Boxers who are/were small for their division?

[Boxing Prospect]

Just thought this would make an interesting flip of the other topic.

Might be best to avoid heavyweights, at least those pre-Liston, but admittedly Tyson and Byrd do stand out there.

Let's also try and keep it to folks who have had some sort of success.

[ElJefe]

Miguel "I'm not a middleweight" Cotto at middleweight.

[Tanzio]

Mickey Walker

[zojo]

Joey Gamache

Why not heavyweight? Steve Cunningham probably weighed less last night in the ring than the two cruiserweights that fought on the undercard.

[Boxing Prospect]

Joey Gamache

Why not heavyweight? Steve Cunningham probably weighed less last night in the ring than the two cruiserweights that fought on the undercard.

Due to the historically small ones, I.e. Marciano, Hart, Burns, Dempsey who would all be cruiserweight/light heavyweight in today's world. Cunningham is pretty similar size wise to Ali is he not?

[Boxing Writer]

Dingaan Thobela started as a Featherweight , won world titles in the Lightweight and Super Middleweight divisions. He looked really small in SM, but he went even further - 3 out of his last 4 fights were in the Cruiserweight limit. Saying that, my vote goes to Manu Ntoh. He was the same height as Thobela, and he looked unbeliveably small when he fought 6'6'' Vladimir Tereshkin at HW. And he was fairly competetive against Tereshkin. I think he won at least 3 rounds out of 8.

[sucracristo]

qawi
vinnie paz as he went up through the ranks
actually so many fighters went up through the ranks to become undersized
later in their careers it's hard to sort through them all

[Cyclops]

I was gonna say Thabiso Mchunu who I'm sure was listed as 5'8" when he beat Eddie Chambers at Cruiserweight, but I boxrec'd him and he's listed as 5'11" now. And he got KO'd in his last fight.

[Datsue]

The advent of p̶e̶r̶f̶o̶r̶m̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶h̶a̶n̶c̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶d̶r̶u̶g̶s modern training & nutrition makes this a hard one for the moderns, as guys who are not massive weight-drainers are becoming increasingly rare.

At middleweight, I always liked that Sergio Martinez was the same height as Nigel Benn & only put on (ONLY!! HA) about 5lbs after the weigh-in; seeing him next to "middleweights" like Pavlik, Chavez & Williams (who all outweighed him by more than 15lbs in the ring, iirc) was like a breath of fresh air & probably (sentiment aside) one of the main reasons why I liked him so much.

Ivan Calderon was not a mass weight-drainer either, & was positively dwarfed (hahahaha) by the likes of Segura & Cazares.

Zab Judah was that most unfortunate of things, an actual welterweight trapped in the modern era. He gave away over ten pounds to Cotto (who used to be a ridiculous drainer at lighter weights, & probably only gets in the ring now five pounds or so heavier than he did ten years ago) at welterweight, probably the same or more to Tszyu (another big, forgotten drainer), & something ridiculous like 18 lbs to Corey Spinks in their rematch.

Floyd, of course, is now "small" for welterweight, despite being, well, welterweight sized.

But modern boxing weights & the exploitation of same are so ridiculous that I can't think of many other elites who fit this criteria off the top of my head, & I think this thread will shortly be filled with guys who "only" bloat back 10% of their weight rather than the standard 15% plus or whatever.

Someone said Lucas Mattyhsse wasn't a massive weight drainer the other day. Lucas fornicating "At light-welter I weighed as much in the ring as Gene Fullmer" Mathysse.

[Boxing Prospect]

Just thought of a few
Gary Russell Jr?
Carl Frampton? (Height wise at least, he was hardly bigger than Takayama at the IBF thing earlier this year)
Rigondeaux

[Counter-puncher]

Ian Napa

[Datsue]

Rigo & Napa, definitely, Napa always looked about three divisions smaller than anyone he fought at bantam.

[caldo2025]

Dwight Muhammad Qawi. World Champion at Cruiserweight at only 5' 5". That's not a typo. If this name doesn't look familiar to some of the younger people on the site, please check out the link below if you want to see him in one of the best fights in history versus Evander Holyfield.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9gfWpli3go

[T.M.K]

I was about to suggest a 5'3 Featherweight in Naseem Hamed........... but Qawi, a 5'5 Cruiserweight who actually fought at HEAVYWEIGHT (check his record, and look at one particular Heavyweight monster he faced) has got to be the winner in terms of height!

Good shout Mr Caldo2025

"T.M.K"/Col

[littlepug]

Adey Lewis was about 4 ft 10

[palooka]

Adey Lewis was about 4 ft 10

The Mighty Atom! I've just watched Lewis v Culshaw on YouTube, what a cracker and Lewis was so very strong.

[littlepug]

Adey Lewis was about 4 ft 10

The Mighty Atom! I've just watched Lewis v Culshaw on YouTube, what a cracker and Lewis was so very strong.

He was mate, I lost a decision to him in the ams and was knocked down in the 2nd, he could punch alright !

[koolkc107]

I think that the first great fighter that comes to my mind in this category is JMM.
Even at smaller classes, weight was never a problem.
And has yet to crack 145 lbs as a welter.

[littlepug]

matlala was another small fella, good fighter

[tiny_acres]

Dwight Muhammad Qawi. World Champion at Cruiserweight at only 5' 5". That's not a typo. If this name doesn't look familiar to some of the younger people on the site, please check out the link below if you want to see him in one of the best fights in history versus Evander Holyfield.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9gfWpli3go

I have stood next to Qawi on a couple of occasions I think 5'5" is being generous.
He was a few inches shorter than my wife who is 5'6".
How he could compete at the higher weights with that much size difference is amazing.

[sucracristo]

Good shout Mr Caldo2025

"T.M.K"/Col

uhhhh, yeah....

[caldo2025]

I have stood next to Qawi on a couple of occasions I think 5'5" is being generous.
He was a few inches shorter than my wife who is 5'6".
How he could compete at the higher weights with that much size difference is amazing.

That's pretty awesome that you met him. Qawi's chin was stone. He was just smiling after every power punch to the face from Evander the whole fight. I don't get it. Imagine the poor fella that picked on Qawi at a bar at night thinking he was a punk. Wish i was there for that.

[Aaronide_ger]

No Henry Armstrong? Whats going on guys?

He was a Welterweight champion weighing in at 135 in most of his fights, facing opponents much bigger than him.

[danamba7]

Frankie Gavin

[Syntax Error]

Mike Tyson - Was always listed as 5' 11.5" but he wasn't even that tall: I'd say more 5' 9".