Was Muhammad Ali's 60s era really that strong?

Heavyweight is the weight class that size matters least in. Everybody is big and muscular. There is a reason that there is no weight limit at heavyweight. A 10-20 lb weight difference is practically nothing. Take a Light welter and match him up against a middleweight then size starts to play a big role.

Floyd was not too small...the peekaboo/bob and weave style is literally designed to make you a smaller/harder to hit target.

Jess Willard would have whooped Valuev. Willard was better in every way.

 

Sure he is, sure.

 

You keep mentioning all our great fighters atm haven't been "tested"

When you just claim Aj hasn't been "tested" what's tested to you ???

Serious question, does one have to be in a tough fight, or be knocked down and or have a come from behind win???

 

Why can't people who dislike Ali just admit that he was great??? I dislike Floyd Mayweather but I'll be damn to say his era was weak and his skills are overrated!

Same goes for Tom Brady, I can't stand that SOB but he will probably be The Greatest Of All Time!

 

Get your facts straight before you ask a question.

 

Ali was still great, no question about it from me. Having modern heavyweight dimensions while fighting guys who'd be Cruiserweights and LHW's today also worked in his favor: 68% of his fights in the 60's (20 out of 29) were against guys 205 or less on fight night.

A fighter can't control his era, but the talent pool wasn't there to support two divisions of 200 pound and up fighters. It was shallow enough that everyone over 175 was a heavyweight, and the division still wasn't particularly notable.

I've seen a lot of complaining about the heavyweight division today and people pining for the "good old days". My solution- watch Cruiserweights and call them "classic heavyweights". Imagine what the "Heavyweight" division in the 1960's would've looked like if everyone 200 pounds and under were instead filtered into a Cruiserweight division (with many of the 205 guys deciding to drain down to it, to boot). Conversely, consider how deep heavyweight would look today if all the Cruiserweights were blended back in with it.

 

Frazier had a difficult time with out of shape 6'3 240 Mathis ,the 80's were an extention to those type of fighters but they were better than Mathis. Frazier was not 210 ,he was at his best at 205 .Holmes was more solid in the 80's.

 

Ali was roughly Foreman sized but not as wide. Foreman even today would look impressive I feel.

 

? Hw is the division where size matters most. Every other division the fighter weigh virtually the same when they fight( or else one is drained). Hw is the only one where there can be a meaningful weight advantage. And that shows in the data, showing, heavier fighters usually win.

 

NO, or they would have made another division.

Its the division where proportion means the effects of weight differences are most marginal

 

You are his alt?

 

Another clueless poster. Thanks for your contributions.....

 

No, you're getting "divisions" mixed up with "weights". 20 pounds matters less above 200 than below, most certainly. But that's why there are divisions dividing fighters. At a lower division, you can't HAVE a twenty pound difference. You can only have a few pound difference. That means weight matters more in both real and proportionate terms in hw division than any other division.

 

They did. It's called Cruiserweight.