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So I’ve always had this general idea running around in my head, but I wanted to test it out and bring it the community as a whole. Manny Steward is one of the primary causes for the modern superheavyweight dominance (past 25 years or so ) in heavyweight boxing.
There is the idea out there that athletes today are bigger and stronger than they have ever been, just like athletes 20 years ago were bigger and stronger than those previous to them. And while this is true for the most part, its not entirely true. Athletes just aren’t getting bigger and stronger, rather they are better training their bodies to be optimal for their sport. It just happens to be that being bigger and stronger tends to be an advantage for most sports. Being a lineman in football, as long as you don’t lose too much speed, then being bigger and stronger helps. Want to hit a baseball far, generate better bat speed (which strength helps do). Basketball players as a whole are in general physically stronger, and have grown in wingspan over the past few decades; because for their sport this helps you be more successful.
Oddly enough though, marathon runners are basically the same size now as they were for the past century (at least from what I have found). For someone who runs a marathon, extra size is a burden. The old adage was every pound you gain costs you 2 seconds per mile. So you wanted to find that optimal balance between having enough strength and energy to complete the race, while carrying the least amount of mass around. I find this interesting, because each sport has a balance between being an explosive sport (fast twitch muscles) and an endurance sport (slow twitch muscles). This is nothing new and has been discussed here before.
From roughly the early 1960s throughout the mid 1990s heavyweights seemed to be about the same weight and size. You had some smaller guys (Frazier) but 210-225 was always about where the top guys were. I imagine a balance between explosiveness and endurance. Now this all leads me to Manny Steward.
Manny had lots of different fighters come through the Kronk Gym, but I feel his most iconic charge was Tommy Hearns. Hearns a lot of positive attributes, but I feel his best was being tall and rangier than his opponents (and then using that range to land power shots while keeping his opponent at bay). This wasn’t his only gift obviously, but I feel that Steward was able to harness this and helped guide Hearns to greatness.
Fast forward some to Lennox Lewis. He’d just lost to McCall and comes to Steward, of all the highly skilled heavies at the time Lewis is the biggest, and best fits with Manny’s ideals of winning by being bigger. Using size and reach to an advantage and keeping opponents away. And when they do get close just wrapping them up. Lewis becomes this type of fighter, somewhat, regains the title and finds his peak as an ATG. You find a similar story with Wlad post Corrie Sanders, Manny gets him and turns him into the style of the modern super heavy.
Soon, others start following suit. Trying to fight fire with fire and chasing the goal of being bigger to out superheavy the other superheavy. They abscond stamina and chase size because that seems to be path one needs to be successful as a heavyweight boxer. Manny sets this template up, and because he has the best fighters, and they fight this way, everyone follows suit. In fact I heard that prior to their ascensions as titlists, Manny tabbed both Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder to be the greats of the upcoming generation- both having the height and reach that he coveted.
Here is my question: Am I wrong in this belief? Am I giving too much credit to Steward? Was this an inevitable change in heavyweight boxing? Were there others who played more of a role?
There is the idea out there that athletes today are bigger and stronger than they have ever been, just like athletes 20 years ago were bigger and stronger than those previous to them. And while this is true for the most part, its not entirely true. Athletes just aren’t getting bigger and stronger, rather they are better training their bodies to be optimal for their sport. It just happens to be that being bigger and stronger tends to be an advantage for most sports. Being a lineman in football, as long as you don’t lose too much speed, then being bigger and stronger helps. Want to hit a baseball far, generate better bat speed (which strength helps do). Basketball players as a whole are in general physically stronger, and have grown in wingspan over the past few decades; because for their sport this helps you be more successful.
Oddly enough though, marathon runners are basically the same size now as they were for the past century (at least from what I have found). For someone who runs a marathon, extra size is a burden. The old adage was every pound you gain costs you 2 seconds per mile. So you wanted to find that optimal balance between having enough strength and energy to complete the race, while carrying the least amount of mass around. I find this interesting, because each sport has a balance between being an explosive sport (fast twitch muscles) and an endurance sport (slow twitch muscles). This is nothing new and has been discussed here before.
From roughly the early 1960s throughout the mid 1990s heavyweights seemed to be about the same weight and size. You had some smaller guys (Frazier) but 210-225 was always about where the top guys were. I imagine a balance between explosiveness and endurance. Now this all leads me to Manny Steward.
Manny had lots of different fighters come through the Kronk Gym, but I feel his most iconic charge was Tommy Hearns. Hearns a lot of positive attributes, but I feel his best was being tall and rangier than his opponents (and then using that range to land power shots while keeping his opponent at bay). This wasn’t his only gift obviously, but I feel that Steward was able to harness this and helped guide Hearns to greatness.
Fast forward some to Lennox Lewis. He’d just lost to McCall and comes to Steward, of all the highly skilled heavies at the time Lewis is the biggest, and best fits with Manny’s ideals of winning by being bigger. Using size and reach to an advantage and keeping opponents away. And when they do get close just wrapping them up. Lewis becomes this type of fighter, somewhat, regains the title and finds his peak as an ATG. You find a similar story with Wlad post Corrie Sanders, Manny gets him and turns him into the style of the modern super heavy.
Soon, others start following suit. Trying to fight fire with fire and chasing the goal of being bigger to out superheavy the other superheavy. They abscond stamina and chase size because that seems to be path one needs to be successful as a heavyweight boxer. Manny sets this template up, and because he has the best fighters, and they fight this way, everyone follows suit. In fact I heard that prior to their ascensions as titlists, Manny tabbed both Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder to be the greats of the upcoming generation- both having the height and reach that he coveted.
Here is my question: Am I wrong in this belief? Am I giving too much credit to Steward? Was this an inevitable change in heavyweight boxing? Were there others who played more of a role?
Mr Mitts
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