Fighters who went down in weight as they got older

[Boxing Prospect]

Sung Kil Moon- won a Bantamweight title in fight #7, made 2 defences before losing the belt, then moved down, won a title at 115 and made 9 defenses

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Judah went back down to 40.

[freddydoesdallas]

No examples so far of someone who has moved down to go onto much greater success at a lower weight. All been pretty much the same or slightly less.

Quite surprising really and shows that fighters should really put the graft in at the start to come in at a low fighting weight

[Autobarn]

Yaegashi and Hozumi Hasegawa did similar, Yaegashi holding strawweight then flyweight titles then dropping down one for light flyweight. Hasegawa winning bantam and feather then dropping down one for super bantam, which he won on his second attempt.

As mentioned earlier in the thread by Boxing Prospect, Sung Kil Moon did much better as a super flyweight champion after getting schooled and shut out by Khaokor Galaxy to lose his bantamweight title.

Also Santos Laciar lost a high profile flyweight or two such as Charlie Magri, then dropped down to become one of the outstanding light flyweight champions and probably one of the top 10 fighters ever from Argentina.

[Lenny]

Ryan Rhodes was pretty successful when moving down a division after years at middleweight.

[Lenny]

And Shane Mosley spent the last few years jumping up and down in weight with mixed results

[skanksta]

IF only Frankie Gavin could make 135...

[Flump]

Lou Gent. Stopped by Glenn McCrory and Johnny Nelson at Cruiser, moved down to Super Middle and draws with Henry Wharton then has a fun tussle with Nigel Benn

This is who immediately occurred to me, great shout. I would add John Conteh, started at heavyweight, ended up being a genuine world class Light Heavy.

[Tuan_Jim]

After losing his heavyweight title to Jim Jeffries, Bob Fitzsimmons went down to light heavy and won the title there. Shame Brits aren't more aware of one of their most decorated sons!

Not exactly, he was never above the light heavy limit, though the L.Heavy division never existed until later in his career either, he fought heavyweights after he won the light heavyweight title too.

Yes but Archie Moore continued to fight the odd heavyweight after he had moved back down and resumed his light heavyweight reign.

Light heavy was originally 170 and he certainly boxed over that, although perhaps by only a few pounds. Still counts though. An old guy, he moved down and won the sparkly new light heavy crown with a 20 round decision.

[Tuan_Jim]

After losing his heavyweight title to Jim Jeffries, Bob Fitzsimmons went down to light heavy and won the title there. Shame Brits aren't more aware of one of their most decorated sons!

He left the uk as a baby. Doesn't really count as British. Maybe if he'd been ten or twelve...

Fitzsimmons was 10 years old when his family moved to New Zealand. So by the standard you have set he counts.

Also, while you have discounted his claim anyway, throughout boxing history when Brits challenged for the heavyweight title it was a question whether they could be 'the first Brit to win it since Ruby Rob.' When Lennox Lewis was given the WBC title the media called him the first British world heavyweight champion in nearly a 100 years. It's fine if you don't recognise Fitzsimmons, but to dismiss it outright contradicts uncountable boxing journalists throughout the ages.

[Ossyrules]

I class fitzsimmons as British

[Tanzio]

Does David Benavidez count?

So now it's a f*cking maths thread....

Hey! Benavidez couldn't get fights as an amateur because he weighed 240+. He lost 70 pounds in a year but nobody wanted to fight him anyway because he was trained as a pro, not as a pitypat artist.

I realize that his story doesn't quite fit the mould of the thread but Benavidez has definitely went down in weight as he got older.

[Boxing Prospect]

Not exactly what's being asked, but Jae-Doo Yuh is an interesting guy, he went back and forth between 154 (OPBF) and 160 (WBA) for a bit in the 1970's

[PredatorHayds]

Butler went up to win a title against Hall, then down to challenge Tete at super-fly.

Even though Hide moved down a division HW-CW don't think his weight change was huge though as they'd changed the Weight limits during his career.

[Taansend]

Does David Benavidez count?

So now it's a f*cking maths thread....

Hey! Benavidez couldn't get fights as an amateur because he weighed 240+. He lost 70 pounds in a year but nobody wanted to fight him anyway because he was trained as a pro, not as a pitypat artist.

I realize that his story doesn't quite fit the mould of the thread but Benavidez has definitely went down in weight as he got older.

It was a joke. Read it again

[Tuan_Jim]

Ossie Ocasio, after some mixed results at heavyweight, big wins and big losses, moved down to cruiser, won a title and defended it several times.

[ElJefe]

Didn't Shawn Porter start as a Middle or Super Middle because he played American Football as a teenager?

[SAPFO]

Didn't Shawn Porter start as a Middle or Super Middle because he played American Football as a teenager?

Just checked, he came in at 165.5 in his first fight and gradually went down. Probably classed more as getting in shape while learning on the job.


Maybe I should have have been more specific so we miss out the 'getting in shape' brigade. Lets go with established boxers who won a title above continental.


Conteh never weighted more than 187, and that was his last fight.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yaegashi and Hozumi Hasegawa did similar, Yaegashi holding strawweight then flyweight titles then dropping down one for light flyweight. Hasegawa winning bantam and feather then dropping down one for super bantam, which he won on his second attempt.

As mentioned earlier in the thread by Boxing Prospect, Sung Kil Moon did much better as a super flyweight champion after getting schooled and shut out by Khaokor Galaxy to lose his bantamweight title.

Also Santos Laciar lost a high profile flyweight or two such as Charlie Magri, then dropped down to become one of the outstanding light flyweight champions and probably one of the top 10 fighters ever from Argentina.

Laciar was a fly champ that went up to 115.

[Tanzio]

So now it's a f*cking maths thread....

Hey! Benavidez couldn't get fights as an amateur because he weighed 240+. He lost 70 pounds in a year but nobody wanted to fight him anyway because he was trained as a pro, not as a pitypat artist.

I realize that his story doesn't quite fit the mould of the thread but Benavidez has definitely went down in weight as he got older.

It was a joke. Read it again

I got the joke, Taansend. I just figured I would flesh out the story (so to speak).

[Tanzio]

Didn't Shawn Porter start as a Middle or Super Middle because he played American Football as a teenager?

Yes.

Tim Bradley competed at 152 for years as an amateur.

[Matt W]

Glenn McCrory. Journeyman heavyweight, won IBF title at cruiser, back to HW to get the poo kicked out of him for money vs Lennox Lewis then back down to cruiser for redemption against Al Cole.

[Matt W]

Didn't Bernard Hopkins debut at LHW?

[stujones]

Nathan Cleverly
Scott Lawton

[tobyh5]

After losing his heavyweight title to Jim Jeffries, Bob Fitzsimmons went down to light heavy and won the title there. Shame Brits aren't more aware of one of their most decorated sons!

He was born on the same street I am writing this on

My towns most famous son