Originally posted by maracho
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SRR was 5'11
SRl was 5'10
Hearns 6'1
De la Hoya 5'10
Trinidad 5'11
Sergio Martinez 5'10
So we're mainly talking about Duran, Muhammad Qawi (5'5 amazing), Langford 5'7, and Henry Armstrong 5'5. Duran 5'7 was not a dominant middleweight and I won't pretend to know **** about Armstrong or Langford other than what I've read.
Boxing historians and fans overplay weight and reach and give little credence in height and frame. While height is not a tell all its more idicative of overall success in a division then walk around weights -- since they vary so much-- and fighters cut weight often. Marciano was a short heavyweight but heavy weight weren't 6'7 then either. This is exemplified by the fact that many of the extreme old school guys fought from Welter /middle all the way to Heavyweight-- I.e. joe Walcott , Archie Moore. It takes less work to punch down then to punch up. That's basic physics.
The further you get from the past the more the weight classes have become defined and the larger the opponents become. Boxing historians and fans have a binary way of thinking which excludes a lot of common sense. It's rooted in the history of boxing rather than forward thinking and analyzation.
Tall guys generally do pretty well in shorter weight classes. Short guys generally have a harder time-- they may beat a few great people but are consistently forced to work harder than there taller opponents fight after fight. Continuing to win under these conditions are not favorable for a long period of time. 6' Forrest would have always been a problem for most welters.
Height is the reason Wvlad Lennox and Vitali were so dominant in the division. If this is the major knock on Floyd, he mostly fought opponents near his own height then so be it.
Weight classes are a semi-imaginary construct, if you were to size a person up on the street you would go by height, frame, and build. It's common sense.
For instance. Kovalev is 6' walks around at 190. Delahoya is 5'10 walks around at 180. If you saw these two guys on the street and didn't know their weight class you would assume it was a near even fight and delahoya, slightly outmatched in size would have a fair shot. Now if you saw 5'8 Floyd walking around at 160, you'd automatically assume he was overmatched. Common sense.
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