The Baer's Were HUGE

Yawn. Give it up. You are the only one believing this tripe.

Liston was great despite not being a giant. That is good enough. He does not need tall tales and exaggeration to embellish his accomplishments.

 

Byrd is clearly a natural heavyweight now. He has enough muscle, but is hardly a mini-Mike Tyson. He has a small amount of fat covering his body, but is not fat in the slightest.

He is obviously a natural heavyweight. Some people just mature differently, which is why people like Tyson reach their physical primes so early. Byrd was just a small guy who took time to fill out.

The height and body fat percentage between Liston and Byrd is very close. Both men are very similar physically. Accept it.

(By the way, Polymath, your posts are awful :good)

 

Right on.


It's also funny how people think Byrd has plastic muscle or something. I mean if it isn't natural size, then what is it? Fake tissue? Or is he wearing a skin colored harnas over his middelweight frame to appear like a heavyweight?

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YES, IN BIG CAT'S 15TH FIGHT 5 YEARS BEFORE HE FOUGHT SONNY. CLEVELAND WAS ACTUALLY A SUBSTITUTE AND HAD ONE WEEKS NOTICE.

 

Synthol.

 

Wlad measured arm length by HBO is a joke. Even Lampley has made fun of it, as they have Wlad down for 26", and Vitlai down for 29 1/2". I think these numbers are off for Wlad. I disagree a tad regarding the importance of arm length from the pit of the arm to the fist. It is very important and is a better way of measuring striking distance than boxing's traditional reach, which is measured from fingertip to finger tip.

Agreed. Wlad was an outsider for many years. He was not James Toney or Roy Jones. ie, people who boxing was " looking " out for. Wlad had to be squeaky clean, and has always tested clean as a pro.

Disagree a tad. Liston had bigger legs, arms, less fat, wider shoulders, a bigger neck, bigger fists, etc... Liston was not small. He was compact with some big measurements.

 

That's the thing. I never called Liston small. All i did was state that Liston's height and weight are equal to Byrd's, and then people come on WTF#*&%@#*( you calling Liston small for! Apparantly, Byrd is considered too small to compete today, but at the same time, Liston is a giant that crushes anyone. Or something.

 

Liston would be dwarfed by guys like Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko's. I'm not saying he would lose to those guys, but he would look overmatched in terms of size. Byrd looked like a little kid fighting either Klitschko, and Sonny was the same height as Byrd. Judging by normal standards, Sonny Liston was a big guy. Even today, the average American male is 5 feet 9 inches and about 170 pounds; that's average. Liston was a big guy compared to an average guy, but he was not a big heavyweight!

 

It is a misleading comparison.

Byrd is a light heavy/ cruiser who has bulked up to 210 lbs while Liston is a natural 210 pounder who would not be able to get his weight down as low as Byrd would.

Also weight and height can be misleading for a number of reasons. Liston for example clearly has some abnormal proportions in terms of reach chest size and fist size.

If Liston were around today he would probably come in at 230 lbs or so. On the other hand it is not unthinkable that he might have had a stint at cruiserweight early in his career.

 

Oh I see. I always get a kick out of some saying Byrd is too small, yet his best weight at heavyweight was 210, and guys like Demspey, Louis, and Marciano are never seen as too small, even though each man's best weight is about 10 pounds or more below Bryd's.

I do feel Liston would be around 220-230 lbs if he was a modern fighter, and perhaps a shade taller.

 

I think that when a heavyweight is "small" the key equalizers are power and durability. Byrds problem is not so much that he is small but that he lacks one of the key equalizers.

 

I agree. I would also add speed as a must have for a smaller heavy, but not quite as much as a must have as power and durability.

 

Agreed.

 

Yes they were......**** off ThinBla....wait..it´s not ThinBlack this time....

 

any time guys get called into the ring you do have to consider the fact that dress shoes of that era often had a hell that have you some extra height...were as boxing shoes are flat as could be.