Has there ever been a legitimate real and good flyweight who fought during the day of the weigh in era, who has climbed to lightweight and had success?
Georges Carpentier fought from Light Flyweight ( 108lb ) to Light Heavyweight ( 175lb ) growing lad !! stay safe guys.
As good as McLarnin and Carpentier turned out to be, I wouldn't say either one was a "legitimate real and good flyweight". Depending on how we define "success", the only example I can think of immediately is Midget Wolgast beating Tommy Cross and Norment Quarles, two former top-10 lightweights, well after his best days were over.
I agree with this. Calling Mclarnin and Carpenter real flyweights is weird to me because of them only making that weight while being teenagers.
Mhm. I agree, I truly am stumped to find a true flyweight having success that high up the totem pole. I don’t know much about Cross or Quarles how good were they when Wolgast got them?
Well that’s how it works. You grow as you get older and your body fills out. If you’re looking at someone with a completely career at flyweight until he’s 30 and suddenly going up to 135 at that point, no … not going to happen. Just like Thomas Hearns was a welterweight and outgrew the division … he wasn’t fighting light heavyweights when he was comfortable at 147.
Wolgast beat Cross in 1937 and the latter entered the lightweight top-10 the following year. But that was a brief stint. Cross was more of a fringe contender than a bona fide, longtime entrant. And Wolgast ultimately went 1-2 against him. As for Quarles, I'm relying on Henry Hascup for this bit of information, so I'm not exactly sure when he entered the ranks. It had to have been shortly, though, given he never pops up in the annual ratings. My guess is that Wolgast beat him in his prime or near it. Wolgast also defeated an up-and-coming Johnny Hutchinson, another guy who would break the lightweight top-10 (again, only cursorily). He went 3-2 against Zurita, though their bouts took place at 126. One of Wolgast's opponents, Rodolfo Casanova, an underrated Mexican fighter, comes close to meeting the criteria. From what I've come to learn, he broke the top-10 at 118, 126, and 135. I'm pretty stumped otherwise...
