How many HW champions meet U.S. Army weight requirements?

Right. Perhaps that's why the army chart is a bit more generous than the BMI charts?

Interesting that the majority of champions were within this for most of last century.

Most champions before the 1980s are within the US army weight requirements. I don't know why that is.

Muhammad Ali with a height of 75" at age 17-20 according to Army requirements he would be allowed to be a maximum of 206lb. Between the ages of 21-27 he is allowed a maximum of 212, 28-39 yrs he can afford a max of 217 and over 40 a max of 220. If you look at the important fights Ali was in shape for he was within this level.

Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey all listed at 6'1" or 73" are allowed maximum weights to enter the army for the same age ranges of 195lb, 200, 205, 208. They were each within this.

Obviously there was Primo Carnera who was off the chart, but even to the 1980s many champions are within the current military guidelines.

George Foreman at 217 was bang on the maximum weight for his height and age when he beat Joe Frazier.

Shorter champions like Marciano and Floyd Patterson were also within these maximum guidelines for a 71" height. 185-197. Joe Frazier a little over.

Then we come to Mike Tyson and David Tua...

By Military standards, Lennox Lewis, Rid**** Bowe and the Klit brothers should never have been over 232lb until age 40!

 

oh I agree. There is absolutely no need for a heavyweight to meet these regulations at all. Just find it interesting that at one time, when the training was different, more often than not heavyweights fell within this.

Obviously all the points made about why this used to happen is not as interesting to many as the reasons why this is no longer the case.

And the biggest reason that nobody has come up with is that athletes can often go over healthy weight guidelines for their height and be extremely healthy and fit. It's just that they trained to be that way.

 

I've just said it's not important because a HW champion doesn't need to meet these regulations. HW champions are free to train themselves into being as big as they want.

 

Exactly.

 

Bowe, however, had gone to the Marine Reserves with bugles blowing, having declared in December, shortly after defeating Andrew Golota for the second time when Golota was disqualified for low blows, that joining the Corps was a dream.

"I want to be part of the elite," Bowe had said.

To accommodate him, the Marines had to waive weight, age and dependent requirements:

* At Bowe's height, 6-feet-5, a recruit can weigh no more than 230 pounds. Bowe weighed 250-plus when he reported to Parris Island.

* A recruit can be no older than 28. Bowe is 29.

* A Reserve recruit can have no more than three dependents. Bowe and his wife, Judy, have five children.

According to the Marines, recruiters had long talks with Bowe, emphasizing the difficulty of what he would be going through.

"We had him at the depot, watching to see what was going on," DeMar said.

Still, Bowe declared his desire to join as a reservist, which committed him to 12 weeks at Parris Island, three years of active Reserve duty and five years in the inactive Reserves.

"It's something I wanted to do before I get too old," he said. Younger recruits "might run a little faster, but I'll run longer."

He never had to run more than 1 1/2 miles, the beginning distance for a recruit.