Will the giants continue to dominate heavyweight boxing?

[VatoMulatto]

Before Wlad (6'6) and his brother Vitali (6'7) took over and dominated HW boxing Lennox Lewis was the man and he was 6'5. Now, Tyson Fury (6'9) is the new sheriff in town and in America we have Wilder (6'7) who's the WBC World heavyweight champ. Anthony Joshua is probably 'the best prospect out there at the moment and he's 6'6.

Athletes are bigger and taller now. Its just a fact and its not just boxing. It seems like the ideal height for a HW boxer is at least 6'5 today..... so, is this what the future will continue to look like where most of the top HW boxers going to be 6'5 or taller??

[kiDynamite92]

Fury will dominate for a while so I would say yes since he's a giant HW. The others areant very impressive. Povetkin, Ortiz and Jennings are like 6'3.

[Eff Pandas]

Definitely. I mean there will likely be some smaller guys who can make a mark & maybe some exceptional smaller guy comes in & is the top guy for awhile, but overall a elite level 6'5 250lb guy is gonna beat a elite level 6'2 220lb guy more often than not so the more bigger guys will rise to the top naturally.

I hate the idea of adding more divisions, but if you're a talented yet not exceptional 220lb boxer today its kinda like your cursed without a new junior heavyweight or super cruiserweight type division. Probably can't get down to 200lbs without looking like a corpse & you aren't likely to be able to compete with comparably skilled guys 30+lbs more than you very successfully.

[Boxfan83]

Before Wlad (6'6) and his brother Vitali (6'7) took over and dominated HW boxing Lennox Lewis was the man and he was 6'5. Now, Tyson Fury (6'9) is the new sheriff in town and in America we have Wilder (6'7) who's the WBC World heavyweight champ. Anthony Joshua is probably 'the best prospect out there at the moment and he's 6'6.

Athletes are bigger and taller now. Its just a fact and its not just boxing. It seems like the ideal height for a HW boxer is at least 6'5 today..... so, is this what the future will continue to look like where most of the top HW boxers going to be 6'5 or taller??

I truly believe that the best heavyweight boxer is in the NBA or NFL because when a man above 6'3"-6'4" with mass has freakish athletic ability the first sport they run to isnt boxing because who wants to get punched in the face for a slim chance of making a 6 figure payday and an even smaller one of a 7 figure payday. But with that said, no I do not foresee anyone under 6'4" having a chance at the HW freak show we have right now in boxing unless boxing becomes more mainstream and it entices these would be ball players to bring their athleticism into boxing. This HW era to me is the WWE era. I see these guys in the division as more sporting entertainment like Kane facing The Big Show.

[kiDynamite92]

Well if you look closer, Lewis wasn't actually the best heavyweight of his time, that would have been Holyfield. The Klitschko bros were opportunists really who filled a void in a crumbling division when Lewis, Tyson and Bowe retired and Holyfield being shot to ****. Tyson Fury is the one exception I would say but then again his best accomplishment was beating a guy that 220 lbs sanders and Brewster put away in more brutal fashion.

[SAN D13GO VILLAN]

Fury will dominate for a while so I would say yes since he's a giant HW. The others areant very impressive. Povetkin, Ortiz and Jennings are like 6'3.

Not to sure about that but it should be fun seeing him fight Wilder/Povetkin and Ortiz maybe even his paisanos haye and that Joshua kid.

[Eff Pandas]

I truly believe that the best heavyweight boxer is in the NBA or NFL because when a man above 6'3"-6'4" with mass has freakish athletic ability the first sport they run to isnt boxing because who wants to get punched in the face for a slim chance of making a 6 figure payday and an even smaller one of a 7 figure payday. But with that said, no I do not foresee anyone under 6'4" having a chance at the HW freak show we have right now in boxing unless boxing becomes more mainstream and it entices these would be ball players to bring their athleticism into boxing. This HW era to me is the WWE era. I see these guys in the division as more sporting entertainment like Kane facing The Big Show.

Tend to think you are correct even beyond the roughness of boxing compared to other sports angle.

The amateur football, basketball & baseball programs get to these talented athletes first in the US while the amateur boxing program has shrink & gotten less impactful. Nor does it have the symbiotic relationship with the school system like these other sports which makes promising young athletes even less likely to be exposed to boxing.

[Firefist]

I truly believe that the best heavyweight boxer is in the NBA or NFL.

This right here.

And yes, they will until David Haye fixes his big toe.

[Banderivets]

Tend to think you are correct even beyond the roughness of boxing compared to other sports angle.

The amateur football, basketball & baseball programs get to these talented athletes first in the US while the amateur boxing program has shrink & gotten less impactful. Nor does it have the symbiotic relationship with the school system like these other sports which makes promising young athletes even less likely to be exposed to boxing.

I really don't understand, why for so many years now people keep bringing up this argument...

Sorry but America is not the only country with a monopoly on big athletes who competing in other sports.

Why is athleticism so stressed in boxing? What is athleticism? Again this is a term beat to death by American sports media. "explosive, fast, agile" that is your definition of athleticism? Again why is this so crucial to boxing? Again, 90% someone is "athletic" because he is flamboyant.

Boxing is about intelligence, strength, conditioning, toughness, mental state many things that your vertical leap and 100m dash numbers have no impact on.

Who cares how athletic a fighter is if he has Tyson Fury with the longest reach in boxing feinting and popping his jab all night. Nothing! Fury wins like Wlad won for so many years.

By attributing boxing to "athleticism" in the traditional American terms your dumbing the sport down.

What makes you for one second think that LeBron would be a great boxer? Just shows you how impressionable people are by looks.

I guess LeBron would be an 'elite' weightlifter if he just wanted to be one?

You fellas really have no understanding of sport in general.

[Eff Pandas]

I really don't understand, why for so many years now people keep bringing up this argument...

Don't make this some US vs the world bs, cuz thats not what I'm saying. I'm saying the US has greatly diminished in HW talent over the course of a few decades in a way I don't really see being just about other countries improving & being more of a presence in pro boxing, specifically HW boxing. US HW's were gonna be getting put into their place with the emergence of other countries into the pro game, but it seems like its been shut down when Deontay Wilder is the best guy out there (who just so happens to be a late arrival from another sport, believe there are 2 or 3 guys with similar stories among the top 10 US HW's).

No one is saying LeBron was gonna be Ray Robinson or silly **** like that. I'm saying athletically talented individuals in US schools are being put into the football farm system at age 8 these days with the dream of playing the NFL. And maybe that kid will get there or maybe he won't, maybe he coulda went into boxing & became HW champion or not there too, but the mainstream sports farm system in the US is getting their hands on young athletically talented bigger kids sooner than they ever have cuz its turned into a meat market of sorts & the US boxing farm system, which to say is underfunded would be an understatement, has gotten smaller. This is obviously going to have an impact for US HW's in professional boxing & its silly to suggest otherwise.

Maybe other countries got a similar situation with the meat market of more mainstream sports, but my assumption would be the support in their amateur farm system has grown & improved & is making better pro talent than they ever have. So the US's problem is twofold, we got the meat market + an unsupported amateur farm system.