Who were the best 270+ pound fighters of all time?

Nicolay Valuev is one of the best, he is well beyond 270 pounds as well

 

Primo Carnera fought over 270 lbs a few times, didn't he? I think he was much maligned, partly due to racial prejudice, partly due to mob connections, partly because of his ugly style, and partly because the idea of a heavyweight that big was inherently ridiculous for many old-timers. "How could he possibly move and box for 20 rounds?", they must have asked themselves.

Valuev is a level down from Carnera, but still is decent. Chagaev and Ruiz exposed his weakness to short (by modern standards) boxers with decent foot-movement, but I think anyone looking to trade with Valuev is getting into a lot of trouble. It's not that he's a big puncher, but it's his durability and strength which has made him so effective. His work ethic helps as well, which is why he's able to have operational stamina despite his bulk.

At another level down and a very different build, we find Danny Williams. At his best I'd say he was a legitimate top 15 boxer (maybe even top 10) and was always a game, dangerous opponent. As he showed in his last fight, even past his prime, underprepared and with everything against him he can turn in a fearsome performance. He's one of the bravest heavyweights we've seen in recent years, whether it was fighting on his way to a win over Mark Potter despite his shoulder hanging well out of its socket (to the point where his hand was near his ankle) or being seemingly impossible to keep down against Vitali Klitschko. He kept off the butterflies to beat a still-feared Tyson when no-one gave him a chance and won one of the most brutal British heavyweight title fights in living memory against Matt Skelton.

Beyond that, the only boxers I can think of to be over 270 lbs are washed up older boxers (like Riddick Bowe), fringe contenders (Craig Payne, Sonny Barch) or freak shows (Eric "Butterbean" Esch).

 

Kevin Mcbride

 

Danny's fat ass should of stayed from 220-230 though

 

Lets be honest we have: Old Shannon Briggs, McCline, Valuev, fat Danny WIlliams and Carnera. Nothing to write home about

 

Leroy Jones wasn't too bad, losing to Larry Holmes in a title bid and beating Mike Weaver along the way. He didn't weight consistently above 270 though, although he did exceed the weight a few times.

Ewart Potgieter was over 7' tall and weighed 320 odd pounds. He wasn't too shabby but he was certainly no world beater. He lost rather embarrasingly to a journeyman called John Holman who was over 100 lbs. lighter.

Frankly, the pickings are rather slim...Shannon Briggs sucked at 270.

 

Journeyman? John Holman was a consistent top 10 contender throughout the 1950s, in fact according to some of my articles the Marciano Camp and Holman were in negotiations for a world title shot in 1956 for marcianos 50th fight. Holman at the time was rated 4th. I have Holman on film vs E charles, Holman had skills. Holman beat a lot of good fighters, he was certainly not a journeyman. He was always fighting tough competition. Anyway thats off topic, but I thought I should respond.


I think a Leroo Jones is a bit overlooked, he beat mike weaver easier than holmes did

 

Kevin Mcbride. Watch out, hes back.

 

In that case, I apologise. I had no idea Holman was a good fighter.

 

:good

 

I've heard about him as well. Have you ever seen him? How do his defence , speed and skills in general look?

 

I'd seen that before and didnt really take much from it (one round against a limited fighter). Is that the way he fights normally? He was standing very square on and punches were not coming back to his chin. If he fights like that all the time he will get KO'd at some point. If he was just being lazy against poor opposition then fiar enough I suppose