The standards of being "fat" have changed in boxing...

First off, I am 33...I remember the Holyfield Foreman fight....I also remember Foreman being "fat". However, in looking at his fights again...he really does not strike me as someone I would automatically label as fat, or at least, I would not make it his salient characteristic. Now adays we have so many massive..and fat...linemen in NFL football...and pro heavyweights who are "prime" yet are 6"2 250 yet aren't called "fat". You might notice they arent in great shape if they fight a Klitshcko...but otherwise it goes unnoticed (maybe since everyone else is fat as well).


I really don't have a question so much as hoping for a thoughtful discussion on changing societal standards in the context of boxings past present and future.


Finally, I am reminded of how "Fat Willie Meehan" really just looks like a somewhat out of shape boxer by todays standards.

 

Acceptable weights for heavyweights have definitely changed, and not for the better IMO.

A fighter nowadays is considered in shape if they weigh in the 240s, and I'm not talking about giants but regular sized heavies. In the past that would be considered horribly out of shape.

If a top fighter of the past turned up to a professional fight weighing in the 270s they'd never live it down, yet Solis repeatedly turns up to fights weighing just that much. It was considered a good sign that he got down to the 250s for his title fight against Vitali.

Fans don't consider you a legitimate heavy unless you weigh above 230. A 210-215 guy would be considered a blown-up curiserweight, let alone a fighter like Chambers who can get down to the 200 mark with no problems (this was the same as Louis weighed just for the record).

I will always defend Cruiserweights who choose to fight in the HW division for precisely that reason. Give me a 210 ripped and ready fighter over a trumped up heavybag any day.

 

Another thing: Lennox was considered fat and out of shape against Vitali, but he'd look like an Adonis compared to most fighters nowadays. That was just ten years ago.

 

Foreman in the Holyfield fight is less fat than say Chris Arreola that's for sure.

 

Solis broke 270 once and was in the 240s for Vitali.

There's more to it than just the weight. A fighter can be in shape or out of shape at 240. It's a number.

 

That's because Steward couldn't get his hands in any roids for the training camp, hence the poor performance from Lennox and let's be honest, he deserved the loss. Lewis was like fine wine, he improved with age (that's why a Lennox Lewis now making a comeback would rule the heavyweight division(if he avoided fighting Deontay Wilder that is))

 

Tony Galento. Buster Mathis

 

Chris Arreola, Odlanier Solis, Samuel Peter, Dereck Chisora, James Toney...

 

And Odlanier Solis was most definitely out of shape for every single one of his professional fights.

 

My biggest point is..we have allot of guys who we barley consider out of shape fighting today who would be down right fat as **** if they fought from the start of boxing till the 1970s..and even in the 80s and 90s they would be considred fat..seriously look back at the recent guys Vitali and Wlads have fought, and picture them in the 1960s say...how many would be considered fat?

 

making my point....two guys you picked over a span of 30 years (from the 30s till the late 60s). Both considered fat as **** in a rare kind of way..now we got dozens of guys like that whom most people wouldnt call fat unless they see them standing right next to Wlad (maybe).

 

Peter, Arreola, Solis, Rahman, Charr, Kevin Johnson, probably Shannon Briggs and Dereck Chisora. Gomez and Chambers would be considered chubby, as would Mormeck and Ray Austin.

 

This kind of shows my point. Gomez and Chambers were fat at lower weights--their fitness varying from fight to fight, but neither actually weighed that much. Kevin Johnson is pretty fit at 240. Solis is in decent condition when in the 240s too. Briggs and Chisora hold weight okay. Arreola going into the Vitali fight looked physically shittier than he actually was.

Out of shape would be more like Douglas against Holy, Kirk Johnson against Vitali, Mercer against Ferguson, etc.

 

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Solis had exactly one round to prove how conditioned he was against Vitali. He failed.

 

I know Chambers and Gomez didn't weigh that much, but they were still carrying substantial amounts of extra flesh for their frame.

Kevin Johnson isn't really fat, but he's massively top heavy, and far too stocky for a man his size.

Briggs holds weight about as well as a professional bodybuilder. He completely gasses if he throws so much as a three punch combo. You can't be serious with that point.

Arreola is fitter than he looks. But he looks like a fat slob, so simply being able to move around the ring without falling to the canvas and puking would be an achievement for him. At no point in the past would he have been considered anything other than horribly obese were he to enter the ring the condition he entered it against Vitali.