxing has weight divisions?

 

Ok bud you have the last word lol