BoxRec

I find this aspect of boxing interesting - that if your optimal fighting weight just happens to be near or at the top of the division limit, you have quite an advantage over other fighters at that weight. See any Scott Harrison fight!

What of those boxers, though, that are cursed the opposite way - that are too big to drain down to one division but slightly too small to compete in the next one up?

For starters, I'm going to say Jermain Taylor - he looks a little small for Super-Middle to me, and yet found it hellish boiling down to Middleweight at the end of his reign. Froch looked a LOT bigger than him in the ring.

Taylor has been a career middle, and I thought this was gonna be another Enzo Macc thread!!!

That's my point. He's too big for middleweight now, but small for the division he has to fight in.

Enzo? What?

Hatton would be the classic he is built stocky and strong but doesn't have the reach to command the ring.

dookus wrote:That's my point. He's too big for middleweight now, but small for the division he has to fight in.

Enzo? What?

He could probably do 185, but couldn't manage it all the way down to 175.

I think Arthur Abraham might be an example of this. A relatively big guy at middleweight who can't make 160 anymore, but at the same time looks like a troll when hes standing next to Froch, Kessler, Dirrell, etc

gb wrote:

dookus wrote:That's my point. He's too big for middleweight now, but small for the division he has to fight in.

Enzo? What?

He could probably do 185, but couldn't manage it all the way down to 175.

Ah-ha. Yeah, the size of the cruiserweight division makes it prone to that sort of thing happening....although Adamek seems to be doing pretty well!

Also - David Walker @ light-middle weight - just too small, and Gavin Rees at 140 - okay that's partially his conditioning, but he hit Kotelnik with about a million body shots and they had very little impact.

caught between divisions(???),
how many flippen weights do you want, these guys are already fighting 20-30lbs and more, below their 'natural' weight and this IS ONE of the things wrong with boxing today.

17 divisions, reduce it to 12, with approx 10lbs between divisions - S-HW required in the 12 divisions!

fighters fighting closer too their natural weight, boxing becomes more competitive and only the truley gifted will advance forward... and btw 'making weight' will be less of a challenge!

caught between divisions,
1 or 2 fights a year,
sidestepping TOP contenders,
shifting weights like Richard Simmons just to pick up bogus titles and pretending to be multi-divisional champions,
10,15, 20 bogus title defences,

better question, NO 2 better questions, "Do these guys even want to fight?" and Why do so many fall, allow, settle for this _ullsh_t we call boxing???


as a point of interest here are the 12 divisions...

S-HW - 225lbs+ cumbersome loafs

HW - 210 - 225 lbs.

CW - 199 - 209.5 lbs.

L-HW - 188 - 198.5 lbs. RJJ could have been a perfect L-HW

S-MW - 177 - 187.5 lbs. Calzaghe stll a S-MW without to much effort

MW - 166 - 176.5 lbs. Hopkins a 'true' MW

WW - 155 - 165.5 lbs. Hatton stll a welter without having to drop 30+ lbs.

J-WW - 144 - 154.5 lbs.

LW - 133 - 143.5 lbs.

FW - 122 - 132.5 lbs.

BW - 111 - 121.5lbs.

FlyW - up to 110lbs.

dookus wrote:I find this aspect of boxing interesting - that if your optimal fighting weight just happens to be near or at the top of the division limit, you have quite an advantage over other fighters at that weight. See any Scott Harrison fight!

What of those boxers, though, that are cursed the opposite way - that are too big to drain down to one division but slightly too small to compete in the next one up?

For starters, I'm going to say Jermain Taylor - he looks a little small for Super-Middle to me, and yet found it hellish boiling down to Middleweight at the end of his reign. Froch looked a LOT bigger than him in the ring.

I heard the WBA are having a new weight division just for taylor.....junior super middleweight $$$$$$$

jimglen wrote:caught between divisions(???),
how many flippen weights do you want, these guys are already fighting 20-30lbs and more, below their 'natural' weight and this IS ONE of the things wrong with boxing today.

17 divisions, reduce it to 12, with approx 10lbs between divisions - S-HW required in the 12 divisions!

fighters fighting closer too their natural weight, boxing becomes more competitive and only the truley gifted will advance forward... and btw 'making weight' will be less of a challenge!

caught between divisions,
1 or 2 fights a year,
sidestepping TOP contenders,
shifting weights like Richard Simmons just to pick up bogus titles and pretending to be multi-divisional champions,
10,15, 20 bogus title defences,

better question, NO 2 better questions, "Do these guys even want to fight?" and Why do so many fall, allow, settle for this _ullsh_t we call boxing???


as a point of interest here are the 12 divisions...

S-HW - 225lbs+ cumbersome loafs

HW - 210 - 225 lbs.

CW - 199 - 209.5 lbs.

L-HW - 188 - 198.5 lbs. RJJ could have been a perfect L-HW

S-MW - 177 - 187.5 lbs. Calzaghe stll a S-MW without to much effort

MW - 166 - 176.5 lbs. Hopkins a 'true' MW

WW - 155 - 165.5 lbs. Hatton stll a welter without having to drop 30+ lbs.

J-WW - 144 - 154.5 lbs.

LW - 133 - 143.5 lbs.

FW - 122 - 132.5 lbs.

BW - 111 - 121.5lbs.

FlyW - up to 110lbs.

You need to think about percentages. 10lbs between two guys weighing around 110 is effectively twice as big a gap as guys at 220. Even when there were 8 divisions, there were still only 6lbs between bantam and fly.

I dont think there are any guys 'caught between weight divisions' its an excuse for 'not good enough' or 'can't be bothered to get in good shape'.

Christ almighty! I'm not saying there need to be more weight divisions or saying that's an excuse for not training, but if you can't see that there are some fighters who are CLEARLY bigger than other who fight at the same weight, then you're watching a different sport.

Can we discuss this now without any more Calvinist trolls pissing all over my thread?!

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:I dont think there are any guys 'caught between weight divisions' its an excuse for 'not good enough' or 'can't be bothered to get in good shape'.

Fair enough comment i suppose,but i can remember years ago Glenn McCrory nearly killing himself to get down to cruiser cos he was'nt a big heavy,mind,could have been lack of power that was the problem at heavy.

ive always thought Berto would come under this list, bulky with short arms for a ww but maybe too big for lww.

Ian Napa, but I think he moved up in weight to give him more options in opponent

humberto soto is finding super feather hard to make but i think he's too small for a lighweight

rocky juarez has been flirting with super feather and feather for years i think hes a prime candidate

also ricky hatton he struggles to make LWW whith his binging but hes too small for welter

michael brodie.

i think alex arthur from now on......