Were 200lb Heavyweights considered small?

Larry Holmes vs Mike Weaver 215 lbs vs 202 lbs 1979

I don't consider these small heavyweights for the time, I get the feeling a lot of people here would though

 

Larry is a cranky guy.

 

Lol

 

Larry holmes is the last modern hw to talk about size or weight,he was built like a fragile manthis narrow and thin,and he weighed even 188 pounds when he was around 24,in 6'3 1/2 of height lol,and usually weighed 209 in his peak hardly any bigger than louis

 

Joe Louis was six feet one and a half inches tall .

Source Joe Louis .

 

In the 1940's-1950's it was common for light heavyweights to move up in class and either win the title or do very well at heavyweight. So I'd say anything under 170 pounds was considered small back then, yet Billy Conn did a number on Joe Louis in the first fight, and he was under 170 pounds.

In modern times, 200 pounds was considered a small heavyweight around 1980. Mike Spinks was the last light lineal champion under 210 pounds. 30 years have passed. The 190-210 pound heavyweight champion has become a thing of the past.

These days pretty much anything under 210 and you're a cruiserweight who drops ten pounds then re-hydrates. I must say the modern cruiser weight division has some nice depth and talent!

 

Frazier was proud of being a natural heavyweight and being the last sub 200lbs Heavyweight Champion. His weight dropped from the time of the weigh in for Mathis.

 

6'1" is a tall height. It was tall during Louis' reign as champion, and it's still a tall height today. The majority of the world's population is well under 6 feet tall, so a guy who is 6'1" is on the tallish side. I think it's funny how many people today label guys Louis' size, or Ali's size, or Liston's size as being small. In today's world, where so many guys are into bodybuilding and bulking up, the big behemoth guys seems to set the standard as to what is big or not. Then you have the 6'5, 6'6, 6'7 heavyweights floating around, so people start expecting all heavyweights to be that tall. They then label guys who are 6'2-6'3 as being small, which they are not. They are just not giants like some of these guys.

 

And Holmes was a skinny guy. He had a slender, narrow body frame. Many of the past heavyweight champions were built naturally bigger than was Holmes. And later in his career, when he started to gain weight, Holmes had a very weird looking body.