Why did heavyweight boxers suddenly get bigger

Probably a combination of our species growing in size and also specialization.

It is interesting that Willard was the biggest champion for almost 100 years.

 

Cheap answer but most likely steroids for me. Big buff men have always existed - abe simon, jess willard etc. These men, while still displaying underrated skills, on film seem to exhibit the coordination and athleticism of 2 year olds. The timing of the phenomenon is very suspicious, i believe that is what you are alluding to with the stuff about bodybuilders. Have you seen the average 6'4"+ man who doesnt take steroids? The rare specimen is able to be fairly athletic while being skinny, or he is big and fat and moves slower than a turtle. Very big men can be strong, fast, well coordinated and well versed. But they cannot have all the attributes without taking a lil something

 

Reminds me of this fat pig-like fellow who always proudly referred to himself as the big man in the office when he was actually morbidly obese. Of course that's not the type of non-athletic bigness that we are referring to in reference to HW boxers.

 

It's evolution through the food we eat mainly I think. Why do we have 13/15 year old kids in school on the football team that are 6'3" and 250lbs? Unthinkable when I was 13, and nobody I knew or even heard of was remotely that big.
Same goes for the 13/15 year old girl who looks like a fully developed woman... They werent around in my time... Now you better be sure of who you're looking at.

People are maturing faster and getting bigger. More big people are athletic and fall into those activities.
Look at literally any other sport; everyone is bigger, faster, etc.

All this steroid-injected meat and genetically altered food has a lot to do with it I'm sure.


I'll add that the men and women were stronger and fitter because they had to walk everywhere... No elevators, you had to kill/prepare your own food much more, you had so much more manual labor in everyday life. Today's people are lazy and sedentary for the most part.

 

The considerable weight increase during the 1980s at heavyweight was partly due to the transition from 15 to 12 rounds, I would imagine.

 

Humans are still evolving and are on average way taller than Louis`s day, look at tennis players, that`s why these big serves are messing up great players, God knows what humans will look like in the future.

 

The mass monster era in bodybuilding really started with Dorian Yates in the early 90s. Most agree that this was due to heavy use of insulin and GH, as the guys were on pretty much the same anabolic compounds since the mid 60s. In boxing, you see a lot of taller, heavier guys now, but a lot of them are out of shape, as opposed to being overly lean and muscular. I'm sure there are plenty of heavyweights doping, but I don't think it is the real driver of the increase in size overall.

 

somehow bigger guys started to get into boxing. Can you imagine is Shaquille ONeal would have had a long boxing career. He is fast and I think he would have been good.

 

You're looking for the word "epigenetics" not "evolution."

 

You know he boxed Mosley and Oscar right? It should be on YouTube.

 

Not evolution. Epigenetics.

 

In the 1980s there was a major change in training ethos.

Before that heavyweights basically tried to get their weight as low as possible.

In the 1980s it was realized that heavyweights could bulk up without major consequences.

Michael Spinks was the pioneer of this new training method, though this is seldom acknowledged.

As others have said, there seems to have already been an upward trend in place by the 1970s.

I guess we have to chalk that up to the increase in the average height.