Super heavyweights before the 90s

Primo Carnera.

 

Gogea Mitu is not only the largest SHW before the 90's, he's still the tallest boxer ever.

 

Buddy Baer
Buster Mathis
Jim Beattie
Ben Mroz
Abe Simon

 

Never heard of him. Was he taller an heavier than Valuev?

 

There were far more really tall HWs in the past than are generally perceived. They just weren't that good. However, few were as heavy as the lot in recent years.

 

Yeah every heavyweight now seems to weigh 240-250 an over. It’s gotta be the Peds

 

Yes. 7ft 4ins and 330lbs according to Boxrec - https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/58451

 

Just curious, what exact height/weight would you say qualifies a fighter to be a super heavyweight? Would a guy like Buster Mathis Sr. fit into that category? He was 6'3" (no taller than Ali), and a blubbery 240+. I'm imagine it being something like 6'5" 230 and beyond, but not sure how others define it exactly...

 

Superheavyweights were not rare before the 90s they were rare in specific windows from 1945-1965 and pre 1914. It really comes down to tall men from one generation not boxing as much.

Weights were way lower across the board before the 90s but even then you had your 21st century weights it was just an archetype instead of what was expected.

My definition of a suprehavyweight is someone above 6'2 or 6'3.

 

There were potential Super heavyweights in the 80s they were just weren't overweight or excessively bulked like Tucker, Cooney, Smith, Green, Joe Bugner, etc, there were lot more 6'4+ guys that people remember like Eddie Greg or James Broad, but they weren't toothpicks like Earnie Terell. Before the 80s there were plenty of tall guys but they mostly sucked and weren't as stocker as guys today

There was actually someone who was 7'4 in the 1960s, John Rankin i think.

 

6'6 seems to have always been an important boundary. Now matter how rare 6'6 fighters were at a given time they have always been much more common then 6'7 and above. This seems to be the point where extra height starts working against you even today.

Of the +6'6 group a large amount are 6'7 and taller then 6'7 is much rarer then that.

 

There were even a few of them in the bare knuckle era.

 

Isaac Perrins was 6’2 240, Ned O’Baldwin was 6’5-7 and was between 206-220 (Prof Mike Donovan said that Ned’s lower weight benefitted him and made him “as easy in motion as a butterfly)

Not sure if Charles Freeman counts as a boxer but he was like 6’11 250 when he fought Perry

 

Mike “” The Giant “ white was 6’10” and about 260 lbs during the 1980s