What's the biological optimal size for heavyweight? Is it 6'3, 220lb with a 78 inch reach?

Kabayel is same height as Chisora
6'1.5 max
Parker is 6ft3 according to celebheights
Dubois is 6ft4

 

That’s even more damning. Kabayel is 6’1 and still beat one of the biggest heavyweight contenders in Zhang.

 

Wlad isn’t a fair pick to discuss here. You’re picking an ATG who is one of the best punchers the sport has seen. I’m pretty sure that Earnie Shavers would have zero issue hurting these big guys.

I do agree that the ideal would be an athletic big guy. You just picked an outlier though.

 

Because the boxing gods gave Wlad a glass jaw to make things a bit more fair.

 

Granite chin and huge punch. You adjust your style to your height and reach.

 

"Of course Ali get's KO'd in three rounds max against Wlad, it would be comical."

It could happen if Wlad landed a left hook or three in quick succession but given Wlad's record it's not likely. The best fighter he stopped inside the first half was Pulev and Pulev stood opposite to him jabbing with an ineffective defence, Ali would at least be running around.

Povetkin could have beaten Wlad if he was 1. as juiced as he was post-Wlad 2. didn't have a referee who permitted Wlad to molest him. In a shootout with Wlad, Povetkin has more composure and the better chin, he's also far more skilled than Brewster.

Wlad has marginally less height and reach than Joshua and look what happened in Usyk-Joshua 1, it was a 9-3 with Joshua having nothing left at the end and Usyk having plenty left in the tank. Usyk also schooled Wlad in a round of sparring just before he got schooled by Fury. Usyk has never been dropped by a chin shot, at least on camera and I've never heard of it, so his chin is likely better than Vitali's or on the same level. Usyk is vastly superior to Sultan, who drew with Austin when out of shape, which would never happen to Usyk.

Steward talked about Wlad's weaknesses and implied that someone with Usyk's style and attributes (though he didn't know Usyk) would be a serious problem for Wlad.

 

Another way to look at it would be to think if Wlad, Lewis, Joshua etc were 6'3 and under would they have had anywhere near the success they had? Also even 6'2 to 6'3 guys are way more common than 6'5+ yet we see more taller guys in having success at a higher level despite how much rarer they ultimately are.

Being taller and bigger definitely helps up to a point where diminishing returns start to kick in and seems to be around that 6'5 mark. Sure there are guys like Usyk who are on the "smaller" side, but they have to work much harder and be more skilled to make up for it. For example there are about 20 times more men in the 6'1 - 6'3 range compared to the 6'5 - 6'7 range yet we see way more boxers at the higher level in the latter.

 

That's generally true. But again, if we're talking about current boxing (this isn't the classic forum) it's a fact that Usyk is an outlier size wise.

Most present day CWs are really historical sized HWs but they don't want to face the 240+ lbs HWs that tend to sit on top of the ranking now, despite the edge they'd have in agility.

 

Wlad is like 6'6 or 6'6.5 more than 6'5.

 

Ruleset also has an impact. Longer distances favour smaller men. If Heavyweight titles were contested over 15+ rounds again, you would see the fighters come in lighter. Likewise, if the distance was shortened to 10 or even 8 rounds, you would see them try coming in even bigger and more explosive than they do currently. I would say Usyk is an ideal mix of size and perfectly optimizing his body and boxing style.

If you go back in the past, where 20, 45 rounders and finish fights were prevalent, you see increasing success from small guys with massive size disparities.

 

Ali at his best in the 60s weighed around 210. When he weighed 220 in the 70s, he was past his best an his legs an fast footwork had gone

 

Bigger is always better, until it starts to have too much of a negative impact on agility and so on. e.g. the ideal height for a sprinter was always reckoned to be about 5'9" to 6'2", until Usain Bolt came along at 6'5".

I think for an outside fighter or counterpuncher anything below 6'5" is getting really low, though I accept that the relatively short Usyk's style contains elements of both of these.

For more of a brawler or pressure fighter I'm less sure. I still think there's room for a lot of different heights and builds.

 

I think they want to fight those giants , because even if they lose, it'll still be a big payday. Where else will they get that kind of money? This is professional boxing.

 

I think taller HWs are better heavier while shorter fighters are better lighter(within reason). I think part of why smaller guys aren't as successful now at HW is they carry too much weight to bridge the deficit with your 6 ft 6 250 pounder. And its easier for 6 ft 6 250 pounder to beat someone with the build of a Joseph Parker then a Usyk.

Now if a fighter is trying to knockout their HW opponents like Tyson its a little different and they need the power to stop a bigger opponent and its not really a choice. But even someone like Langford seems to have been his best at HW at 165 pounds. His opponents were a little smaller then and later on Langford was facing Wills and a few opponents a whole foot taller then him. Maybe Langford needed the 30-40 pounds to knockout superheavyweights but there is no question in terms of outboxing someone(not survival) the smaller guy is better served being lanky. If the size difference is such they can't handle that then theres weight classes for a reason.

 

Actually not true. Usyk, Parker, Kabayel, Andy Ruiz, Chisora are all good but undersize for heavyweight. Therefore it is not right to bet on these lol