If fighters could come under the weight limit would they have performed better against heavyweight opposition? I’m talking about fighters like James Toney. And who would you say could fight at heavyweight while being at the weight of a lower weight class?
I think that smaller heavyweights sometimes come in too heavy, in a futile attempt to out big the big guys. Having said that, I would not advise them to come in much under the current heavyweight limit.
This. A smaller guy is never going to out big a big guy. Most small heavyweights today give up their mobility and speed advantage by coming in heavy. Adamek around 198-200 was plenty strong and had the skill to be effective at heavyweight, but he felt the need to add weight, which didn’t help him. A fighter’s weight should also be consistent. Ballooning up down and weight can eventually come back to haunt you on fight. I also think a lot of smaller fighters nowadays aren’t versatile enough. A smaller fighter should know how to protect themselves from getting bullied when clinched and should also prepare for that. Holyfield and Tua are also two smaller guys that in my opinion didn’t get better as they put on size. Smaller guys also need to be more disciplined and be in shape year round. I thought Tua around 210-215 lbs had plenty of power, but he also had speed, mobility, and head movement. When Tua went up to 220+ although he could still punch he became a very easy target and his handspeed suffered. When Holyfield was around 200-210 and used his craftiness, mobility, and punch volume I think he was a very hard man to beat at heavyweight, but as he started stacking on the muscle he tried going toe to toe with guys like Bowe and it didn’t work. Even Tyson in his prime when he tried to stand toe to toe with bigger heavyweights had a lot of trouble. I’d even argue Wilder, who admittedly isn’t a small guy, since he’s 6’5” is more effective under 220 lbs than he is around 230 lbs. When Marvis Frazier was asked about the need for a super heavyweight division he mentioned that smaller heavyweights need to use their smaller size to their advantage. FNU: The reason that there are weight classes in sports like boxing and high school/ college wrestling is because size matters. It takes an exceptional athlete to compete against the very best athletes who have a distinct size advantage. Do you think that in professional boxing, it would make sense to have a super heavyweight division? Marvis: There is the cruiserweight division for guys under 200 pounds. But if you are 201 pounds, you have to compete against guys who might weigh 250 pounds. There were guys that big in the past – there’s just more of them today. But they don’t have the speed and mobility that a 210 pound fighter has. You have to take advantage of that.
Wilder 6'5? He is 6'7 Tua was perfect at 226 pounds and he had a lot of hand speed,Tua was a big guy,he was short but he was not small at all. He was fat at 240, but he carried perfectly 225 pounds. Adamek felt that he had to increment his weight to face hws because he needed it, there are weight classes for real motives.
Fury is 6’7” and is much taller than Wilder. Listed height and actual height aren’t the same thing. In addition, Wilder was at my old gym for a week when Wilder was still a prospect and I seen first hand he wasn’t 6’7”. I was a college basketball recruiter for several years and know 6’5” when I see it. Wilder might be close to 6’7” in some thick soled boots, but in flat boxing shoes no way. Some of the worst cases I’ve seen of inaccurate height listings that were downright comical were Luis Ortiz’s 6’4” listing and Bob Satterfield’s 6’2” listing. Even the commentators during the Valdez-Satterfield fight were laughing at the idea of Satterfield being 6’2”. Boxrec is a great and convenient source, but some of the data is way off. Wlad was also notorious for wearing lifts during preflight press conferences to appear as his 6’6” (listed height) when his real height was alway 6’4.5”. During the preflight promotional conferences Wlad appeared close to Fury’s height, but during the fight Fury towered over him. From my experience listed heights are rarely accurate and I understand why promoters do what they do, since boxing is still show business. Boxing only requires a fighter’s weight to be accurate. Here is an article on Fury early in his career. As the promotional machine started working Fury was given to courtesy inches. “Dave Oakes takes a look at Tyson Fury, the 6'7" 250 pound heavyweight from Manchester. sounds more like a name a Rocky villain would have rather than a genuine boxer, but this new kid on the block is certainly one to keep an eye out for. At a towering 6ft 7ins, the Manchester based heavyweight is certainly attracting a lot of attention on this side of the pond.” “He’s a giant of a man, has a Hollywood name and is unbeaten in the paid ranks, with all five victories coming inside the distance. It’s no surprise people are sitting up and taking notice of him. Mick Hennessy, Fury’s promoter, has been cranking the hype machine up to full speed in his effort to make him well known, but the question remains, can he actually fight?” http://theboxingbulletin.blogspot.com/2009/05/introducing-tyson-fury-story-photo.html?m=1 Also, Tua was slow at 220 lbs and was only that heavy due to ballooning up and down because of laziness and not watching his diet. He was a far more complete fighter around 210-215 and would’ve had a better chance of becoming a champ. At 220lbs + he was good enough to be a top contender, but hardly champ material, which is why I consider Tua a waste of talent. The extra weight pretty must lost him the Ibeabuchi fight, since his timing suffered with the extra weight. Adamek was proven dead wrong. All the extra weight did was make him a punching bag for Vitali. Vitali loved fighting slow easy targets regardless of how much punching power they had. Vitali’s weakness was crafty fighters, which is why he let Wlad, who was by far a better boxer than he was handle Byrd instead of taking the rematch himself.
nobody cares about this boxers height conspiracy you keep parroting it’s rubbish and you are getting very annoying
