Heavyweights Average Height: Ring Top 10 1956-2010. Very interesting

Fighters are not better trained today. With the exception of long camps being the norm now and rare then, most other areas have taken a step back. As for guys hitting harder and being faster, natural abilities determine reflexes and hand speed more than training and human biology is exactly the same now as in the sixties.

If SSR was transported into the present and fought Matrinez he would wipe the floor with him. He would be a bigger threat to Ward at 168 than anyone fighting at 168 is now. Live with it.

 

In every sport or event where performance can be measured, modern athletes are bigger stronger faster and better trained, in sports where there is no way to measure it people say the old ones are better, doesn't that seem odd to you?

I assume you mean sugar ray robinson. You may well be right about that. But no one is saying every modern athlete is better than every old athlete, there is of course some overlap, especially in weights where the old guys are still the same size as the modern heavyweights. But SRR isn't typical of his era.

 

Athlete's themselves have not changed in any drastic ways. What has changed was the introduction of PED's and better fields and playing equipment. Besides that the has been no "evolution".

 

WAY better training.

You metioned weight training to athletes of the 60s and they'd have looked at you like you had 2 heads.

Dont even get me started on plyometrics and other modern methods of training.

Knowledge about nutrition has come on leaps and bounds.

Could you imagine putting Le Bron James into a team in the 60s???

Or seeing what Adrien Peterson would have done to a 50's NFL defensive line??

Jesse Owens vs. Usain Bolt???

Or how would have chain smoking alcoholic George Best done in the modern, ultra athletic Premiership? Hes have been coughing like a pensioner by half time.

Even skill sets have improved over time. If you watch Jack Dempsey training or even in the ring,he has all the skills of a toughman competitor.

 

Bull****!

Of course it means something,it means a lot.

You put 2 guys of the same ability in the ring,ones 6'4 and the others 5'10.

Who has the advantage???

Look at Valuev. The guy had basically NO skills, NO speed, he didnt even hit that hard, yet he managed to be a top 10 fighter in the heavyweight division.

Why do you think that was?

Heres a hint...it wasnt his slickness

 

Carnera had gigantism like Valuev, it doesn't really count.
They're not naturally tall, but they're prove how far you can come by just weighting a lot and being bigger than the rest.

If Valuev was as tall and heavy as Haye, but rest stays the same.
Trust me, no chin would have saved Valuev.

 

...in summary a good big man will always beat a good little man.

Theres a reason why we have weight divisions.

I must say I find it funny on this board,where if a guy goes up a division to fight a gut who may be 5-10 lbs heavier than him and maybe an inch taller, people make a huge deal out of it.

Yet when Haye or Adamek fight guys 40lbs heavier than them and 5-6 inches taller, people sort of over look it.

 

frank Bruno was a gasser.
Post prison Tyson later became a gasser.
Tommy probably too.

Also some fat doesn't have to be bad.

It was the sub 200 Ali that got nearly knocked out by Cooper and the heavier Ali that took all of foreman.

See Louis Monaco vs Butterbean.
former mister universe contender vs fat slob.

 

If training and athletes have gotten so much better than why are today's heavyweights throwing less punches and gassing out earlier?

 

Put two guys of the SAME ability and you have a point. But today's heavies lack the same skills and stamina as past heavyweights.

 

Because the guys who are champs now dont HAVE to throw lots of punches. Wlad is a tall 1-2 fighter, he doesnt have to be like Tyson etc throwing lots of punches.

As for gassing,I dont think Ive seen Wlad gas in a long,long time. Vitali neither.

You have some slow,fat boxers in the heavyweight division, but there were slow fat heavyweights before too.

How many punches did Foreman throw in his hey day?? Or Sonny Liston?

And theres no "if" about when athletes are better, look at athletics,look at basketball, nfl,soccer, look at whatever you want and you'll see sport has come a long way in terms of athleticism in the past number of decades.

 

links or STFU

 

Says who?

And at what point does "past heavyweight" start?

Heres ATG, shoing his speed and skill on the punchbag.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJkiwu_04dw[/ame]

or these slicksters
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ_Dguh9hEE&feature=related[/ame]

 

I'll give you three examples. Vitaly was tired against Byrd. Both Lewis wind Vittles were exhausted, and Wlad in the first Brewster fight. Its easy to look good and keep your wind against guys trying to survive instead of win. Much harder when things aren't going your way. These are just the high profile fights, there are many more to pick from.

Give athletes from past era PED's and the same equipment and specialized fields and surfaces and you would have the same athletes as today. The human body have not evolved, but science has.