Is it me or are there lower weight fighters more likely to get permanent brain damage

Possibly because at the higher weights the fighters generally unanimously punch significantly harder than the lower weight fighters. Everyone can punch at HW besides Zuri Larence. Lower weights guys probably take more prolonged beatings.

 

I think various reasons contribute but cutting weight is not good, dehydration causes the protection of the brain to thin out this making severe damage more likely

 

This is top of the list for me, weight cutting. Heavies are much closer to their natural weight, and a lot of fighters cut too much at the lighter weights

 

It's scary when you watch the weigh in videos, the amount of people who cut too much weight and then 24 hrs allowed to fight, it's dangerous

 

tThis is why im a proponent of same day weigh ins. I absolutely hate the current system. Joe Rogan made a great point that I kind of agree with. He said guys that cut weight then rehydrate to sizes bigger than their opponents is an advantage equivalent to being on peds. I think I agree with him.

 

I think it's more to do with punch power than dehydration, what makes you think a Flyweight cuts more weight than a Light Heavyweight?

 

Iv done weight cutting myself, not to fight but just to see rehydration limits naturally.
I was able to go from 175 to just about 190 in a day.
Now i wasnt fighting but just seeing what the difference would be.
But you feel like crap getting that low and it weakens you and makes you less sharp mentally. Likes guys said here before I'd say its the main factor, making weight can he tougher on fighter bodies than fighting itself.

 

Quite right and if they using PEDs to achieve it then even worse.cant be right that fighters can hide their weight on fight night as well.

 

It’s the extreme weight cutting I don’t understand which would apply to 100% of guys in MMA and probably 90% in boxing.

 

you ever see the weight cutting Cyborg made for one of her fights ? Crying screaming wailing, mentally a real bad place. If I was her trainer she'd be going up a weight

 

Spot on. Weight cutting should be removed from the sport altogether, you weigh in 1 hour before the fight and that's it.

 

There are some lower weight fighters like Broner where you think how could you possibly tell if he got brain damage?

 

If only it would work. Guys can't even make the day before weigh in. It was so bad that HBO wanted to start penalizing it's fighters. Even the TV networks got fed up with it.

There is this guy in the California commission that is making some big moves to combat drastic weigh cutting.
One of my favorite ideas is to apply for a sort of weigh in passport.Not only are you applying for a boxing license, you are applying for a weigh class as well.
They measure ones body fat % and hydration levels. Then they determine the optimal weight classes.

And then you have the 30,14 and 7 day weigh ins as well, where they again measure ones body fat % and hydration. By already having a baseline it's a lot easier to keep a fighter safe.

 

Isn't this an argument against same-day weight-ins, though? Currently they have 24 hours to recover from making weight, if it was the same day, that time would be cut down to a matter of hours and boxers would still try and gain the same re-hydration advantages. It's human nature to push the envelope and it's a practice now ingrained in the sport. I'm not sure having less time would make it less likely, only more dangerous.

Prepared to be persuaded otherwise, but I can't see the logic...