Oleksandr Usyk is considered a small heavyweight in an era of behemoths. The 6-foot-3 Ukrainian weighed in at a career-high 221¼ pounds for his fight against 240-pound Anthony Joshua this past September, when the former cruiserweight champ earned a …
Oleksandr Usyk is considered a small heavyweight in an era of behemoths.
The 6-foot-3 Ukrainian weighed in at a career-high 221¼ pounds for his fight against 240-pound Anthony Joshua this past September, when the former cruiserweight champ earned a unanimous-decision victory and three of the four major heavyweight titles.
Usyk’s official weight would’ve made him one of the bigger champions in the first 60 years of the 20th century, when fighters not much heavier than present day light heavyweights were competing for the heavyweight championship.
From James J. Corbett to Jack Dempsey to Rocky Marciano, men who weighed less than 200 pounds ruled the sport’s glamour division.
Who weighed the least among heavyweight champions?
Here are the 10 lightest fighters who have won the title since John L. Sullivan ruled the division more than a century ago. Their weights when they became champions are listed.
Oleksandr Usyk is considered a small heavyweight in an era of behemoths. The 6-foot-3 Ukrainian weighed in at a career-high 221¼ pounds for his fight against 240-pound Anthony Joshua this past September, when the former cruiserweight champ earned a …
Oleksandr Usyk is considered a small heavyweight in an era of behemoths.
The 6-foot-3 Ukrainian weighed in at a career-high 221¼ pounds for his fight against 240-pound Anthony Joshua this past September, when the former cruiserweight champ earned a unanimous-decision victory and three of the four major heavyweight titles.
Usyk’s official weight would’ve made him one of the bigger champions in the first 60 years of the 20th century, when fighters not much heavier than present day light heavyweights were competing for the heavyweight championship.
From James J. Corbett to Jack Dempsey to Rocky Marciano, men who weighed less than 200 pounds ruled the sport’s glamour division.
Who weighed the least among heavyweight champions?
Here are the 10 lightest fighters who have won the title since John L. Sullivan ruled the division more than a century ago. Their weights when they became champions are listed.
Boxing Junkie presents in the special feature the shortest heavyweight champions of all time.
Boxing Junkie recently presented a list of the tallest heavyweight champions of all time, with the 7-foot skyscraper Nikolai Valuev at the top of the angular heap.
Now it’s the little guys’ turn. In this special feature, we give you the shortest men to hold one world heavyweight title or another since John L. Sullivan opened the modern era when he was recognized as champion in the mid-1880s.
Only eight men under 6 feet have won the sport’s greatest prize in 135 years and no one has done it since the 5-11 Roy Jones Jr. beat John Ruiz in 2003.
Note: The heights used for this feature come from BoxRec.com, the official record keeper for professional boxing.
Here is the list (by height, or lack thereof).
NO. 1 TOMMY BURNS
Height: 5-7 Active: 1902-20 Record: 47-4-8 (35 KOs)
Reign(s): 1906-08 Background: What Burns lacked in height he made up for with quickness and pluck. The French-Canadian, whose real name was Noah Brusso, defeated bigger men by moving inside to inflict damage and then getting out quickly to avoid it. That’s how he beat the sub-6-foot, but heavier Marvin Hart to win the heavyweight title by decision in 1906 in Los Angeles. Burns made several defenses and then took his championship belt on a successful world tour, finishing his title run with eight consecutive knockouts. Disaster loomed, though. Following him on much of that tour was Jack Johnson, whose goal was to lure Burns into the ring. Johnson finally convinced Burns to fight him on Dec. 26, 1908 in Sydney. A $30,000 payday for Burns, the most ever earned by a boxer to that point, made it impossible to say no. Police halted Johnson’s slaughter of Burns, who officially lost a decision. He still has the distinction of being the shortest heavyweight champion.
Will the rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua join the most-memorable sequels in history? That’s no easy task.
The rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua on Saturday is as compelling as it gets because of their first fight.
Ruiz, a replacement opponent known as much for his paunch as his ability, pulled off one of the great upsets by putting Joshua down four times and stopping him in Round 7 on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Can Ruiz do it again in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, the site of the rematch? Or will Joshua have made the necessary adjustments and avenge his career-changing setback?
Of course, we can only imagine whether Ruiz-Joshua II will live up to the original. Some sequels are as good or better than the first fight, some fall short.
Here are 10 heavyweight rematches – or third fights – that remain in our consciousness for reasons unique to each of the fights.
