Overweight heavyweights - what would be their ideal fighting weight?

[jezzamundo]

There is always discussion around the physiques of too heavyweight fighters. As we know, boxing isn't a beauty contest - anyone who looks at the Fury-wilder matchups knows that's the truth.

That said, when fighters come in clearly overweight (fat or over muscle-bound) it clearly affects their speed and stamina.

Question - what do you think is the best fighting weight for the following heavyweights?:

Tyson Fury
Oleksander Usyk
Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Diillian Whyte
Joseph Parker
Dereck Chisora
Luis Ortiz
Andy Ruiz

[jezzamundo]

I think the most interesting one of the bunch is Fury, because his shape has varied so much over the years.

- He debuted at 261lb, aged 20.
- He weighed 247lb when he had a close contest with John McDermott
- He was a very overweight 270lb when he destroyed McDermott in a rematch
- He looked his fittest ever in 2012, when he weighed just over 245lb in performances against Rogan, Maddalone and Kevin Johnson. His speed and stamina were excellent at this weight. His power wasn't so impressive, but he wasn't really sitting down on his punches, so it's hard to tell how much his weight contributed to this.
- He looked sloppy and obese at 274lb in 2014 against Joey Abell.
- He looked in great shape at 247lb when he beat Wlad Klitschko.
- Depressed and cocaine-addicted, he ballooned up to a morbidly obese, self-reported 392lb.
- He was in good shape at 256lb in the first Wilder fight. He looked soft, but that's partly a result of loose skin after losing so much weight.
- He was 273lb for an arguably career-best performance in the 2nd Wilder fight. He appeared no fatter than in the first fight and had clearly put on some muscle, which increased his punching power.
- He was 277lb for the third Wilder fight, appearing much softer, with smaller arms and bigger love handles.

[gregregegg]

There is always discussion around the physiques of too heavyweight fighters. As we know, boxing isn't a beauty contest - anyone who looks at the Fury-wilder matchups knows that's the truth.

That said, when fighters come in clearly overweight (fat or over muscle-bound) it clearly affects their speed and stamina.

Question - what do you think is the best fighting weight for the following heavyweights?:

Tyson Fury
Oleksander Usyk
Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Diillian Whyte
Joseph Parker
Dereck Chisora
Luis Ortiz
Andy Ruiz

Everyones ideal weight depends on opponent and stratergy.

Fury id say 250 back foot, 270 to bully.
Usyk 220ish
AJ 240ish, against someone he can outbox. 250 and going for early KO against someone he cant box.
wilder 220ish
whyte high 240s
parker mid 240s.
chisora high 240s
Ortis current low 240s.

These guys are pros, they hit there ideal weight most of the time. sometimes camp isnt perfect and they arnt quite right, but there not mugs that have there stratergy completly wrong.

[jezzamundo]

There is always discussion around the physiques of too heavyweight fighters. As we know, boxing isn't a beauty contest - anyone who looks at the Fury-wilder matchups knows that's the truth.

That said, when fighters come in clearly overweight (fat or over muscle-bound) it clearly affects their speed and stamina.

Question - what do you think is the best fighting weight for the following heavyweights?:

Tyson Fury
Oleksander Usyk
Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Diillian Whyte
Joseph Parker
Dereck Chisora
Luis Ortiz
Andy Ruiz

Everyones ideal weight depends on opponent and stratergy.

Fury id say 250 back foot, 270 to bully.
Usyk 220ish
AJ 240ish, against someone he can outbox. 250 and going for early KO against someone he cant box.
wilder 220ish
whyte high 240s
parker mid 240s.
chisora high 240s
Ortis current low 240s.

These guys are pros, they hit there ideal weight most of the time. sometimes camp isnt perfect and they arnt quite right, but there not mugs that have there stratergy completly wrong.

I agree it depends on the opponent and the tactics and particularly agree with your take on Joshua. That said, I think some - Fury and Ruiz in particular - would benefit from having a good dietician. I can't see the excess blubber as beneficial for anything except perhaps for absorbing body punches.

In answer to my own question:

Tyson Fury 255-265lb
Oleksander Usyk 215-225lb
Anthony Joshua 240-250lb
Deontay Wilder 215-225lb
Diillian Whyte 240-250lb
Joseph Parker 230-240lb
Dereck Chisora 235-245lb
Luis Ortiz 220-235lb
Andy Ruiz - has never fought below the mid 240s and has generally looked better the lighter he had been. There's no evidence for it, but I think the extra footspeed and stamina he'd have at 220lb would likely outweigh (no pun intended) any downsides.

[gregregegg]

There is always discussion around the physiques of too heavyweight fighters. As we know, boxing isn't a beauty contest - anyone who looks at the Fury-wilder matchups knows that's the truth.

That said, when fighters come in clearly overweight (fat or over muscle-bound) it clearly affects their speed and stamina.

Question - what do you think is the best fighting weight for the following heavyweights?:

Tyson Fury
Oleksander Usyk
Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Diillian Whyte
Joseph Parker
Dereck Chisora
Luis Ortiz
Andy Ruiz

Everyones ideal weight depends on opponent and stratergy.

Fury id say 250 back foot, 270 to bully.
Usyk 220ish
AJ 240ish, against someone he can outbox. 250 and going for early KO against someone he cant box.
wilder 220ish
whyte high 240s
parker mid 240s.
chisora high 240s
Ortis current low 240s.

These guys are pros, they hit there ideal weight most of the time. sometimes camp isnt perfect and they arnt quite right, but there not mugs that have there stratergy completly wrong.

I agree it depends on the opponent and the tactics and particularly agree with your take on Joshua. That said, I think some - Fury and Ruiz in particular - would benefit from having a good dietician. I can't see the excess blubber as beneficial for anything except perhaps for absorbing body punches.

In answer to my own question:

Tyson Fury 255-265lb
Oleksander Usyk 215-225lb
Anthony Joshua 240-250lb
Deontay Wilder 215-225lb
Diillian Whyte 240-250lb
Joseph Parker 230-240lb
Dereck Chisora 235-245lb
Luis Ortiz 220-235lb
Andy Ruiz - has never fought below the mid 240s and has generally looked better the lighter he had been. There's no evidence for it, but I think the extra footspeed and stamina he'd have at 220lb would likely outweigh (no pun intended) any downsides.

yea, easy to say someone should be lighter, but the trade offs are massive. restricted diets kill stregnth and limmit training output. Ruiz is just natrualy fat, at 250lb ruiz is in elite athlete shape... just looks a mess. dont see him needing to go lower. I think loosing weight can hurt stamina for some of these guys, can definatly hurt chin, makes them less menecing in the clinch and less strong.

[DrDuke]

I think the most interesting one of the bunch is Fury, because his shape has varied so much over the years.

- He debuted at 261lb, aged 20.
- He weighed 247lb when he had a close contest with John McDermott
- He was a very overweight 270lb when he destroyed McDermott in a rematch
- He looked his fittest ever in 2012, when he weighed just over 245lb in performances against Rogan, Maddalone and Kevin Johnson. His speed and stamina were excellent at this weight. His power wasn't so impressive, but he wasn't really sitting down on his punches, so it's hard to tell how much his weight contributed to this.
- He looked sloppy and obese at 274lb in 2014 against Joey Abell.
- He looked in great shape at 247lb when he beat Wlad Klitschko.
- Depressed and cocaine-addicted, he ballooned up to a morbidly obese, self-reported 392lb.
- He was in good shape at 256lb in the first Wilder fight. He looked soft, but that's partly a result of loose skin after losing so much weight.
- He was 273lb for an arguably career-best performance in the 2nd Wilder fight. He appeared no fatter than in the first fight and had clearly put on some muscle, which increased his punching power.
- He was 277lb for the third Wilder fight, appearing much softer, with smaller arms and bigger love handles.

His best weight is probably around 250-260, however, 273 worked great for the Wilder rematch. It looked excessive early in his career, in the Seferi bout and in the 3rd Wilder fight.

[jezzamundo]

Everyones ideal weight depends on opponent and stratergy.

Fury id say 250 back foot, 270 to bully.
Usyk 220ish
AJ 240ish, against someone he can outbox. 250 and going for early KO against someone he cant box.
wilder 220ish
whyte high 240s
parker mid 240s.
chisora high 240s
Ortis current low 240s.

These guys are pros, they hit there ideal weight most of the time. sometimes camp isnt perfect and they arnt quite right, but there not mugs that have there stratergy completly wrong.

I agree it depends on the opponent and the tactics and particularly agree with your take on Joshua. That said, I think some - Fury and Ruiz in particular - would benefit from having a good dietician. I can't see the excess blubber as beneficial for anything except perhaps for absorbing body punches.

In answer to my own question:

Tyson Fury 255-265lb
Oleksander Usyk 215-225lb
Anthony Joshua 240-250lb
Deontay Wilder 215-225lb
Diillian Whyte 240-250lb
Joseph Parker 230-240lb
Dereck Chisora 235-245lb
Luis Ortiz 220-235lb
Andy Ruiz - has never fought below the mid 240s and has generally looked better the lighter he had been. There's no evidence for it, but I think the extra footspeed and stamina he'd have at 220lb would likely outweigh (no pun intended) any downsides.

yea, easy to say someone should be lighter, but the trade offs are massive. restricted diets kill stregnth and limmit training output. Ruiz is just natrualy fat, at 250lb ruiz is in elite athlete shape... just looks a mess. dont see him needing to go lower. I think loosing weight can hurt stamina for some of these guys, can definatly hurt chin, makes them less menecing in the clinch and less strong.

I think we have to agree to disagree there. With a proper nutrition plan, anyone can get to a healthy body fat percentage without major downsides. It's when they go on crash diets and lose muscle that it really hurts them. I think Fury and Ruiz are examples of guys with great skills and ability who are absolute gym rats, but lack the same discipline at the dinner table. I agree Ruiz is good (and underrated) at 250lb - it's purely hypothetical at this point.

[margaret thatcher]

theres no such thing as being naturally fat. andy ruiz wasnt born a totally obese dood with rolls everyhwhere. genetics can affect appetite and contriibute to being overweight, but nothing just defaults someone to being fat. youre fat because youve taken in more calories than you've expended

if andy ruiz had a calorie deficit of 1000 each day, he would very quickly lose weight. he isnt somehow locked into being fat.

just check his weights, they are all over the place, up and down, so clearly he can shed the pounds

[Enlightened-One]

theres no such thing as being naturally fat. andy ruiz wasnt born a totally obese dood with rolls everyhwhere. genetics can affect appetite and contriibute to being overweight, but nothing just defaults someone to being fat. youre fat because youve taken in more calories than you've expended

if andy ruiz had a calorie deficit of 1000 each day, he would very quickly lose weight. he isnt somehow locked into being fat.

just check his weights, they are all over the place, up and down, so clearly he can shed the pounds

To be fair, there’s a reason for the existence of medical terminology for various body types (ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph).

Whilst I do feel the main reason for the vast majority of people being fat is due to a combination of living a poor lifestyle (lack of exercise), mental health issues and also having a bad diet, I still believe it’s almost impossible for a naturally stocky fleshy (endomorph) to transform their physique into a lanky and lean (ectomorph), without some sort of situation compelling dramatic change (i.e. serious illness).

If you take a look at Andy Ruiz Jr’s childhood family photos, his siblings and mother are all overweight, but his father is lean.

And if you look at Andy Ruiz Jr’s 370lbs brother, it’s clear he’s ridiculously athletic in the context of his hideously obese physique. The athleticism obviously runs in the mother's side of the family, as does the obesity.

So it’s clear in my mind that genetics (or DNA) must be influential on Andy and his brother’s obesity and athleticism.

It’s not the only reason why Andy is obese, but it’s definitely a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. We only have so much control over our physical appearance.

Personally-speaking, I think it’s a complicated issue, but we know for certain that boxing isn’t a bodybuilding competition, otherwise the likes of Tyson Fury & Andy Ruiz Jr. wouldn’t be competitive against fighters like AJ and Wilder.

And at the lighter weights, Chavez Sr. and Duran didn't have great physiques either.

I guess that an appealing physique isn't overly relevant to boxing, because you can be “skinny-fat” or simply “very fat” and still beat up your opponent.

[jezzamundo]

theres no such thing as being naturally fat. andy ruiz wasnt born a totally obese dood with rolls everyhwhere. genetics can affect appetite and contriibute to being overweight, but nothing just defaults someone to being fat. youre fat because youve taken in more calories than you've expended

if andy ruiz had a calorie deficit of 1000 each day, he would very quickly lose weight. he isnt somehow locked into being fat.

just check his weights, they are all over the place, up and down, so clearly he can shed the pounds

To be fair, there’s a reason for the existence of medical terminology for various body types (ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph).

Whilst I do feel the main reason for the vast majority of people being fat is due to a combination of living a poor lifestyle (lack of exercise), mental health issues and also having a bad diet, I still believe it’s almost impossible for a naturally stocky fleshy (endomorph) to transform their physique into a lanky and lean (ectomorph), without some sort of situation compelling dramatic change (i.e. serious illness).

If you take a look at Andy Ruiz Jr’s childhood family photos, his siblings and mother are all overweight, but his father is lean.

And if you look at Andy Ruiz Jr’s 370lbs brother, it’s clear he’s ridiculously athletic in the context of his hideously obese physique. The athleticism obviously runs in the mother's side of the family, as does the obesity.

So it’s clear in my mind that genetics (or DNA) must be influential on Andy and his brother’s obesity and athleticism.

It’s not the only reason why Andy is obese, but it’s definitely a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. We only have so much control over our physical appearance.

Personally-speaking, I think it’s a complicated issue, but we know for certain that boxing isn’t a bodybuilding competition, otherwise the likes of Tyson Fury & Andy Ruiz Jr. wouldn’t be competitive against fighters like AJ and Wilder.

And at the lighter weights, Chavez Sr. and Duran didn't have great physiques either.

I guess that an appealing physique isn't overly relevant to boxing, because you can be “skinny-fat” or simply “very fat” and still beat up your opponent.

Decent post, but worth noting that body types, ie endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph are no longer considered scientifically valid. No doubt that some people are genetically more prone to fat gain than others, though.

If Ruiz were to follow a good diet, coupled with resistance training, he could lose 0.5-1% of his bodyweight per week without losing much muscle and get down to 200lb in good shape in about 30 weeks. That's not what I'm recommending, for him (focusing on training is way more important for a boxer) but it's certainly possible.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Hes obese because he drinks like a fish and eats toomuch

[gregregegg]

Ruiz would have to kill himself to get to 200lbs in 30 weeks, he could sure, but would no longer be an elite athlete. would just be a medium sized man (well still pretty big i guess) and a shadow of him former self.

Ruiz is an elite athlete at 255lbs, he has elite cardio at that weight, elite stregnth at that weight, just not elite abs at that weight... Could you give ruiz quicker feet having him lose some weight, sure, but shit, your not going to turn him into lomachenko.

At 255lbs i would guess globaly ruiz easily is in the top 1 % when it comes to cardio fitness. And easily in the top 0.1% when it comes to strength, he isnt just some fat guy you run into at maccas...

[margaret thatcher]

he admits to eating and drinking tons

hes lost lots of weight at many times in his career, so we know he can do it just fine. he just balloons back up because he lacks discipline as he's said himself

if his calories were monitored, and he had a deficit of his baseline, he'd lose weight just like the rest of us, which he has already done many times. if andy ruiz lasted through aushwitz he'd be a stick just like the rest of them

whatever his most effective weight is one thing, but he's not locked into obesity and he's not naturally obese. he's like that because he eats and drinks an absolute sh!tload and doesnt burn enough calories to keep the weight down

[gregregegg]

he admits to eating and drinking tons

hes lost lots of weight at many times in his career, so we know he can do it just fine. he just balloons back up because he lacks discipline as he's said himself

if his calories were monitored, and he had a deficit of his baseline, he'd lose weight just like the rest of us, which he has already done many times. if andy ruiz lasted through aushwitz he'd be a stick just like the rest of them

whatever his most effective weight is one thing, but he's not locked into obesity and he's not naturally obese. he's like that because he eats and drinks an absolute sh!tload and doesnt burn enough calories to keep the weight down

yea he could get thin but he is a pro boxer, so whats the point in theorising if he could thin if it would hurt his boxing.

Ruiz balloning to 300 is bad out of shape, and he should definatly slowly work things down to 250 or 260s. could he flirt with 240s sure, but i dont think its optimum.... This isnt weight watchers, him becoming a size 28 waist isnt important him boxing effectively is.

Ruiz is natrualy a big boi, let him rumble as a big boi.

[jezzamundo]

he admits to eating and drinking tons

hes lost lots of weight at many times in his career, so we know he can do it just fine. he just balloons back up because he lacks discipline as he's said himself

if his calories were monitored, and he had a deficit of his baseline, he'd lose weight just like the rest of us, which he has already done many times. if andy ruiz lasted through aushwitz he'd be a stick just like the rest of them

whatever his most effective weight is one thing, but he's not locked into obesity and he's not naturally obese. he's like that because he eats and drinks an absolute sh!tload and doesnt burn enough calories to keep the weight down

yea he could get thin but he is a pro boxer, so whats the point in theorising if he could thin if it would hurt his boxing.

Ruiz balloning to 300 is bad out of shape, and he should definatly slowly work things down to 250 or 260s. could he flirt with 240s sure, but i dont think its optimum.... This isnt weight watchers, him becoming a size 28 waist isnt important him boxing effectively is.

Ruiz is natrualy a big boi, let him rumble as a big boi.

Of course it's all hypothetical at this stage. I agree Ruiz has great cardio at 250lb, I just don't think it's his optimal fighting weight - I think somewhere nearer 220lb would be. Even at 200lb he wouldn't be thin.

The 200lb in 30 week example was just talking about what's possible, certainly not what's optimal for boxing. I think optimal would be losing weight slowly, then maintaining weight during training camp when energy requirements are higher. Then a couple of weeks for recovery after a fight without ballooning up, then rinse and repeat. He could be 240lb for his next fight, then 230lb, then 220lb. I don't see any downsides to an approach like that, except that Andy likely doesn't have the discipline for it.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

he admits to eating and drinking tons

hes lost lots of weight at many times in his career, so we know he can do it just fine. he just balloons back up because he lacks discipline as he's said himself

if his calories were monitored, and he had a deficit of his baseline, he'd lose weight just like the rest of us, which he has already done many times. if andy ruiz lasted through aushwitz he'd be a stick just like the rest of them

whatever his most effective weight is one thing, but he's not locked into obesity and he's not naturally obese. he's like that because he eats and drinks an absolute sh!tload and doesnt burn enough calories to keep the weight down

yea he could get thin but he is a pro boxer, so whats the point in theorising if he could thin if it would hurt his boxing.

Ruiz balloning to 300 is bad out of shape, and he should definatly slowly work things down to 250 or 260s. could he flirt with 240s sure, but i dont think its optimum.... This isnt weight watchers, him becoming a size 28 waist isnt important him boxing effectively is.

Ruiz is natrualy a big boi, let him rumble as a big boi.

Of course it's all hypothetical at this stage. I agree Ruiz has great cardio at 250lb, I just don't think it's his optimal fighting weight - I think somewhere nearer 220lb would be. Even at 200lb he wouldn't be thin.

The 200lb in 30 week example was just talking about what's possible, certainly not what's optimal for boxing. I think optimal would be losing weight slowly, then maintaining weight during training camp when energy requirements are higher. Then a couple of weeks for recovery after a fight without ballooning up, then rinse and repeat. He could be 240lb for his next fight, then 230lb, then 220lb. I don't see any downsides to an approach like that, except that Andy likely doesn't have the discipline for it.

- And so here I be yet again in one of my "at least 3 boxrec accounts" to douse the clueless bonfires of inanity.



FatBoys can box as well as skinny boys, but the worst thing any person can do is try and be something they ain't as Andy has proven after heavy training at the Reynosa state of the art gym yielded the target weight loss hobbled by a knee injury needing surgery. 256 vs Arreola who previously set the all time punch monkey record as a congenital FatBoy with FatBoy Kownacki in their toe to toe classic.



Obviously Andy ain't cut from standard European stock. His torso is massively bigger than 6-6, 250 lb AJ, yet he probably fits into 30" weight/length jeans. I had this discussion ages ago with the now inactive Dempsey who insisted Sam Peter could easily make 190, laughable as posted his last weighin of a back shot where upper 240s he had the classic male V shape with nary a luv handle to be seen.

Nate Newton of the Cowboys 6-2, 320s had been fat shamed the whole of his life, but when Tom Landry did a water immersion body fat, the only accurate body fat measurement, he had the lowest body fat of the whole team including the sleek defensive backs.

But we got all these people polluting cyberspace with stuff like every male does steroids, watches porn, needs Viagra, and unable to gain 20 lbs on a heavy weight program in a 3 month time without the use of PEDs, something that I personally quashed as a middle aged male already in excellent trained down weight.

Another is fighters need to run long distances for stamina when in fact running in public places to get those distances too often results in knee injuries from unexpected hazards and poor running form not to mention inhaling auto exhaust that never helped anyone.

Poochbelly Tobys gonna pooch I'd guess to their dying days, but of what I see on this thread is Greg seems to have the best handle on Andy. At mid 250 he's solid, but yeah, someone young like Parker can just move around to choose points of engagement whereas Andy is best in the middle of engagement. Andy has the best scalp of all the heavies and we won't ever see AJ knocked down 4x again. More importantly, Fat Andy shamed a half dozen contenders who turned down record purses to fight AJ when BigBaby bailed out so they could focus on the weak link of Wilder's fraudulent WBC belt now held by the weakest Ring Champ in the history of boxing, 6 years with a single defense.

Not even Tom Brady could make such a claim as that...only in boxing, folks

[jezzamundo]

If that's true about the jeans then that's hilarious- I'm Andy's height (6'1" - he definitely isn't 6'2" as listed), weigh 168lb and often struggle to fit in 32" jeans (because my booty and thighs are too big).

[jezzamundo]

Ruiz was underestimated for years because of his physique. He's got arguably the fastest hands at heavyweight, good power and a good chin. His lack of footspeed and ring coverage is a weakness (that Joshua exploited in their rematch) and losing some flab would help somewhat. He's a legit top 10 heavyweight right now, I just think he could be even better.

[Enlightened-One]

If Ruiz were to follow a good diet, coupled with resistance training, he could lose 0.5-1% of his bodyweight per week without losing much muscle and get down to 200lb in good shape in about 30 weeks. That's not what I'm recommending, for him (focusing on training is way more important for a boxer) but it's certainly possible.

Losing 50lbs in 30 weeks might be physically possible, but he’d have to undergo an extremely strict regime, which will probably be harmful to his body, such as causing excessive muscle atrophy.

So we agree, it'll make him a weaker fighter.

He needs to actually forget about his weight an instead focus on training hard, getting plenty of rest and sleep, as well as eating a healthy diet.

If he can do those three simple things, day-after-day, to the point it's part of his permanent ongoing lifestyle, then he'll lose weight in a healthy manner. And as long as he maintains this lifestyle, then he shouldn't regain it either. But this process takes time (several years) and requires discipline.

If Andy did get down to around 230lbs to 240lbs though, he'll always look a bit tubby (a bit like Tyson Fury does), because of skin elasticity. His skin won't snap back to its original shape.

[jezzamundo]

In terms of what's physically possible, he could lose 50lb in 10-12 weeks if he starved himself. 30 weeks would be a moderate pace and could be done without losing much/any muscle. Science tells us that 0.5-1% of bodyweight lost per week is doable without muscle loss, and the higher your body fat, the faster you can lose fat safely (morbidly obese people can lose at 1.5% per week without muscle loss).

Everything else I agree with 100%.

[Enlightened-One]

In terms of what's physically possible, he could lose 50lb in 10-12 weeks if he starved himself. 30 weeks would be a moderate pace and could be done without losing much/any muscle. Science tells us that 0.5-1% of bodyweight lost per week is doable without muscle loss, and the higher your body fat, the faster you can lose fat safely (morbidly obese people can lose at 1.5% per week without muscle loss).

Everything else I agree with 100%.

I’m sure that if someone set Andy a specific target to lose 50lbs in 30 weeks, he’d manage to achieve that objective somehow.

A normal person could probably lose that amount of weight without suffering too much from muscle atrophy (since they probably won’t have much muscle to lose anyway), but Andy is a professional athlete.

And even elite-level bodybuilders and powerlifters (I’m experienced at the latter, by the way), expect to lose a certain amount of muscle or suffer a loss of strength, due to either trying to get ripped or make weight.

I just don’t think any heavyweight fighter should prioritise their training camp to achieve weight loss over improving general fitness and technique. He doesn’t need to have a physique like a dancer from Magic Mike.

So we kind of agree on everything, except for me believing that losing 50lbs in only 30 weeks is an unrealistic goal to set an experienced professional athlete.

That time should be spent in the gym focussing on improving his pugilistic ability.

And based on your previous comments, I think you pretty much feel the same way.

[jezzamundo]

In terms of what's physically possible, he could lose 50lb in 10-12 weeks if he starved himself. 30 weeks would be a moderate pace and could be done without losing much/any muscle. Science tells us that 0.5-1% of bodyweight lost per week is doable without muscle loss, and the higher your body fat, the faster you can lose fat safely (morbidly obese people can lose at 1.5% per week without muscle loss).

Everything else I agree with 100%.

I’m sure that if someone set Andy a specific target to lose 50lbs in 30 weeks, he’d manage to achieve that objective somehow.

A normal person could probably lose that amount of weight without suffering too much from muscle atrophy (since they probably won’t have much muscle to lose anyway), but Andy is a professional athlete.

And even elite-level bodybuilders and powerlifters (I’m experienced at the latter, by the way), expect to lose a certain amount of muscle or suffer a loss of strength, due to either trying to get ripped or make weight.

I just don’t think any heavyweight fighter should prioritise their training camp to achieve weight loss over improving general fitness and technique. He doesn’t need to have a physique like a dancer from Magic Mike.

So we kind of agree on everything, except for me believing that losing 50lbs in only 30 weeks is an unrealistic goal to set an experienced professional athlete.

That time should be spent in the gym focussing on improving his pugilistic ability.

And based on your previous comments, I think you pretty much feel the same way.

Ah, we actually agree 100% now! The 50lb in 30 weeks was just a reference to what's possible without muscle loss, not in any way a recommendation for Andy Ruiz the boxer - it would be a terrible idea.

[mikebourkefan]

Andy Ruiz low 240s

[gilgamesh]

There is always discussion around the physiques of too heavyweight fighters. As we know, boxing isn't a beauty contest - anyone who looks at the Fury-wilder matchups knows that's the truth.

That said, when fighters come in clearly overweight (fat or over muscle-bound) it clearly affects their speed and stamina.

Question - what do you think is the best fighting weight for the following heavyweights?:

Tyson Fury
Oleksander Usyk
Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Diillian Whyte
Joseph Parker
Dereck Chisora
Luis Ortiz
Andy Ruiz

Fury would probably be best in the mid 270's.

Usyk...I mean I don't know what he weighed for the AJ fight but that seemed to work out fine for him.

AJ probably the low 230's would be ideal for him. He's a bit overly bulky.

Wilder obviously was at his best between 210 and 215.

With the rest I don't even think I care.

Andy Ruiz would probably be a Cruiserweight if he was actually in shape. He's easily 50 pounds overweight.

[jezzamundo]

There is always discussion around the physiques of too heavyweight fighters. As we know, boxing isn't a beauty contest - anyone who looks at the Fury-wilder matchups knows that's the truth.

That said, when fighters come in clearly overweight (fat or over muscle-bound) it clearly affects their speed and stamina.

Question - what do you think is the best fighting weight for the following heavyweights?:

Tyson Fury
Oleksander Usyk
Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Diillian Whyte
Joseph Parker
Dereck Chisora
Luis Ortiz
Andy Ruiz

Fury would probably be best in the mid 270's.

Usyk...I mean I don't know what he weighed for the AJ fight but that seemed to work out fine for him.

AJ probably the low 230's would be ideal for him. He's a bit overly bulky.

Wilder obviously was at his best between 210 and 215.

With the rest I don't even think I care.

Andy Ruiz would probably be a Cruiserweight if he was actually in shape. He's easily 50 pounds overweight.

Interesting that you say so high for Fury but not others. He was seriously overweight at 277lb for the third Wilder fight and his stamina was poorer for it. That said, he looked more solid at 273lb in his previous outing.

Joshua was probably overly muscle-bound in the 250s, but he looks good around 240lb and his stamina is better. But if he wants to bully Usyk around in the rematch he should come in heavier.

You're right that Ruiz could make cruiserweights, but it wouldn't be a good career move more him, even if he did have the discipline to make weight.