Name some fighters

Gerald Mccellan, Michael Nunn, Mathew saad Muhamed, Antonio Tarver and John Conteh would of all had a good chance at winning a portion of the heavyweight title's in there prime years that is

 

No. Too small, and doesn't have the power to make HW's respect him & to be able to keep them off him. He did have a good chin, but it's not to the extent of which he could take HW punches, he was dropped by guys like Byron Mitchell. You also have to remember that he's a pressure fighter, he would struggle to back up 220+ guys, and defensively he's not all that good and would get caught with a lot of punches if he tried to box from the outside and try and nip in & out with his speed.

I'm not sure how many of the boxers St_Boxing_J12 named I would agree with. No offence to you St, I just don't see guys like McClellan, as good as his chin was, being able to hang with HW's. Especially as I don't regard him to be a boxer of Jones Jr-type capabilities.

An obvious answer would be James Toney. He's already moved up to HW with some success, has a impenetrable defense at times, a cast iron chin and great skills. If he had moved up to HW closer to his prime, and not roided, I'm sure he would of been able to nab a title.

 

Boxing as a southpaw cutie, Hagler might have been able to pull it off with his 75 inch reach and lateral mobility. Toney proved that it was possible for a smaller man to have a heavyweight chin, and Marv may well have had one. Boxers who sparred with both Marv and Saad Muhammad indicated that Hagler was actually the harder puncher. I don't think Mike Spinks was necessarily a total lock to beat Marv.

I don't think Saad could have grabbed a share of the heavyweight gold. He took too much punishment, and bled too easily.

James Scott may well have challenged heavyweights had he not been incarcerated following the murder of Everett Russ in 1975. Even during his residency in Rahway, he was considering this. He was clearly aging by the time he lost to Qawi, but still demonstrated some surprisingly fine lateral movement around the ring perimeter, and did considerably better against Ike than Rossman or Saad. If younger, that mobility would have served him well as a heavyweight.

Hearns had the height, reach, speed and skill to compete with heavyweights. Whether additional weight would have resulted in increased strength and resistance to punishment is another matter.

In this day and age, Duran's body would look like Galento's (as indeed it does), and he'd be competing at around 230 pounds. Roberto was just as filthy with greater skill.

Although Robinson laughingly denied this, I believe that if he had easily decisioned Maxim in cooler temperatures he would have then drawn a bead on former Maxim conquest Walcott. It's natural to assume that the aging Jersey Joe would have killed him, but Robby certainly would have forced him to play the role of an advancing stalker, something outside of Walcott's usual comfort zone.

Strictly speaking, Maxie Rosenbloom did compete as a heavyweight, though he's not generally thought of as one. However, taking liberties here, he did defeat a number of heavyweight title challengers, and could well have snatched the crown between Tunney and Louis if given a shot. Unlike Conn, he would have never tried to knock Joe out, and may have given Louis many of the same headaches that Conn and Pastor provided.

After Mike Rossman upset Galindez, a match between Rossman and Ali was proposed. Considering how badly Ali was deteriorating, and the quality of Rossman's chin (before Ranquello) and jab (best in the division at the time), an upset would have been very feasible if Muhammad had tried defending the title against him in early 1979. (A number of lightheavyweights might have been able to take Ali at that point, but Rossman was the only potential challenger I remember being proposed after Ali/Spinks II.)

 

As usual Duodenum, very good stuff.

 

As always, good to see you. Any rebuttals should be interesting.

Coming up with potential candidates has been a risky challenge, but having thought about it further, I'm reminded that Harold Johnson was going to angle for a shot at Liston if he got by Pastrano. Harold had sparred with Sonny in the past, and was apparently not intimidated by him. However, Willie's evasive jab and run tactics may have held him in better stead with Liston, who could have been penalized some rounds for low blows in a bid to slow Pastrano down. While relatively young, both Johnson and Pastrano were highly seasoned veterans, and Willie especially was geared for the 15 round distance, something Sonny never experienced.

Still trying to think of other prospects, but it's difficult to fantasize about other eras where a lighter weight competitor might have conceivably managed to achieve a feat like this.

 

So you see G-Man beating Bowe, Holy or Moorer around 92-94?
Nunn beating Tyson, Douglas or Holy between 88 and 91?
Saad beating Holmes of 78-81?
Conteh usurping the title from Ali or Holmes?
Tarver beating Lewis, Byrd or Ruiz?

I struggle to see any of them winning a title at heavy in their own times

 

John Ruiz' only chance was to impose his size on Jones. Ruiz was not willing to do that even after the visible effect that his right hand had on Jones in the first round. That simple right hand moved Jones, and proved its effect when Jones responded with a flurry to match it.

There are probably numerous great smaller fighters capable of defeating Ruiz. I have no problem with anyone picking Conn,Tarver, Foster, M. Spinks, Toney(without the steroids), and even Thomas Hearns for that matter.

 

Hagler had the chance for some great fights at LHW. Saad, Qawi, EMM, Johnson and Spinks were all titlists during his reign. While I think hed be an underdog to each of them I give him more chance of upsetting one of these guys than Holmes, Thomas, Page, Spoon, Dokes etc for a heavyweight strap

 

Of those you mentioned only tarver would have had a slight chance if at all and that must have been done against some weak champion like ruiz , or preferably maskaev. i am not saying tarver should have been considerred a favorite against maskaev but if he must choose someone then it's him.

 

Yes, because Tarver is clearly a superior fighter to Conteh (was once a Heavy and was a rumoured Ali opponent in the 70's) and Saad Muhammad (would've got slaughtered at Heavy but would still have a better chance than **** poor Tarver)

 

:rofl at Nunn winning a HW title

 

I'm not going to comment on McClellan simply because I just don't know much about the guy outside of his youtube highlight reel.

I never saw much of Nunn in his Post-Toney TKO loss, so I can't say I'm safe with saying he'd be able to compete at HW. I did read somewhere that he scaled as high as 195lbs (with a 1RD KO win).

Saad was a bit of a miracle machine, so maybe he would give Holmes a run for it, but never take the title (or the win for that matter).

Conteh...maybe he could get a win a la Spinks-Ali I, but never against Holmes.

Tarver has a chance against Ruiz. Against Byrd? Too stiff, this is a fight that Tarver would have to take the win in the rematch (he seemed to enjoy doing that). Against Lewis, he would be out muscled from round 1 on. All of these fights would be a struggle for Tarver either way you look at it from annoying hugger, to slick technician, to natural super heavyweight (with a rangy ***** of a jab).