Fighters that should have moved up earlier?

Maybe Wilfredo Gomez and Jeff Chandler, might have had better careers.Possibly Duran too.

 

Wilfredo Gomez should never have moved up.

Ayub Kalule wrecked himself making 154 too long.

Ricardo Lopez should've moved up to light fly earlier, and probably attempted fly at least once.

 

Lopez, Kalule, McCallum, Eubank all very good picks.

Yoko Gushiken should really have been in the mix at Flyweight instead of cutting down to light-fly for the easier title.

Miguel Lora ruined his career by staying at Bantam too long.

 

Staying at 122 hurt Gomez in many ways, not saying Sal would've beaten Wilfredo had he moved up early, but probably would have made it a tighter fight.

 

As i Recall Bobby Chacon was weak as a kitten at Feather But less than a Spartan Lifestyle almost certainly contributed, He seem a lot happier Resilient and Effective at Jr Light.

 

Richie Sandoval. No idea why his management thought it was a good idea to keep him at 118 and nearly kill him in the process. Not just the Canizales fight either, I'm referring as much to the constant non-title fights where he'd weight as much as or over 130 pounds and then have to pare down to 118. Crazy. Just nuts.

 

Toney should have moved up from 168 after Tim Littles (even better after Barkley) instead of being fed as a static target for Jones both in terms of career and inside the ring. Either that or overcome his eating disorder. __________ Tarver should have moved up from 175 after filming Rocky Balboa. It would both have spared him from 3 losses (possibly at the cost of 1-2 losses) and maybe even won him a title in another weight class. ________________ Nunn should have moved up to 168 in late 1989 / early 1990. Would have spared him of the Toney loss and the subpar performance vs Starling. __________ Barkley should have moved up in late 1989 / early 1990 (too). Maybe coordinate it with Nunn and rematch him @ 168 for some vacant title or ranking. That could have been used as a plan for worst case for both if they could not get easier fights @ 168. ____________ Curry was already suggested. ___________ LaPorte prior to being drained vs Gomez. Either Gomez @ 126 was more effective than Sanchez @ 126 and than Nelson and Chavez @ 130, or LaPorte was drained or something bad else. _______________ Benitez and Hearns b4 fighting Leonard @ 147. Duran immediately after his 1st fight vs Leonard. But he probably either had a rematch clause or no better financial choice. Or just overcome his eating disorder. Kalule should have moved up to 160 in 1977. ______________________ Every fighter in history that lost due to being drained unless financial causes made him throw fight/s which explains most of the why did they not cases.

 

Would like of seen Nunn face Hill, Hearns or Barkley at 175 in the early 90s. Especially Hill or Hearns in a fencing contest. Would've been interesting. Eubank said he could 'totally play with' Carlos De Leon (190) in mid-1990 after the McCallum-Eubank fight fell through. Would've been fascinating at the time.

 

That's because he was lazy. He wasn't a big guy at all, with the right dedication he probably could've made 118.

 

I don't think Curry was destined for a long stay in boxing no matter what he chose to do. He had massive difficulty maintaining his weight at welter, but wasn't really durable enough to withstand the division which lye beyond that. He burned very bright for a short time as some fighters tend to do.

 

Hopkins should have moved up to 168 for 2 or 3 fights (picking up a world title) instead of fighting Taylor... then LHW

 

Defo, I know Ward has managerial issues, but I don't see why he hasn't moved up to light heavy yet. Getting Chad Dawson to drop down in weight to face him seriously ticked me off. I suppose the SMW division is still fairly competitive, but being one of the few fighters in modern day boxing to properly clear out a division he could elevate himself to a modern great, or would be well on his way there with a victory over Kovalev.

 

In fairness to Jimbo he was only at L / Heavy for 10 months the first time, 9 months the second time, with one more attempt at 175 against Thazdi. I'd imagine the rest were down to how many burger kings he ate the week of the fight.:rofl

 

Eusebio Pedroza,surely. Not taking anything away from Barry McGuigan's magnificent victory over him (I'm a big fan of Barry's) but Pedroza must have been virtually starving himself to make the Featherweight limit in his later defences.