Why does size matter?

Jack Dempsey? The most ruthless fighter of the roaring 20s? flame of pure fire? Without commitment and dedication? Are you sure?

I'm all for people having their own views. I'm all for people's being entitled to their own opinion...

But It must be an informed opinion. you need to know a bit more about the great fighters you write off!

 

To beat them you have to fight them.

 

I've never considered him a LHW before you mentioned it.

 

I've never considered him a LHW before you mentioned it.

 

My point is I don't think he would have had the determination to bulk up intelligently like Holyfield did. Dempsey being a better CW than Holyfield is very debatable in itself if we are being fully honest here.

 

what's this based on? You think Dempsey lacked determination and intelligence?

Holyfeild did not create the ability all by himself to develop his body from 177lb to 226lb he had a whole team of hi-tech experts and conditioners with university degrees working on him. Different trainers working on different parts of his body. Teams of doctors. Nutrition experts. Catering staff.. all working full time with Mr Holyfeild. ..And so would Jack Dempsey.

 

Of course it's debatable, most everything outside of stats are.

For me, Dempsey is the best CW sized fighter in history.

 

Wasn't he the same fighter that took a dive, didn't defend his title for 3 years? With todays luxuries would Dempsey have that fire inside?

 

Dempsey came out of the wild west. You had to be disciplined just to eat. As what would be a child today he hoboed around, riding the rods alone as a tough kid taking what ever work he could find in mining towns. Fighting for pass the hat in saloons just to make ends meet. Yes I'd say that kid made success of himself through a positive mental attitude, self discipline and delusional ruthless belief in himself.

Applying all that focus into the steriod programmes of today that guy would be ike Ibeabuchis ******.

 

So even with these steroid programmes of today why aren't we seeing blown up CW's dominating the division? No matter how much he bulked up Dempsey would still be a small HW would he not.....

 

Son, the way you're viewing boxing should lead to discussions about Dempsey vs Ward, not Dempsey vs Ike.

 

why aren't we seeing blown up CW's dominating the division? There are possibly a lot of reasons. Mostly, Nobody wants to give away weight. Since Weight is a big factor for all body sizes there becomes a point where a weight advantage stops being an advantage at all and for shorter guys within a weight class it becomes a disadvantage quicker than big guys. Simply put, In a race to "out bulk" the other the taller man can carry more before it hinders him. For example, 250 probably is just too much for six footers to be functional.

Another factor might be SHW tactics itself. Size neutralizing skill. The division is all about long arms now. Grab and jab. The extra weight effects tempo so each inch of reach counts like it never did before. Out of all the divisions in Boxing it is at heavyweight where it is less likely to see a shorter fighter overcome a reach disadvantage. I wonder if the extra effort required is too much for the tempo set by big men.

another example I can think that might keep smaller heavyweights at a disadvantage is the absence of 6oz gloves. Bigger gloves offer more cover to shield blows creating less target. This aids both guys but the smaller guy is working harder trying to make an impression anyway and trying to penetrate the target with bigger gloves just handicaps the little guy more than before because the big guy isn't working so hard not getting hit. The weight of heavyweights increased with each increase of glove size. Smaller the glove the faster a guy has to be to avoid getting hit.

 

So basically Dempsey even when bulked up wouldn't really be big enough to have a significant impact in the division..... back to LH it is then.

 

Dempsey with 6oz gloves knocks SHW guys out now. There's not that much talent out there. Why would anybody pick Ortiz or Stivern over Dempsey?