Short Power Punchers Against Taller Fighters...

I'm not really.

Willard was fat as a pig but even if he came in super fit ie the version that beat Johnson I'd still back Dempsey to knock him out in similar fashion,especially without the neutral corner rule.Willard was as slow as treacle and a defensive clutz which would always make him meat against Dempsey no matter how much height advantage he had.

 

Carl Williams height advantage did him no good against Mike Tyson.

 

Fair enough.

I do agree that tall fighters do have a natural advantage over small punchers but my point is that the really great ones can transcend this.

Although since Tyson (with the exception of Holyfield) the truly dominant Heavies have kept getting bigger,so there's definate merit in your observations.

 

All Tua had to do for Lewis to win the fight was do nothing.

If you are the shorter guy it is entirely down to you to make the fight.

 

Was he as active as he needed to be?

Was he ultimately willing to pay the price to press his attack?

In the Byrd fight the answer to these questions is a resounding no.

 

I'll never forget the look on the "invincible" Tua's face when little featherfist Byrd started working that body.

 

On Tucker and Green going the distance with Tyson - i think Tyson's opposition (especially when he was at his peak) on average is one of the tallest that any champion ever fought. So, there can be little surprise that the ones going the distance were also tall fighters. It wasn't their height that set them apart, but their durability and survival ability. Quick Tillis also went the distance via smart boxing and good but not extraordinary durability; he was 6'1.

That said, i do think a height difference is a significant and hard factor to overcome, especially when it's 3 inches or more. Anything more than that, and you're almost bound to lose the boxing match, and you have to make it a fight. So, you need a lot of punching power (which most short heavies have), a good chin and a lot of fighting heart, because you're fighting uphill all the time, and everytime you relax, your opponent is inevitably scoring points.

 

It's quite different for the heavies than it is for restricted weight classes, too. Taller guys in lower weight classes almost always sacrifice something in comparison to a shorter fighter of the same weight. How many super-tall guys south of HW have had big power, speed, and durability?

The heavyweights, on the other hand, can see (hypothetically) a 6'8 280lb big banger up against a 6'0 205lb fighter. Added weight doesn't always equal bigger punching power, but there seems to be a fairly strong correlation between size (weight) and strength.

At say, LW, one can expect that with a height disadvantage comes at least some advantages, such as power, durability, strength, etc. That's not the case in the unlimited division.

 

True, but on the flipside, as you go higher than, say, 6'5" 230lbs, athletic ability and progress in power/durability goes up only by a small amount.
Heavies over 220lbs haven't shown to be particularly more durable than 220lbs heavies. And a guy weighing 210+lbs has enough power to take any man out, whereas a hard hitting welterweight usually is no more than a "decent" hitting middleweight.