Rampent Weight Cutting Seems More Prevalent than Ever

its called the sweet science for a reason, weight management is part of the science. fighting above your weight can give a fighter an advantage in speed, while fighting below your weight can give him an advantage in power, but no matter which way you move, youre gonna get diminishing returns till it becomes counterproductive. a great trainer should be able to find the best weight for any particular fighters physiology, personal attributes and style.
hurd, for example, is in the correct weight if he is suffering no ill effects from his weight cutting. his style is to pressure and force a fight, for that type of style it becomes a matter of getting him as light as you can before there starts to be a drop in strength and endurance. if his style was more of a cutie, he would probably be up at 160, where he could better use his speed, endurance and athleticism.

 

They changed the rule to the 2-day weigh in back in the 1980s after a few guys died in the ring. Doctors figured out that the danger withe weight-cutting was that all the fluid loss dries out your brain. The doctor's came up with the theory that it takes 30 hours for a weight cutter to re-hydrate his brain to where he is no longer in danger, so the same day weigh in ended. That, plus they wanted to get the weigh-ins for major fights on the evening news the day before the fight.

I personally think that they should star the weigh ins 24 hours before the opening bell of the first fight. If the first bell is at 7pm on Sat. night. They should weigh-in at 7pm Friday night, and each fight weighs in 15 minutes later. This 10 am **** is too early.

 

It’s rampant in high school, collegiate and international wrestling also. There was a 5-time state champion here in Florida that did it since the 8th grade. Pretty stupid idea during puberty, and probably not advisable even afterwards if you plan to live a long, healthy life.

 

I thought it was called the sweet science because after your teeth are gone you can eat all the candy you want.

 

I was going to start a thread on weight cutting to see if people thought it was a skill/cheating/bending the rules/genetics, maybe it's all of them.

Because are you truly fighting at say 140 if on fight night you are 165? Etc.

I personally think they should have limits on all fights.

 

The actual fight night weights Ive seen of Quillin showed him around 170 at the time.

 

In my opinion if you can make the weight healthily why would you not take the advantage of being the bigger guy in the ring?

 

You can literally watch them rehydrate. When Brandon Figueroa was making 119, he looked like a starving 9 year old when he got off the scales. I know a guy that weighs in at 130; before he starts cutting weight he weighs 158-160, in good enough shape to spar 8 hard rounds.

There is a mentality that the fighter only has to be at that weight for a second, just long enough to weigh in, so it won't hurt him. So, to get an advantage, they cut. I know a guy that did well enough as an amateur to get attention from one of boxing's top promoters and the trainer they favor. He fought in the 120s as an amateur but they told him he would have to make 108 as a pro. He went back to school.

 

The issue is that a lot of them go beyond what they can make healthy and/or without illegal substances.
And that bringing their own health in jeopardy, but also their opponent's health.

 

This is also one of my big bugbears. So many fighters, especially from the richer countries, US, UK, Mexico, cut to a division that they know they can win in. Soon as they get too old to cut that much they move up. Soon they get to their natural weight division and lo and behold, they get iced. It's ridiculous. One of the main reasons for me is that it allows promotors to use "marketable" fighters who aren't that good. A boxer needs marketability, good power, but most importantly good technique. I think the weight cutting allows promoters to ignore the technique part to some degree.

 

A lot of Guys are walking around during fight week at anywhere from 170-180lbs then 24 hours before the weigh in they start their water cut, by using portable saunas,steam baths, sweating it out on the treadmill etc and boil down to 160 weigh in then immediately start drinking fluids to replace the lost water. 10lbs is 4.5 liters of water for example.

They should do random check weights during fight week and have to be within say 5lbs of the fight weight, There is no reason a fighter can not maintain within 5lbs of the weight limit during fight week at all times this would eliminate weigh cuts greater than 5lbs.

The only way they could come in any heavier is by eating ridiculous amounts of food so much so they would be in no fit state to fight the next day. A lot of people are under the impression its "food weight" fighters are gaining post weigh in, here are a few examples to prove how silly that idea is.

Here is a picture of a 2lb steak, You would have to eat 10 of those to gain 20lbs, good luck with that.

http://i.imgur.com/oPR90Ss.jpg

20lbs is also the equivalent of

20 large pizza hut pizzas
55 double cheese burgers
90 snickers bars

I used google to find the average weight of those food items which you can verify yourself.

 

I dont see anything wrong with Hurd at 154 if he only puts on 10 pounds.
But the guys who re-hydrate like 15+... that's just stupid.