catch weights

The fact of the matter is, when you only had 8 divisions, the weight difference between was much bigger. It's much easier to go from 147 to 154 than it is to go from 147 to 160. Furthermore, with no more same day weigh-ins, fighters are draining themselves even more than they used to just to make their own weight class.

So let's say there are 8 divisions and a WW and a MW decided to have a fight. The divsions are 13 lbs. a part and they agree to have the fight at 155. Now the MW will have to drain himself a bit. But remember, he's used to weighing in at 160 lbs. on the day of the fight. The WW, on the other hand, will probably be more comfortable at that weight than the MW. It's not an ideal situation, but it's understandable that a guy used to fighting at 147 wouldn't be able to handle the full leap to 160 lbs.

Now let's look at today's landscape. You have a WW and a JMW who want to fight. The WW, being that he has a whole day to rehydrate after the weigh in, cuts weight from 165 to 147. This guys could easily fight at JMW(in fact he has fought at JMW before with no problem), but fights at WW because his body is able to cut down that far without too much stress. The JMW cuts weight from about 168 to 154. His walking around weight is similar to the WW, but it's harder for his body to cut the weigh. It's already a bit of struggle for him to make 154.

Now you have this WW, who could easily fight at 154, asking for a catchweight of 151 lbs. He's not asking for the catchweight because 154 is too much for him, but rather he's asking for it because he knows it will negatively affect his opponent. That's the problem I have with many of the catchweight fights in the sport today. With weight classes closer together, it's not much of a problem to go up 1 division. Coming down in weight is always liable to be an issue, and it always was. However, there were a lot of MWs back in the day, who would be JMWs today. Simply put, asking many of those MWs to come down to 154 or 155, and isn't as stressful as asking many of these JMWs today to come down to 150 or 151. Furthermore, the guys coming up in weight now are much less disadvantaged than they used to be.

 

Ortiz's fight night weight is bigger than your typical WW and Mayweather's is smaller than your typical WW. Taking two atypical fight night weights and making it seem as though that's the norm is misleading IMO. Furthermore, Ortiz is putting on mostly water weight on fight night.

Compare that to Mayweather being around during the days of same day weigh ins, and weighing in at 147, going against a guy who weighed in at 160. With same day weigh ins, you're not going to be cutting crazy weight like that because you only have a few hrs to recover. With that being said, that 13 lb difference is mostly muscle, where as against Ortiz, the 14 lb. difference is mostly water weight.

 

:deal

If two fighters want to have a non-title catchweight fight, I'm fine with that. But a champion has earned the right to defend his title at the proper weight.

 

A must if you fight Antonio Margarito.

 

The purpose of catchweights in any era was to make 2 good fighters of different but adjacent weight classes face each other without compromising either fighter to the point that it endangers their health or performance signifcantly. It prevents the larger fighter from having a bigger weight advantage on fight night. It is a conscious decision both fighters make and neither are obliged to agree to one another's requested recommended catchweight. Cotto didn't agree to Pac's request of 142. The 2 agreed on 145 (1 pound less than what he weighed against Clottey just 5 months before) which was the lowest safe weight Cotto and his physician said he could go down to. Cotto looked great stamina-wise in that fight.

Historically, the bigger fighter of the catchweight fights have won the majority of the matchups. For the most part, they still overpower their naturally smaller opponent and show no signs of compromised performance due to the extra loss of weight. Like I said, it takes 2 to agree to a catchweight. The bigger fighter will usually not a agree to a weight that will put them in danger.

 

Exactly. For example, Welterweight is between 140.1-147.

140.1 pounds is the minimum, 147 pounds is the maximum for the welterweight division.

These set numbers were created by man, not the word of God to be followed, by the way critics react when 2 fighters agree on a catchweight.

It always baffles me. When 2 great fighters, who do the training and sacrifice blood, sweat and tears in a fight, mutually agree on a weight, it is the couch potato boxing fan, whose only fight will involve who gets the last can of beer or chip, throws a fit.