Successful HW/Cruiser fighters under 6' tall

I can not think of any ranked 20 today less than six feet tall. Manes TOney was the last one, and he deserves an *


None of the best heavyweight amateurs are under 6' feet either. This likely gives us the next ten years of boxing, which likely means we will not see a champ under 6' feet tall any time soon.

Maybe we will see a heavyweight champ under six feet tall before Hailey’s comet returns.

 

Well in the last decade we've had Toney/RJJ/Tyson/Tua

 

Yes, but I was referring the #1 heavy. Only Tyson did that. If you are a short heavyweight, you seem to need great power to beat ranked guys.

I suppose Jones did beat Ruiz. Yes, but Jones might have been juicing, and for once there was a ref in there that prevented Ruiz from doing his usually grab and jab stick.

 

Yes, linear heavyweight champions of the "gloved era" listed as sub-6' have been rare, not surprisingly. Including Sullivan, they are :

John L Sullivan
Bob Fitzsimmons
Marvin Hart
Tommy Burns
Rocky Marciano
Floyd Patterson
Joe Frazier
Mike Tyson

* Only 8 in close to 120 years. Hart and Burns were very possibly not legit the "top guy" anyway, so that would make it 6 or 7 only.

 

That's setting the bar of "successful" pretty high, though. After all, there has only been one heavyweight over 6"4 to hold the linear championship in the last seventy years, but no-one doubts that there have been numerous successful superheavyweights in the last seventy years.

Many think Toney beat Rahman for the WBC title, which under a criterium you used to use would had made him the linear heavyweight champion. Toney also beat Peter in their first fight in the eyes of many (myself not included) as well as beating Ruiz for the WBA title. While he had steroids in his aid he also had the handicap of being a fat *******, which brings us to a boxer who was not a fat *******-

I think it's silly to bring up "may have been juicing" when there is absolutely no evidence of that claim. Many people say that Wlad juices, but I think they're full of **** and I think the same was true in the case of Roy Jones, which was why I think he ended up as an exceptionally small mini-heavyweight for the day. Jones basically did to Ruiz what no-one else has done since Tua: beat him comprehensively and without any doubt. He certainly looked a lot more impressive than Valuev.

I'm amazed that people hold it against Jones that he made sure the ref officiated the fight properly. Jones also made sure that HBO and co. hyped Ruiz up so that Ruiz fought unusually cleanly, by his standard. Even if Jones hadn't done this, I doubt the jab-and-grab style would have worked much against Jones, since it's hard to grab something that you can't catch a hold of.

The main reason there hasn't been many suh-6" heavyweights who have been successful is that there haven't been many sub-6" heavyweights. Part of this, at least, is the fact that there is a cruiserweight division which they are more likely to be in, especially since the cruiserweight limit was raised to 200 lbs. As Jones proved, sometimes the best strategy isn't to bulk up (like Tua or Toney) but to stay slim and mobile, taking advantage of the fact that a smaller target is a harder target.

 

I disagree. Lewis and Bowe were both over 6'4" tall and lineal champions. I did say #1 gun, and both Klitschkos were that. One is 6'6", the other 6'7".

Toney had a tough fight with a washed up Jirov. I think he began to juice after that fight, but we do not know for sure. We do know he juiced for the Ruiz fight. Peter got the better of Toney in the total amount of rounds fought.

Jones admitted though his attorney using a banned substance. Did he really hit that hard naturally? I do think the ref played a role in Ruiz vs Jones. Had the ref allowed Ruiz to fight his fight, its a lot closer.

Jones would not fight Tua, Lewis, Sanders, or Klitschko. These fights were makeable and in the press. Jones knew better not to take them. Fighting at heavyweight is not easy.

My theory ( and I think I am correct ) is if your short, lighter, and have less reach, in the havyweight divsionn you had better have some serious power and a grade " A " chin. Jones had neither at heavyweight. Toney had the chin, but even with ROIDS, his power was average at best.

Who were the last two great sub 6' heavies? Tyson and Tua. Ok was not great. But my point is this? What top assets did they have? The power and the chin. If you want to go far back, we can use Sullivan or Marciano. Same thing.