Is Povetkin in ATG top 10 heavyweigh list that are under 6ft2?

Idk, Povetkin beat more ranked fighters and doesn't have the embarrassments on his resume. Moorer would've been smoked by Wlad if that were his path to a title.

 

Excuse you, he just iced the HEIR TO KLITSCHKO'S THRONE

 

Well he just knocked out Pricey so that probably puts Povetkin in the top 20 HW ATG list at the minimum.

 

Considering that nearly half (43%, to be precise - 36 men altogether) of all heavyweight champs in history are 6'2" or under you're basically asking if there are 27 better heavies, from among the upper two bullets here:

• Heavyweights that stood under 6'2": Sullivan/Corbett/Fitzsimmons/Jeffries/Hart/Burns/Johnson/Dempsey/Tunney/Schmeling/Sharkey/Charles/Savold/Walcott/Marciano/Patterson/Johansson/Liston/Frazier/Ellis/L. Spinks/Weaver/Tyson/Mercer/Seldon/Byrd/Jones/Chagaev - (28).
  
• Heavyweights that stood exactly 6'2", within ½": Louis/Page/Moorer/Morrison/Hide/McCall/Povetkin/Stiverne - (8).
  
• Heavyweights that stood over 6'2": Willard/Carnera/Baer/Braddock/Clay/Terrell/Foreman/Norton/Holmes/Tate/Dokes/Coetzee/Witherspoon/Thomas/Tubbs/M. Spinks/Berbick/Smith/Tucker/Damiani/Douglas/Holyfield/Bowe/Lewis/Bentt/Bruno/Akinwande/V. Klitschko/W. Klitschko/Ruiz/Rahman/Sanders/Brewster/Valuev/Liakhovich/Maskaev/Briggs/Ibragimov/Peter/Haye/Wilder/Fury/Martin/Browne/Joshua/Parker/Charr - (47).

He's no doubt the second best at the height, behind Louis. If you extended it to include a lot of the 6'2½-3" guys you have stiffer competition (ie Holyfield, Ali, Norton, Ibragimov, etc) perhaps bumping him down a few spots.

From the shorties, you have Tyson and Marciano as clearly ahead of Povetkin (both in terms of greatness and I'd say h2h, in both cases, though some may not agree) and from there it gets tricky. Povetkin could never approach the iconic status of a Boston Strongboy, and yet probably nobody here would suggest that Sasha would lose that match in a time machine, nor can you say his resume isn't better even when adjusted for relative depth of era. Then even with modern heavies you get down to some granular matter-of-very-subjective-opinion stuff, like Povetkin vs. Byrd, where they fought but at such a late stage in Rapid Fire's career that you have to wonder if the result prime for prime wouldn't differ (and people forget, that even with it being a shopworn Byrd, they fought on VERY competitive terms and Povetkin didn't have it all his way) - or for that matter, on the question of resume, how much value do you place on Byrd's victory over Vitali Klitschko? If you consider it a fluke, how much can you really downplay that having it on paper still trumps any single victory on Povetkin's record? Povetkin vs. Dempsey is another one that could rage on in a 30-page debate thread. Same with Schmeling, Liston, and Johnson.

I'm going to say yes, of three dozen HW champs to stand at or lower than six feet and two inches tall, Povetkin is among the greatest 10. Probably not 5, though.

 

43%.

 

Povetkin is a good fighter but he won't be remembered in an ATG bracket

 

Interesting that each of those bulleted lists is spearheaded by a guy that usually ranks among the five or so GOAT - Ali, tallest, being most often placed #1; Louis, in the second tier, usually just behind (and somewhat less often, swapped around, #1 to Clay/Ali in the #2 spot); while Tyson/Dempsey/Marciano come up a head shorter than both, as they do in all-time rankings.

 

Sasha is h2h top 10 >6'2. Olympic gold and sterling pro career. Mostly unlucky Klits were his peers and belt holders, beat everyone put in front of him except WK, mostly by ko. Operated at higher level than Wilder despite not holding a premium belt. Would fight Wilder or Joshua immediately. Fearless.

 

I'm curious, people adamantly saying "no" - whom besides Louis/Tyson/Marciano/Dempsey/Frazier/Schmeling/Liston and maybe Johnson or Byrd do you think clearly goes above Povetkin? Making him subordinate to all those guys still puts him at #10, so you need to find one more that clearly outranks him of the remaining 26*.

I honestly was expecting to find him outside 10 but after laying out the pieces and putting the puzzle together, he fits right in there.

A lot of guys have "greater" careers because of depth of resume or pioneer status, but of the remaining 26 you can't say you'd favor many over him on a h2h basis...and those with more abundance of "big names" on their records, you have to wonder if he wouldn't also smash through a lot of those names..

*Sullivan/Corbett/Fitzsimmons/Jeffries/Hart/Burns/Tunney/Sharkey/Charles/Savold/Walcott/Patterson/Johansson/Ellis/L. Spinks/Weaver/Page/Mercer/Moorer/Morrison/Hide/McCall/Seldon/Jones/Chagaev/Stiverne, to refresh your memory.

 

Povetkin is a legit heavyweight who has had some bad luck. He has fought top fighters..............he is at the top of the heavyweight division right now. However, he is being blacklisted..................was framed, yet cleared by VADA as they had made a mistake, it was corrected, but Haymon would not allow the WBC to sanction the fight. Haymon owns the WBC, or so appears..............Povetkin has only lost one fight and is a gold medalist, super heavyweight division although he is only 6 feet 2 inches tall.................

 

Number 1 head to head without question! Remind us how well past all time great heavyweight champions shorter than 6 foot 4 inches were doing when they were 35 years old or older (like how Povetkin is right now)?

Mike Tyson lost to a bum in Danny Williams and a journeyman in Kevin McBride.

Evander Holyfield lost to and got demolished / stopped by a blown up, former middleweight in James Toney and lost to poor champions like John Ruiz.

Muhammad Ali was losing to Trevor Berbick, Larry Holmes, Leon Spinks and arguably also lost to Jimmy Young.

Alexander Povetkin >>> the rest!

 

None of the past heavyweight champions that had success in past eras shorter than 6 foot 4 inches in height, would be any more successful than Povetkin if they were forced to compete in the Klitschko era and the current era.

 

So, you think Marciano, Tyson and Schmeling would have a hard time dealing with the likes of...DaVaryll Williamson? Vaughn Bean? Albert Sosnowski? Jameel McCline? Francisco Pianeta? Dominic Breazeale? Carlos Takam?

Whom exactly from the K2 or present era do you see looming as impassable threats for guys like Rocky, Mike, or Max?

 

Marciano fought his entire career at cruiser weight (by modern standard). Not once did he weigh what is required to be a heavyweight (by modern standard).

Mike Tyson would probably be the most successful compared to any other past short heavyweight champions and all time greats in the modern era. However, even Tyson's record against taller, taller + heavier and heavier opponents in general, isn't as good as Povetkin's.

Mike Tyson has only one stoppage victory (a controversial one against Lou Savarese) against an opponent that was taller than 6 foot 3 inches and didn't have 25% or more losses out of their career win/loss record.


Mike Tyson arguably struggled far more against taller and heavier opponents than Povetkin did.

The same applies to Max Schmelling too. Majority of his bouts were at, what would be called cruiser weight today. He is not as proven as Povetkin is against larger (taller and heavier opponents) at a consistent basis.