Moving up in weight to avoid tougher opponents?

Hector Camacho moving up to 140 lbs shortly after the Rosario scare, then treading water at 140 for too long

He could have made 135 and fought the likes of JC chavez or Whitaker in 1987-1988. Of course, he didn't fight the top 140 guys either. After beating Howard Davis, in pretty impressive fashion, he stalled. He could have gone after a 140 lb titlist like Roger Mayweather or Juan Coggi. Post Rosario, Camacho's career really derailed. He failed to seize the moment.

 

I find it most often used as an excuse on why a fighter loses some big high profile match. "Well, I'm not making excuses but I just can't make the weight anymore and it's time to move up." The perfect example of this is Meldrick Taylor after the 12th round last seconds stoppage to Chavez. He told everyone he couldn't make the weight. So he moves up to 147, wins a title there and then moves up to 154 and gets his clock cleaned by Terry Norris. So he goes back to 147 and gets his clock cleaned by Crisanto Espana. Now, with his corner abandoning him and his earning power in jeopardy, he screams 'Eureka' because suddenly, 4 years after saying he can't make 140, he makes 140 for a rematch with Chavez. I really don't believe he went up to avoid Chavez, I just think he was embarrassed and needed an 'out' on why he lost.

 

Meldrick Taylor never was the same after the JCC fight...both mentally, nor physically. I don't think Lou Duva really wanted the guy to even fight even more...but hey!...this is boxing, and a few more dollars are to be made off the guy.

 

Some of those old "war horse" Lightheavies moved up to the newly formed Cruiserweight Division (190 lb max) to avoid the young Lightheavies that were around in the late 70's, early 80's.

 

Trinidad moved up after looking bad against De La Hoya. Oscar, Forrest, Quartey, and Lopez were all around. Shane came up shortly after. I'm not sure what his motives were, but he hadn't convincingly beaten any of the top guys there unless you count Campas and Carr.

 

Donaire after Rigo.

 

I think Duva and Taylor's team cashed out on him with the Terry Norris fight. He was looking pretty vulnerable in being dropped twice and hurt against Glenwood Brown. One boxing magazine said on the cover "How Much Does Meldrick Taylor Have Left?" after that fight.

Then Taylor goes up again and fights Norris. After the Cristano Espana fight, Duva refused to work with Taylor and said he wouldn't "put him in there with a 4 rounder".

 

Like who?

 

I think Tito was legitimately outgrowing the division. He always had problems making 147 and had stayed there longer than originally planned to chase the big fights, namely Oscar. He was supposed to fight Quartey in 1998 but Ike pulled out to fight Oscar and that resulted in a lawsuit.

In 1997, two years before facing Oscar, Trinidad had moved up to 154 and fought Troy Waters in a title eliminator to face Terry Norris. Then he moved back down to 147.

Trinidad's opposition was 1995-98 was pretty poor and more or less wasted years of his prime. Don King seemed to be underpromoting him, probably spending so much time focusing on Tyson.

 

Arguably, James Toney did it in the early 90s. Although he did eventually end up fighting the best of the bunch in Roy Jones at 168 (where he lost convincingly). After struggling with Reggie Johnson and an ancient Mike McCallum, he had some soft touches at middleweight and avoided names like Julian Jackson, Bernard Hopkins, and Nigel Benn. I remember Jackson calling him out incessantly for unification.

 

He called Benn out on national tele.

Heard he avoided Jackson, also heard he was desperate for a fight with him. That was a real contrast in styles.

 

Don King prevented a lot of the excellent matchups during that extremely talented 160 lb. era from occurring. The amount of talent during that era and the number of fights between the top MWs that actually took place is sad.

I don't know why you guys give a **** about who says what in an interview and who "calls out" whom. We already know by know that fights take place over negotiations, not words.

McCallum was still very good in 1991-92. He never was quite the same though once he left 154. Toney actually looked excellent in their first matchup, which was called a draw, and not-so-great in their rematch, which he officially won. The fight in which he really looked terrible at 160 was Dave Tiberi. He got a gift against a guy he had no business struggling with.

Like McCallum, Jackson wasn't quite the same either once he went to 160. He was still a vicious puncher, but overall he was less effective at 160. Jackson had some serious eye issues at that point. He scored a great comeback KO against Herol Graham and beat some modest opposition after that before losing to G-Man.

Toney went up because of weight issues. Naturally, after less than 2 years at 168, he outgrew (out-ate) that division as well.

 

Guillermo Rigondeaux

 

Sugar ray Leonard wanted no part of Aaron Pryor . I don't care what anyone says. He was scarred of him