Lennox Lewis vs Jack Dempsey

We do give Dempsy his rules hitting as soon as the knee leaves the canvas...right?
No stopping the fight to clean soomeone's gloves that hit the canvas, giving someone's lots longer to recover.

 

I'm not suggesting that there are no dimishing returns, at all, but it seems a huge leap of faith to go from size mattering a great deal to not at all. To me if two fighters are equally skilled, it always matters to some degree. Obviously less so when we're dealing with smaller guys, but it never becomes immaterial, at least not that I'm aware of. And to me this 200lb cut off where it stops mattering completely is simply arbitrary. There is absolutely no science behind it that I'm aware of.

If Holyfield was Lewis' size he would have had a much better career as a heavyweight, so would have Byrd.

 

I can asure you that it is verry far from being an urban myth. Any biologist in the world will back me up on this. It is inherant in the laws of physics that as an animal gets bigger diminishing returns must set in at some point.

Now I cant say that it is necisarily at the 200 lb mark. It might varry acording to a mans level of athleticism. But it will come and it will place restrictions on the size of the best heavyweights in the world.

 

There is generalizing to the extreme. I have a university degree, so I'm not a complete idiot. Of course in a general sense this is correct, but as it applies to boxing, specificially to those over 200lbs I don't think he the marginal benefits of being bigger and heavier approach zero. They might and I could be wrong, I just haven't seen any scientific reference to support it. Hence the term urban myth. To me the 200lb cut off is simply an arbitrary weight designed to support a particular position. If I'm wrong and it's factually based, please reference this and I'll gladly stand corrected.

 

i saw some footage of him vs larry gaines. he was twice the size of his opponent and couldnt do a thing. he was so slow it appeared as if he was fighting in slow motion.

his best offense was pushing and grabbing. even butterbean looked more skillfull.
in other words, he was awefull. the only thing about him was that he could take a punch. nothing more.

as for his victories: most of his fights were supposed to have been fixed. and i can easily see why, cause with his skill it is hard to believe he ever beat a pro fighter.

 

yes he has the no neutral corner rule

 

This is psychobable.

Of course the concept of dimishing laws of strength exist in annimals that's not the question at all. The question is what is so magical about the 200lb mark as it applies to boxers to suggest the marginal strength or punching benefits of being 20lbs heavier or 30lbs heavier are close to zero or immaterial, when it's obviously not true at all at say 190 fighting someone who is 160 that this weight difference is immaterial.

That's the specific question, and because I don't believe any research whatsoever exists on this topic, of if it does, it would refute this assertion, it is indeed an urban myth. Either it's correct and provable, or it's not. If it is, please show me where.

 

How much better a career could Holyfield have had? He only lost 3 fights up to the time he was 37. It is easy to say Lewis was better, but what if you reversed their birthdates, so they fought when Lewis was 37 and Holyfield 34?

As for imagining a 250 lb Byrd--that is a little too much fantasy for me. I wouldn't bet on a light punching 250 lber necessarily dominating the division, though. He might have been something like Jameel McCline.

 

I'm not even sure about this. Someone like Valuev, could simply lack the technique necessary to utilize his size properly. Certainly, I would suggest Lewis, and the two Klitschko brothers utilize their size much better than say Lance Whitaker, who I saw fight on tv last night. And I certainly think that Wlad and Lewis have specific advantages due to their size and weight that smaller fighters lack.

 

Weight lifting was considered real bad back in the old days.....look at shrunken chested HW Tunney....but he had a good solid back.
As much as I lke Dempsey, if the fight goes beyond 3 or 4 rounds it's Lewis's.
The first 4 rounds though would be very intersting.
Early Dempsy ducked well, and was fighting out of the crouch....one of the crouches...There are more than just one crouch.
And I would like a ref that allows infighting. That negates Lewis getting to lean on Dempsey.

 

I saw that fight between Whitaker and Estrada as well. What a snooze fest.

 

The 200Ib cut off suggestion is laughable and embarrassing, especially if we're talking about a 6ft 5 heavyweight.