Heavyweight champs physically inferior to their opponents

Tough one. Can't be many where the champion was inferior in every aspect - speed, power, strength, chin, stamina, reach and height. But there will be quite a few cases where they were inferior in at least one of these aspects, so where does one draw the line.

Frazier against Foreman might be the best one. That version of Frazier didn't even look faster than Foreman. Patterson and Spinks against Liston and Tyson are others, but at least Floyd had a clear advantage in speed and Spinks in height and reach.

Ah, Burns against Johnson. How could I have forgot. Also hard to see what physical advantage Burns had there.

 

Holyfield when he defended against Bowe found that Bowe was not only bigger and heavier but also stronger and more durable. On that night apart from maybe a edge in handspeed and bouncing up and down on his feet, Holyfield was outmatched in just about every way and did well just to last the distance in that fight

 

Joe Louis looked like a boy compared to Carnera, Abe Simon and Buddy Baer

 

Joe Louis vs. Buddy Baer, Abe Simon and Lou Nova (maybe even more).

 

At the same time

 

Whoa! Great minds, dude.

 

That's happened a lot. Some early ones: Fitzsimmons against Jeffries. Burns against Johnson. Johnson against Willard. Dempsey against Firpo. (There was talk at one time about an Ali-Chamberlain match. Imagine how that would have looked.)

 

What? Holyfield won the 12th round in that fight, leading up to a win in the rematch that he would have KO'd Bowe if not for that guy jumping into the ring.. fan man.

 

Fury looks like a fat hobo and AJ looks like he's had the super soldier serum.

 

Oh, and probably the best example ever, Douglas/Holyfield.

 

Louis: Carnera, B Buddy, Simon
Patterson: Liston
Frazier: Mathis, Foreman
Tyson: Smith, Biggs, Bruno
Holyfield: Foreman, Bowe, Lewis
Byrd: W Klit, Golota, Mccline
Wilder: Fury
Ruiz: AJ (2nd fight)

 

Patterson verse Liston is the one that stands out to me. Liston had a lot of advantages over Floyd, and I'm pretty sure that contributed to Floyd's confidence flying out of the ring, twice.