Casual boxing fans might look at the heavyweight division today and think that to be a champion a boxer must be pushing seven feet tall. However hardcore enthusiasts understand that size isn’t the only quality that matters in boxing’s biggest division. In fact, many fight followers will tell you that the average-sized big men are the real killers among heavyweights.
There’s an old adage of the sport that states, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall”. Until recently, this saying certainly was the case. Throughout the history of boxing, some of the heavyweights with the biggest reputations were not in the same league, height-wise, as the current crop of boxing behemoths.
Ring kings like Joe Louis, Sonny Liston and Larry Holmes all barely broke the six-foot mark, while Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano, and Joe Frazier were less than six feet tall. Evander Holyfield, always considered relatively small, ruled the heavyweight roost after moving up from the cruiserweight division. Holyfield not only gathered titles and monster paydays during the 1990s, he saved a slumping heavyweight division at a time when giants like George Foreman, Riddick Bowe and Buster Douglas roamed the earth.
Today is no different. Although the biggest-ever heavyweights in history are currently in charge of the weight class, the boxing world shouldn’t look for someone bigger to defeat them. The new savior of the division just has to be better.
Kathy Duva, Main Events CEO, recalls, “When Holyfield fought Douglas, all but one boxing writer from Evander’s home town picked Douglas to win the fight because he was so much bigger. As we all remember, Evander knocked the bigger man out in the third round to win the heavyweight title that night-a title which he defended successfully against many bigger men. As Evander said and went on to prove many times, ‘It’s not the size of the man that matters. It’s the size of his heart.'”
Next week one of the emerging young lions among heavyweights, Czar Glazkov, 14-0, 10 KOs, brings his exciting, hard-punching style to the Paramount Theatre in Huntington, NY on February 23rd. Czar takes on Malik Scott, 35-0, 12 KOs, in the 10-round main event of the latest edition of FIGHT NIGHT on NBC Sports Network. The telecast begins at 10:30PM ET.
At 6’ 3″, Czar is a “smaller” heavyweight, compared to the dominant Klitschko brothers who currently reside at the top of the heap. However, Glazkov brings a devastating punch and a crowd-pleasing style that could make him a true star of the sport.
Of course, he’ll first have to handle Scott, an undefeated Philadelphian, before moving up in the rankings, but Czar has the credentials to do it. He was an accomplished amateur who won numerous international titles before building his undefeated streak as a pro.
In his last outing, Czar halted the touted prospect Tor Hamer after just four rounds. The impressive win on national TV earned Glazkov a legion of new fans that began buzzing that he might be the one to inject new blood into the sagging heavyweight division. With a little more seasoning and a few choice opportunities, Czar very well may prove himself to be another “Giant Destroyer”, just like Holyfield.
