Man heavyweights have gotten big

Ali wouldn't be considered small. 6'3, 215 isn't small even by today's standards. Maybe a little light, but definitely not small.

 

Athletes in general have gotten bigger. Just look at the size of football and basketball players today compared to the size they were in the 50's, 60's and 70's. The same goes for baseball and hockey. There are hockey players that are huge today. Just the general population is bigger than it was a few decades ago. Fatter yes but bigger as well. Kids today are weaned on McDonalds and Burger King and super sized happy meals. Any kid who has potential in any sport is exposed to all the modern training modems including weight training and supplements, legal and illegal and I'm sure boxing is no exception. With that being said however, I feel that these modern training methods don't necessarily make for a better boxer. In the other sports yes but boxing is different. The ability to bench press a ton or posess huge muscles doesn't make one a better boxer. Dempsey, Louis and Ali would wreak havoc were they around today as would Frazier and Foreman even with thier "old fashioned" training methods. Just my long winded 2 cents on the matter.

 

*Fighters in the heavyweight div have gotten bigger every
*jack Depsey..Joe Louis were what... 200 lbs... Marciano was 190 lbs... sonny Liston was 215 lbs... Ali was 215-218... "Big" George was 225 in his prime... Holmes was maybe 220 lbs in prime... Bowe was 230 lbs... ibeabuchi was 235 lbs... Lennox,both Klitsko's 6'7 250 lbs.. Vauev 300 lbs 7 ft... damn
*Can u picture a 220 pound guy beating Vitali?

 

The Klits can keep their ridiculous size, Tyson & Frazier would still beat them senseless.

 

the proper word is fat.

 

I would say that the biggest factor is a change in the way heavyweights train.

Untill the 80s, the orthodoxy was prety much to get your weight as low as possible, and today the orthodoxy is prety much to bulk up as much as possible.

We live in an era when even a light heavyweight can and will bulk up to 210lbs, while in previous eras the same fighter would have come in at 185lbs.

 

well too bad the klits would get owned by the atg heavyweights

I guess it's a good thing for the klithuggers that they are in this shitty era or they might be another primo canera or Willard

size is always going to be a factor but I would certainly pick Jack Dempsey to beat both klits

 

*hahahaha... u guys kill me...

 

I agree. :good

 

The Klitschkos are bigger than the likes of Ali and Liston, and even Holmes and Foreman ........ but the next tier of fighters (Haye, Chambers, Povetkin, Adamek, Chagaev?) are not.

Klitschkos are impressive because they can box very well. Valuev is much bigger but he's not good.

I think the Klitschkos are genuinely better than the others out there at the moment, and not merely dominating because they are bigger. Also, their weight is proportionate to their immense height, it's genuine. Many of the guys over the last 10 or 15 years scaling 240+ pounds are just bloated and fat.

 

the thing that gets me a bit about the weight factor is that many of the same people who say that size in the heavyweight division is meaningless sing the praises of langford, greb and dempsey for destroying giants

it's a bit of a double standard on the classic: if big doesn't mean good or better than greb beating bigger mean shouldn't mean ****. but it DOES, it obviously does. bigger does mean better skills but it can mean tougher to beat and more difficult (theoretically) h2h

i just think that if fighters from the 20s get credit for beating men 50 pounds bigger than them, then fighters today who are 50 pounds bigger should be acknowledged to have a clear advantage.

 

you nailed it

 

A lot of the big guys today have only size and bulk and other than that limited skill. There were 7 footers before but Valuev is the best of the 7 ft range ever. As far as above 6'5 there have always been big guys but the best of the bunch are the Klitschko's and Lennox, down from them are Willard, Carnera and Buddy Baer...Ali had the 6"5+ Ernie Terrel and Marciano fought the 6"4 Carmine Vingo but other than these days the bigger guys were not exceptional.

I can not see Valuev beat any of the past champs, possibly a few but its doubtful

 

I think we have more 190+pound guys fighting in the 175 pound division too. They might weigh in as light-heavies but in the ring they are a hell of a lot heavier.
And at the 200 pound cruiser limit we have guys who are already 220 pound heavyweights, so they dont even need to bulk up at all to move up.