We don't have enought talent for a single decent heavyweight division and so the idea of splitting it in two seems crazy to me.
There have ALWAYS been giants in the heavyweight division.
Bill Tate was 6'6 and 230ish in Dempsey's era
Fred Fulton was 6'5, 220 around WWI
Carl Morris was 6'4 230
Jess Willard was another 6'5, 240 guy.
The above all fought when most heavies were 200 or under.
Primo Carnera was what 6'5 240?
Buddy Baer was 6'6 240
Abe Simon was 6'4 250 with an 82 inch reach
Joe Louis drilled each of the above
Evander gave up 3 inches in height and 20+ pounds against both Holyfield and Bowe and he competed well with both. Chris Chambers dominated Dimitrenko.
It really isn't the size alone. It is being good! Or in the case of the rest of today's heavies, being bad!
On a related note ESPN classic showed a fascinating fight last night. ATG feather Sandy Saddler, 5'10, reach like a gorilla, took on 5'2 inch, alligator armed Charley Riley. Riley kept boring in and taking the fight to Saddler. It ended up a majority decision for Saddler, but a competitive fight all the way.
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