If the film Raging Bull is too be believed then Jake La Motta struggled with weight issues. Is there any real life examples of that? The comeback version of Muhammad Ali would get fat and out of shape frequently and his weight would pile on as one of his vices was food and women. Roberto Duran would struggle to maintain his fight weight and this was a strategy Sugar Ray Leonard would use to exploit him with by demanding an immediate rematch after his loss. Buster Douglas even before his bout in Tokyo with Mike Tyson was well known for overconsuming food and neglecting his training and we all know what happened prior to the Evander Holyfield title fight. Riddick Bowe had a predilection for fast food and would let himself get out of condition. He lost a vast amount of weight for the Andrew Golota fight which ultimately hurt him rather than helped him Chris Eubank would have difficulty maintaining his fight weight and then go into spartan training and starvation type diets to make weight. Ricky Hatton would gain alot of surplus weight between bouts and then have to go to extremes with dieting and training to reduce his weight much to the dismay of his nutritionist Kerry Kayes. Billy Joe Saunders is known to gain massive amounts of weight and then have to drop it all to prepare for fights. Tyson Fury has struggled with finding his optimal weight throughout his career. What kind of effect can all the yo yo dieting and weight gain and weight loss have on a boxer's metabolism? And more importantly their skills?
It’s losing muscle that is crippling. Losing fat will increase your metabolism becoming more insulin sensitive. Eubank Sr was tapping into muscle tissue. Sometimes turning grey. Sometimes passing out on the floor. Ricky Hatton had no problem melting all his fat off in the first few weeks of camp.
Sit Chatilda, Jeff Fenech, Khaosai and Khaokor Galaxy all come to mind. They battled the scales like no one else. Archie Moore was perceived as a trained down HW at one point wasn’t he? Before he went up the stairs, might’ve just been something I read here though.
I remember seeing his fight with Maxim and I thought he looked oddly similar in size to the Marciano bout, but It could've been mostly from the legs or something, or just mistaken. Hard to think one could go from 190-'95ish to 175 and not even look much more defined at least.
Archie Moore had a way with the scales. Bobo Olson was also a very big guy who knew how to melt down to the weight he wanted. Maybe it's the magic of drinking steak juice or "Aboriginal secrets" Archie was more a folk lore character then a boxer sometimes... and he is my favourite personality in the business, I think.
Not sure if Tony Galento and Buster Mathis count as I think they were always packing too much weight and not just putting it on between fights, but I’ll throw their names in as well. Same with Andy Ruiz Jr.
I just got done posting in another thread about how Winky Wright walked around at 190 pounds. Cory Spinks is another guy that walked around close to 180 and would cut to 147. Those guys weren't necessarily fat in between fights, it's just what there more natural weight was. Now Hatton and Fernando Vargas used to get fat in between fights. Vargas would blow up over 200 pounds in between fights.
Duran, Tua, Bowe, fringe contender and Super Heavyweight silver medalist Wolfgramm, Corey "T Rex" Sanders.
One quote I like of his is (though I don't have the source), when asked about his cross armed guard is "You're asking about technique, what I do is philosophy". Define tly a interesting guy.
