<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="kiwiinmelb" data-cid="544476" data-time="1448503403"><p>
The body shape of heavyweight boxers has certainly changed ,<br>
Joseph Parker stands at about 6 foot 5 and is similar dimensions to Lennox Lewis , that would've been considered huge not so long ago , now it's just average . <br>
It makes you wonder how the boxers from the golden era , Ali , Frazier , Norton etc would look standing next to these guys . While we like to think they were the greatest and would destroy the current guys , the reality is they may get monstered , it would be like moving up to another weight division .</p></blockquote>
It's the size of the fight in the dog, not the dog in the fight. I remember Matua Parkinson busting out that cliche as a 95 kg openside about to mark Koula Tukino and Isitolo Maka in a Super match.<br><br>
Personally I reckon the real old school guys, Jim Jeffries...Jack Dempsey.....Joe Louis.....Rocky Marciano would have held their own in any era primarily cos they were just so god damn tough. Blokes who did the real manual labour type jobs all day and then boxed all night. I suppose in one sense that's a bit like saying Pinetree lugging fence posts all day more than made up for today's Rugby players smashing tin in the gym but heavyweight boxing is still about big guys throwing ( and just as, if not more, importantly taking ) punches.<br><br>
I suppose of the list I mentioned Marciano would seriously struggle to get close to Klitchko, Lewis, Ali etc but many historians reckon he was the hardest puncher ever which the likes of Tyson, Tua, Foreman, Shavers etc would seriously dispute.....<br><br>
Where's Red Terror to provide a better analysis than this ?