Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑12 Jun 2020, 08:51Our main point (that you and some others) keep ignoring comes down to this:
The weight advantage only goes so far. At a certain point it's not an advantage at a certain point.
i.e. A guy weighing 220 does have a huge edge against someone weighing 170. A guy weighing 270 does not have the that edge against someone weighing 220.
This is what some people get, or don't want to get.
You're ignoring the content of my posts, which I've conveyed multiple times in this thread (even in the post immediately preceding yours):
Enlightened-One wrote: ↑12 Jun 2020, 04:53No one is claiming that it’s impossible for undersized fighters to be effective against much bigger foes.
What people are instead arguing, such as myself, is that
a good big man nearly always beats a good little man.
We’ve both expressed the same sentiments many times:
"Size matters, but it’s not the be-all-and-end-all."
Exceptions occur,
but they’re known as "exceptions" for a reason (i.e.
rare instances that defy the frequently occurring most common general rule).
Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑12 Jun 2020, 08:51At a certain point it's not an advantage at a certain point.
i.e. A guy weighing 220 does have a huge edge against someone weighing 170. A guy weighing 270 does not have the that edge against someone weighing 220.
This is what some people get, or don't want to get.
It depends on the body composition and fitness levels of the fighters in the fictional scenario you’ve described.
A physically athletic highly-skilled fighter (like Tyson Fury weighing 273lbs) is always going to beat any 220lbs fighter possessing similar skills and fitness levels, because his sheer size would become the main differential.
Being bigger is rarely a handicap in the heavyweight division. Whether you like it or not,
Tyson Fury beats Rocky Marciano 24/7 365, because he’s so much larger (i.e. almost a foot taller, nearly 100lbs heavier and also possessing a longer reach). SIZE MATTERS... NOSTALGIA DOESN'T!
Most typical 245lbs world-rated heavyweights beats most typical 200lbs world-rated cruiserweights, because SIZE MATTERS.
Of course, if the reason for a fighter weighing 50lbs more than his 220lbs foe, was entirely due to carrying excess fat, then the “larger” man would clearly be at a disadvantage, but this is an unrealistic scenario (unless you're Andy Ruiz Jr. that is).
That being said, the real-world stats from the last decade prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it’s extremely rare for any fighter weighing less than 225lbs to achieve any sort of success at world-level competing as a heavyweight.
There's an obvious reason for those stats being what they are. And it cannot be ignored.
Put it this way, Nikolay Valuev’s skill levels were primitive. He was also fairly slow. But he compensated for his lack of pugilistic fighting ability, by making the most out of his enormous size advantage, which resulted in him being a massive overachiever.
Any fighter weighing 220lbs that possessed Valuev’s lack of skills, experience, speed etc. would have become a journeyman suffering lots of KO losses, but Nikolay was somehow able to become a world champion.
If I tried to show empathy for your argument, it would be entirely reasonable to argue that (in extreme cases) morbidly obese or excessively muscled fighters, weighing 300lbs or more, would probably be at a disadvantage against most heavyweights weighing 245lbs or so.
For instance: if Tyson Fury was the same size/weight as Eddie Hall or Hafthor Bjornsson (who will both be making their highly lucrative boxing debuts next year), then he’d get battered by every single world-rated 245lbs heavyweight fighter, because he’d be far too slow and clumsy.
