BoxRec

Do boxers these days still struggle to make weight for a fight ?
I remember reading the old time fighters(below LH) would like gain around 25 pounds
between fights. then go to steam baths or use laxatives, or even stop drinking water,

Yeah of course they do, where have you been lol.

pretty much everyone is doing it these days

there are some guys who are 20+ pounds heavier on fight night than the day before weigh in

jaime munguia for example was 176 after making weight for a 154 pound fight the day prior. david lemieux was 180 pounds for a middleweight fight. light heavweights are regularly around 190 rather than 175

very very very few guys below heavyweight are fighting at their 'natural' weight theyd be at from simply getting fit. the ones doing that the most are probably journeymen who have little incentive to win and fight so often they cant keep up the weight draining

yeah, but what do they have to do nowadays to lose the weight
(with all the modern medicine AI and stuff)
they still hang out at the steam baths ?

The weight divisions now are almost irrelevant as lots of fighters walk into the ring so much bigger than the division they are supposedly fighting in.

I gotta admit I stopped watching current boxing some years ago.
about the time when Vitali Klitschko retired.
the last fighter I remember who had weight issues was Rickey Hatton

Now fighters don’t do same day weigh-ins they can manipulate their weight so much and walk into the ring 2+ stone heavier.

Restricting liquid intake all through training camp isn't done anymore. Fighters drink lots of water now, even if they need to drop weight. If you read training camp accounts from earlier eras, it was insane how guys ate and drank. Even Duran wrote about the methods he used to make weight not being "modern" in his book. Ike Williams' ordeal making weight for the Jimmy Carter bout was legendary, in terms of drying out weeks before the fight.

Caractacus wrote: ↑08 Jul 2025, 16:59 I gotta admit I stopped watching current boxing some years ago.
about the time when Vitali Klitschko retired.
the last fighter I remember who had weight issues was Rickey Hatton

sheeyat, man you are way behind, loads of fighters have weight issues and there are lots of huge weight drainers today

the day ahead weigh in lets guys be 2-3 divisions higher in the ring than theyd be if they couldnt dry out a day before. it's its own science these days

outside of hw, guys who compete at a natural weight without any draining are most likely going to be significantly outsized

It was always thought that draining shortened careers. No idea with the new methids if this is still accepted wisdom.

I do think we see more fighters who just seem to lose it or get old overnight. Not exactly but with big declines from one fight to the next.

I guess this is also higlighted by fighters having bigger gaps between fights.