Jones' Heavyweight win vs. Fitzsimmons Heavyweight win

I thought this would be an interesting thread, I have studied up on Fitz recently and when he won the Heavyweight title. Watched a few video's although not very good quality.

I have heard Roy critics say his victory was not the same as Fitz's because Fitz beat "The" Heavyweight champ and Roy just beat a belt holder.

So I looked at the sizes and weights of each fighter and came up with some interesting facts.

Fitz won his Heavyweight championship against Gentleman Jim Corbett, who was a very small Heavyweight by today's standards, not known for punching power. Actually today he would have been a Cruiserweight.

Jim weighed in at 184 lbs, compared to 167 for Fitz. That is a 17 lb difference.

Jim stood at 6' 1" compared to Fits who was 5' 11" and a half.
That is a 1 and a half inch height advantage for Jim.

Jim's reach was 73" inches compared to Fitz's 71" and a half.... Again that is a 1 and a half inch reach advantage for Jim.


Roy weighed in against Ruiz at 193 but I believe he was actually around 200, compared to 226 for Ruiz for a 26 lb weight advantage for Ruiz.

Roy also gave up a 3 inch height advantage to Ruiz, who stood at 6 2"

Roy also gave up a 4 inch reach advantage to Ruiz who's reach is 78"

Now if Roy went up against "the" heavyweight champ as Fitz did,(Against Lennox Lewis) He would be giving up..

6 inches of height, 10 inches of reach, and nearly 50 lbs in weight.


I am not trying to discredit either guy, but I think Roy beating Ruiz, who actually had a marginal size difference over Roy greater than the size Fitz gave up against Gentleman Jim, was at least comparable to Fitz' win, even though Ruiz was not the best Heavyweight in the world, but was a title holder.

Any thoughts?

 

I just believe the victories are in the same boat.... Some critics don't give Roy as much credit because Ruiz was not "the" heavyweight champ.

But at the same time, Roy obviously lived in a era of mammoth heavyweights, and no 184 pound man history could beat Lennox Lewis, so I think Roy deserves a little bit of slack there, obviously it was much harder to win "the" Heavyweight title in Roy's era, and that has to count for something.

Beating Ruiz, who held more of a size advantage over Roy has to be in the same ballpark as Fitz beating Corbett who was actually more of a modern Cruiserweight than a Heavyweight.

 

Wow.... You missed the whole point of the thread.

And Fitz hardly Cleaned out the heavyweight division.

 

:rofl:rofl

 

I am not trying to compare Roy's one heavyweight match against all of Fitz's heavyweight fights..... I believe Choynski was a LHW when they fought.

I was comparing when Roy won a belt from Ruiz, and when Fitz beat James Corbett, the size differences, and also the difference that Roy beating the "true" heavyweight champ of his era, would have been a much more impressive feat than that of Fitz beating Corbett, who wasn't very much larger than him at all.

 

This is a good post...

You are right about fighting back in the day there was a lot more holding and wrestling involved in the fights.

Would Roy beating Lennox be more impressive than Fitz beating Corbett?