DOES SIZE MATTER?
champions across this period was just a shade over 6-foot-1. The numbers since Lennox Lewis’ reign paint a different picture. The average height of the four Ring Magazine champions before Usyk was 6-foot-6¾. This puts the average height of all Ring Magazine heavyweight champions at 6-foot-2. Many men considered giants in “Back in the 2000s, there was a lot of talk about big guys taking over, and you couldn’t argue with the success of the Klitschkos, Lennox [Lewis] and, later, Fury.” the past were no bigger than Usyk. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Larry Holmes were all 6-foot-3. [Editor's note: Stats are from BoxRec. com; other sources have listed Foreman and Holmes as 6-foot-4.] When Ali first beat Sonny Liston to win the world title in 1964, he weighed 210½ pounds. In Foreman’s first world title fight against Joe Frazier in 1973, he scaled 217½ pounds. Holmes weighed in at 209 pounds ahead of the fight against Ken Norton that delivered him the WBC championship in 1978. “People keep talking about Usyk being ‘small’ at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, but when you compare him to guys like Muhammad Ali or Larry Holmes, he’s pretty average,” said Byrd. “These guys were all either the same size or in the same range, and they ruled the division in their primes.
more fighters in that 6-foot-3 to 6-foot- 4, 220- to 230-pound range rise in the future. I hope so. The times are always changing and you just never know, and I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Byrd. “With my own experiences I faced regarding size many years ago in my career and this still being a big topic in this sport, there’s always going to be a debate about size versus skill. But my take is that too much emphasis is placed on size in today’s heavyweight division. “Look, having a huge reach, size or big power is an advantage, no doubt. But we’ve seen time and time again, and I myself have proven this, that skill trumps size. I was called ‘Slip Master’ and ‘Rapid Fire’ for a reason: skills! You don’t need to be the biggest guy in the ring – you need to be the smartest, the most prepared and the most adaptable. Boxing isn’t always about being the strongest; it’s about being the best fighter. Size can help, but skill is king.” So where does the future of the division lie? A quick glance at the current Ring Magazine heavyweight rankings shows six fighters who are 6-foot-6 or taller, and two more who are 6-foot-5. Usyk has already gone through three of the biggest bodies in the division – Fury twice, Joshua twice and Dubois – proving there is still a place for medium-sized boxers in the sport’s glamor division. Asked to put skill aside for a moment and describe the perfect build for a modern heavyweight, Byrd replied: “I would say this doesn’t matter. But if I had to pick the ideal physical dimensions for a modern heavyweight, based on the boxing world’s standards, in my opinion it would probably be somewhere in that 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-5 range and around 230 pounds. You’ve got enough size to be competitive with the giants, but you’re still quick enough to move and avoid taking too many risks.” At 38, Usyk won’t be around forever. But don’t be surprised if we see a second generation of midsized heavyweights follow in his footsteps, keen to keep proving that size is just a number.
“The narrative that Usyk is small is kind of misleading. What really sets him apart is his speed, his ability to move in and out of range and his boxing IQ. His size might be on the lower end for today’s heavyweights, but it’s not what makes him special. It’s how he uses his size and skill to win fights.” Bernstein believes that many smaller heavyweights of the past would be successful today, including Joe Frazier, who came in half an inch shy of 6 feet.
“We saw Joe Frazier struggle against George Foreman, a big-punching large man, but that was also at a certain point in his career where I think he might have been diminished a little bit,” said Bernstein. “It all depends on who they fight. But look, no one’s going to tell me that Joe Frazier, if he weighed 210 or 215 pounds or whatever his heaviest weight was, that he couldn’t compete. You can’t tell me that he’s not going to go in there and give Kubrat Pulev and Daniel
dust has settled on his illustrious career, an all-time great. He has a superb blend of size and speed, fast feet and clever feints, and he can cut the sort of angles that bigger men are not accustomed to defending against. Combine these attributes with a cunning mentality and high ring IQ, and it makes him close to a perfect heavyweight champion. “I think Usyk is definitely an outlier right now in terms of size, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see
Byrd (right) was at a four-inch, 56-pound “disadvantage” when he beat Jameel McCline to defend his IBF title in 2004.
Dubois and Filip Hrgovic and all those guys a fight. You can’t tell me that simply because they’re bigger than him, he’s not going to be a force against them.” Usyk has proven himself to be a generational talent and perhaps, when the
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