??No one would even remotely say that the giant Tyson Fury is near the fighter that Marciano was, but his sheer size would more than likely be quite an obstacle for Marciano to overcome. Matter of fact, Marciano probably fought only two quality fighters who ever weighed more than 200lbs and they were an overweight, old Joe Louis and the bloated Don Cockell?On?line poster
Good big fighters always top little ones? ?Max Kellerman
??enough Geritol makes anything from the old days seem better than modern reality. Why can?t old folks accept that everything improves as time marches on???On-line poster
Now that Wladimir has finally lost, the aptly named Klit-haters are roaming the boxing sites like a pack of mad dogs as they continue to spew their collective venom against anything ?big.? However, they conveniently seem to overlook the fact that Wlad?s conqueror was 6?9.? They also skip by Deontay Wilder?s 6?7? and Anthony Joshua?s 6?6?.
Belarusian Kubrat Pulev is a solid fighter with a strong amateur background, but at 6’4″ he gives up a tad of size to the giants. Nordic giant Robert Helenius is back and doesn?t give up size nor does newcomer Charles Martin at 6?5?. Touted 6?4? Joseph Parker is undefeated but has yet to be truly tested, while relatively small Ukrainian Vyacheslav Glazkov has thus far passed all tests and will soon meet Martin. Big Lucas Browne will be tested on March 5 when he meets 5?11? Ruslan Chagaev for the WBO title in Grozny. At 6?3?, brash and comebacking David Haye also seems short in the scheme of things.
Louis Ortiz (my personal favorite along with Alexander Povetkin) seems to have the talent, power, size, and pedigree to beat anyone on any given night. He remains relaxed, calm and patient like the skilled (and decorated) veteran he is?waiting for just the right time to end matters explosively.
Like Ortiz, Povetkin has the all-around equipment to capture a title from one of these monsters. Indeed, as they keep on coming from Eastern Europe and strangely from the U.K., a new generation of big and tall heavyweights who have technical skill and coordination has settled in to become the new normal fulfilling a sage prophecy made by the legendary Emanuel Steward?s some years ago.
Nostalgic, misty-eyed, and mind boggling calls for Dempsey, Marciano and Tyson ?and even Jack Johnson, Jess Willard, Max Baer and Primo Canera (?) to come back and clean house are made but those making them, unlike the well-trained heavyweights of today, have failed to evolve. Many cannot embrace, grasp or accept the truth that things changed dramatically when the likes of Foreman, Bowe, and Lewis provided the foundation for even bigger men to follow–men who continue to get taller with attendant heavier torsos and better coordination.
Like anyone else, I too enjoy a sentimental affection for the past, but I prefer mine to be for a period or place with real associations and/or real events that occurred during my life time and with which I can personally identify?and in this connection, I can personally identify with the advent of the big heavyweights without having to go to Google or to vintage and scratchy film.
Nostalgia notwithstanding, the fact remains that heavyweight boxers are in a different class. They compete in the only division in which there is no restriction on weight difference. Maybe at some point, the giants (aka super heavyweights) will have their own division but until that is done and no matter how you phrase it, ?bigger is better?, ?big is the new normal?: and/or ?size is everything.?
Diehards need to embrace change or die hard.
