What is the fixation of weight on the heavyweights of the past?

Yes a 180 pound hard hitting man can knockout most men over 200 lbs if he lands a good enough bomb to the jaw or applies tons of pressure. I don't think anyone is disputing this. People are not saying if Rocky or Dempsey put everything that had into one big punch and landed on a modern sized guy that the modern guy would just shrug it off without blinking and not get hurt at all. They're saying they're not sure how effective they would be in an actual boxing match against a modern sized guy who has world class skill. Because like it or not, size is an asset if the bigger guy knows how to use it, and if he is skilled it can be a big deciding factor in the matchup. It's a matter of both size AND style AND skill. A smaller slick guy like Billy Conn would fight totally differently from a come forward aggressive guy like Tom Sharkey, so comparing the two in a fantasy fight would be pointless.

Power is one thing, delivering it is a completely different subject. The question is would a 180 pound man be able to DELIVER that power consistently on a 200+ man throughout a match where the bigger guy can use his long arms, height, timing, speed, defense, etc to his advantage. Fighting bozo the bum who is 200+ and 6 ft+ doesn't mean much if they have dozens of losses and there is a big gap in skill. Fighting a world class fighter 6 ft+ and 200+ lbs of functional weight gives us a much better idea if their power is effective against modern sized guys.

The opposite is also true. If a modern sized guy beat a boxer who is a smaller old school cruiserweight sized fighter, it doesn't tell us much if the cruiserweight is a bum with like 10+ losses and not much skill. Beating someone skilled like Oleksander Usyk would be far more telling.

The problem is many old school heavyweights who are under 200 pounds do not have that many world class guys on their record who are over 200 lbs of functional weight with elite skill. That is why the debate rages and goes nowhere almost every single time and end up being 50 page discussions.

 

Fighters do work hard today. It’s just a different physical landscape we are living in right now. No worse. Just different.

it’s often technically different too. Certainly Physically different.

I have all the time in the world and respect for the great fighters of today. Yes they are great. But they are also different.

A great fight is still a great fight. If it takes place now or yesteryear. We should never lose sight of this.

 

If it wasn't, guys wouldn't do them.

 

Well, do you think that Bivol and Beterbiev could go up to HW and dominate? If you don't you're as weight fixated as the rest of us.

 

You think Beterbiev could be as good at HW as he is at LHW then? He's probably 190+ in the ring (competed at 200 lbs as an amateur).

 

Ignorance and arrogance

 

Well I guess it just boils down to how much you enjoy fantasy matchups. If it isn't your thing, then it really doesn't matter at all if old school guys have modern sized guys on their resume and vice versa because as you said, they can only fight the guys available.

 

No, while PEDs have added functional weight, it is done with resistance training & diet too.
And sometimes without any drugs.
Height & the number of people on earth & with access to sports & good knowledge, nutrition & training have nothing to do withd rugs.

Which are a factor-but only sometimes, with some.
Assuming wiuthout any decent evidence that even most are cheaters & liars-is deeply irrational & unfair.
Logically if you had less people, & few lifted due to fears of getting musclebound, knowing less about excercise physiology, with slightly smaller frames...

Of course strength & power sports would have people having more functional muscle weight, even if PEDs were never invented!
That does not even consider how rule changes like shorter fights & larger goves & not enforcing excess clinching rules favor bigger men.

Anyone is theoretically capable of KOing anyone.
It is less likely, all other things being equal, when they are smaller.
Considering day before weigh ins....A 180 lbs. man is at most an average SMW today.

There are many HWs who are seldom knocked out. A few never, someone like McCall never even DOWN.
Think *any* SMW ever would be likely to even have a good record fighting even half way decent modern HWs?

Some are size queens & make it about everything.
Some are the opposite & (sometimes due tio ego & over-identification with certain fighters & considering their own sizes)...
Are the opposite, & deny or laughably minimize the importance of size.

 

I agree with you that the top of the division BS from Joshua and Fury has grown old. It's very frustrating to see how long this unification clash has been drawn out but I do think they they are both talented fighters.

I have to be honest though, I am really hoping that Uysk does what I think he is going to do and beat Joshua later this year. Richard, I'm not sure how much of Uysk you have seen but the guy is incredibly good and most importantly, willing to fight anyone. He completely cleaned out the Cruiserweight division which was pretty darn solid. I will acknowledge he has been somewhat uneven in his heavyweight fights so far but it is clear that he has the skill set to do something special at Heavyweight.