Did the fighters just weigh in the morning of the fight day? When did it change to the way it is now?
I can't give a detailed analysis about the history of same day weigh ins, but it appears that the further back in time you go, the less regulated/standardized procedures were. That's actually the sort trend you would expect. The sport has become progressively more ordered as time has passed. I seem to recall Sugar Ray Robinson manuevered to have weighs in early on fight day since he was actually really stretched thin making 147. He was really big for welterweight in his era. His rival Jake Lamotta had a much more famous struggle with the scale, most dramatically in the case of the second Laurent Dauthielle fight, where he was visibly lackluster. Ike Williams blamed his loss to Jimmy Carter in part to some last minute weigh in drama surrounding the loss of a couple pounds and I seem to recall Tony Demarco have a similar situation in one of his fights. Although I don't condone the outrageous weight cutting by guys like Canelo (at 154) or Cotto & Gatti (at 140), I actually favor day before weigh ins. Even dehydrating oneself by a few pounds to make weight sucks water from the brain, making head trauma more dangerous. While cynics will say that same day weigh ins will force fighters to fight at a weight that they can make without any physical deprivation, I don't buy it. In prizefighting the stakes are high enough that guys will pursue any advantage, including a size advantage if they think they can get it. Even more importantly, late notice fights are common and these make it more difficult to guarantee that fighters will be able to make weight during same day weigh ins. Maybe it will sound like I'm talking in two directions at the same time, but I think it's ultimately up to coaches to guide fighters away from the increasingly discredited idea that intense weigh-cutting is a harmless route to competitive advantage. Juan Manuel Marquez never had any real weight drama. Neither did his brother Rafael. Or Daniel Zaragoza or Ricardo Lopez for that matter. I don't think its a coincidence that all four guys were trained by Nacho Beristein, a guy who was too smart to buy into the idea that doing extreme cardio in plastic sweatsuits will make your boxing better. Same for Naazem Richardson: B-Hop, Shane Mosely, and Steve Cunningham were never at the center of any weigh in funny business. Boxing needs to normalize that line of thinking, and get away from the weight-cutting tradition. I don't think its a coincidence that so many fighters (probably a majority) suffer with disfunctional eating habits during their career and many battle obesity & overeating in retirement.
Like has been said before, in this day and age with all those vitamins and minerals would going back to same day weigh-in's actually make a difference? Would it actually deter fighters from cutting weight and fighting ensure they fight in a higher division, they will always try and be the bigger man whenever possible. Every advantage counts in there.
In the years of "same day weight-in" some contracts called for weigh-in to be held at ringside before the start of the fight. I have read a store told by a former British manager (let him be nameless) who knew that his fighter could not make weight in the afternoon. He got the promotor to postpone the weigh-in until ringside just before the fight. I the meantime the poor fighter was running around the park to shed the surplus weight. According to the manager his fighter made weight and won his fight, but I would not have been too proud of this story.
Do same day weigh ins shifting to day before weigh ins factor into our thoughts on hypothetical fights between the 2 eras? Do I suppose Hagler (probably a poor example) at 160 vs A 170-180 lb middleweight? Do I/we need to adjust for that or do we keep pretending it does not exist?
It was popular to have a weigh-in at 3PM the day of the fight in late 19th-early 20th century, giving fighters about 6 hours to rehydrate (contemporary writers estimated fighters gained about 5 pounds between the time of the weigh-in and entering the ring).
