Minimum height for a heavyweight?

It's not so much height as style

A Prime Holyfield right now would be at or near the top and he was 6'2"

 

I think Povetkin is an excellent fighter but not the other two. And I think Povetkin demonstrates this principle pretty well. A highly decorated, skilled and powerful fighter. But short in stature and reach. Wlad hugged a prime Povetkin to death, Vitali would have beaten him, Fury would have ... hard to say with Joshua, Wilder against prime Povetkin but they'd always have a chance due to their speed, range and power, despite not being as skilled.

At a certain point of difference at hw you're just fighting guys in a different weight division. Some people don't want to believe this because older fighters are smaller and because smaller fighters still have success and because people look at weights despite the fact most smaller hw fighters are fatties. But we should consider that welters can also beat mw's and smw's, especially if they're top welters. The problem is when the top welter fights the top mw, smw etc. Then they hit the wall, just as these smaller hw's often do against the big athletic fighters.

 

I think it’s been proven that short heavy weights can do well as long as they have the thick, robust skeletal frame. Tyson, Holy, Pov, Ruiz etc.

 

if we're talking about minimum height to be a credible contender/top HW, I think realistically we're talking about roughly the height of the guys already mentioned, like Takam, Ruiz, Pov and so on... 6'1" or maybe 6'2" is about the lowest, and even then to do well at that height they've got to have supreme bulkiness and/or athleticism.

i don't think we'll ever see another world champion who's below 6 feet, making Tyson the last of that breed [i suppose i never counted RJJ as a heavyweight world champ] - i suppose if we ever do it would likeliest be another RJJ type, someone who gets a 'hit and run' title shot against a relatively weak champion on the basis of achievement at lower weights.

 

Povetkin was the best heavyweight between 2015 and 2017 despite his size. And Ruiz beat Joshua well by being a dwarf in the heavyweights.

 

There is none. Height advantages can be neutralized if the shorter fighter comes with the right strategy. It’s up the the smaller heavyweights today to be in good shape and show up with a good strategy.

Also, it wasn’t height that held Povetkin and Ruiz back, but instead laziness, since both have more than enough talent to succeed at the top level. Takam on the other hand was experienced, but he was simply never championship material.

Tyson at 5’9” was more dominant than any current heavyweight. Nobody currently in the division has conquered the division yet. Also, both Wlad and Vitali lost to guys well under 6’4”.

 

its just such a advantage if "most" other things are relatively equal,,,,

back in the day it was such a advantage they put in tall guys that couldn't even fight and they got their asses floored,,,

but when the tall guys that could fight came around it was a different story

 

I think the last shorty was Chris Byrd with his 6 ft. And he was doing well against giants such as Vitaly and McCline.

 

A lot of good points made. Holyfield and Tyson would be at the top if they competed today. It is about styles--make a tall fighter taller and a short fighter shorter, etc.

I would add one other thing. A lot of who is dominating in boxing at the moment has to do with the times, what judges award points to, and what the refs will allow. If jab and grab were penalized a point for every round it occurred, we would not have seen the title reign of Wladimir Klitschko, and even Lewis would have lost a few more.

 

What about Marciano ? I think he was better than Tyson and won his every fight..Frazier was the first man who beat Ali.
I think this height thing is overrated because the trainer and managers prefer the tall guys nowadays.
Otherwise i know lot of crap(at least 6'4" fighters from the boxing history and maybe only 3 or 4 tall ATG.

 

5'9" like jt!

 

well, I don't know... Ali was 6'3", which was seriously tall for a guy born during the early 40s, taller than practically all his 1960s opponents & most of his 1970s ones, the equivalent of at least say 6'5" by the standards of a modern athlete.

 

As the saying goes, a good big one beats a good small one.

Holyfield lost to Bowe and Lewis. He had 5 fights with these guys and lost 4 of them.

The longest reigning champions from the late 90s until now have been Lewis, Klitschko brothers, Wilder and Joshua. All of them 6'5 plus.

Sure a shorter fighter like Rahman or Ruiz might pull of an upset here or there but they never hold onto the belts for long

 

No idea how people can say holyfield would be on top today he has a record of 1-5 against guys that were 6‘6 or taller.