Looking back at Henry Armstrongs record, he used to come into his Welterweight title fights around 134-136 pounds, while opponents would weigh 146 or there around. Some of his fights for his Welterweight Title he came in around 134 while his opponents where 136. Neither above 147 but neither as high as 141 either sometimes. While this speaks to Armstrongs greatness my question is can oppoents come in at any weight as long as it isn't over that weight classes max weight and the fight takes place at whatever weight its scheduled? Lets say Pacquiao fights Pavlik for his MW Title. Pac weighs in at 142 while Pavlike comes in at 160. This fight still goes ahead for the MW championship? Say Pac wins then wants to defend the MW title against Mayweather. Pac comes in at 142 while Mayweather comes in at 147. Is this still for the MW title seeing as how neither came in over 160 but Manny is defending that championship so its for that title?
the junior welterweight division wasn't set in stone at this time. any weight between 136 - 147 would have been considered welterweight. i'm not really sure about the rest.
Good point about there being no JWW division. But take Armstrong WW title fight V Barney Ross. Armstrong: 133.5 Ross: 142
Yes indeed. Although Jones weighed himself on his own personal scale in his hotel room afterward and he was closer to 200 lbs. Ruiz also claimed the official scale for that fight was off a bit.
To my knowledge there's no lower weight limit for any fight. As long as you're inside the limit then it doesn't matter if it's 1 pound or 50. Obviously, it's not in your interests to come in at such a disadvantage and take on a naturally bigger man but it would be possible as far as the rules go for weight-making.
although if you think about it, weighing less than the lower end of a weight class would sort of defeat the whole concept of having weight classes to protect the fighters...
True. I just found it strange that a Welterweight title fight could be fought between two guys neither coming in between 141 and 147 pounds. But since both were under 147 pounds and one fighter was the reigning champ of the WW that was the title at stake.
Let's say Pac wins a belt at 154 weighing in under 147. He now has belts in 2 divisions. If he then defends against Floyd and they are both under 147 then Pac can put both his titles on the line. The WW title because they are under 147, and the JMW title because they are under 154. He could fight at heavyweight if he wanted to, win an interim WBF intercontinental diamond super world title, and defend that against guys his own size.
Does anyone know 100% the answer to the thread starters question, its something Im not sure of myself actually :huh
I believe that back in the day they used to do things that way. As long as you were under the limit, you could challenge for the title. So if you were a 120 pound fighter looking to take a shot at the welterweight champ, well, good luck to you. Now I think there's at least an informal agreement that you have be within the weight range for the title, so for example with welterweight you have to weigh between 140.1 pounds to 147 pounds.
