We love the great fighters of the past, but ffs we don't want them back!

Preach it Rob. What a bloody era!!!

 

Or, if a guy is fighting 'at' 154 but is comfortable in the ring at 176....

 

What bout was that? Canelo? Charlo? That's near as extreme as it gets. I see loads of allegations but little hardcore truths about a lot of alleged rehydrations. Vanquished opponents make a lot of noise. But again that's open to all and sundry to attempt. I wouldn't want to be doing that year after year.

 

There is considerable evidence from boxing guys that were there that McClellan was 38 pounds heavier than Julian Jackson for their second fight. Gatti was 24 pounds heavier than Gamache when he hurt him. Leo Santa Cruz was consistently a 147 pound featherweight. I personally know fighters that suffered injuries due to fighting 'junior welterweights' (for example) that were 165 in the ring. I know that a current world champion built his early record by weighing 118, then being 135, 140, in the ring and that his opponents were given a week to prepare....What happens all the time, especially when a fighter is being moved, is that he knows that he is fighting on June 1, against TBA. He manages his weight accordingly. TBA doesn't know that he is fighting until he gets signed 5, 6 days before the fight. He makes weight because he was in the gym at that weight and the other guys comes in 20 pounds heavier.
I've seen guys in the bathroom for an hour before the weigh in, make weight, and, the next day look like a totally different person and 25 pounds larger.
I have a friend that is 2-9 but a much better fighter than that, but his metabolism doomed him. He is a featherweight; he walks around at 128, 130, and doesn't function well below 122. 123. He would make weight at 126, eat and be 126 the next day. And fight 143 pound guys. It happens all the time and it insane to see a drop crazy weight before a fight, look like he just came from a concentration camp at the weigh in, then watch him grow, literally, overnight. When you get to the level where fights are signed well in advance, that should even out, but you still see many fights where on guy is visually much larger.

 

I mean that I do not want the person who recently won the lineal middleweight title to fight the heavyweight lineal champion.

 

Yeah some guys look big. Talk about a nightmare getting super late notice to fight, top point. Should be outlawed under the new weigh in rules which caused almost as many dramas as they fixed by the sounds of it.

That would have made Gerald around 198 or even more and i'd have to see it to fathom it. Jackson weighed in at 159/160 and i don't reckon he would have went backwards. Benn when they fought was surprised McClellan didn't seem overly big or imposing at all.

Gerald and Jackson don't look remotely that far apart in the ring and to me Gerald just doesn't look that big.

Incidentally you could have used this fight as the example @Greg Price99 asked for given it's above the 35 pound difference mark. We are talking a visual difference (weight wise only) of Hagler vs a cruiserweight Holyfield + 8 pounds. The 15 pound difference between Hagler and spinks would be easily noticeable let alone a beefed up cruiser Holyfield. The 35 pound difference between Ketchel and Johnson was huge visually.

McClellan actually stated his walk around weight was about 180 pounds. I reckon his in ring weight claims of 190+ are a myth.

As a matter of fact the 198 was smashed to pieces in this thread -

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gerald-“the-gman”-mcclellan-vs-marvelous-marvin-hagler.658341/

The point about late notice is a ripper tho.

 

My pal I think about it adleast one time a day. You have no idea how thrilled I am if someone brings it up conversation. It's not like NFL fans. Their a dime a dozen meaning no disrespect. What I mean is that here in the United States nearby everybody is an NFL fan so it's easy to converse about it and it gains so much momentum when your at a social setting. Real boxing fans not just the ones that spout off about Tyson and FM are a rare rare breed. Just seems wrong to me. Besides combat in war there's nothing else that comes close to testing your physical and mental limits to thr breaking point.

 

I sincerely doubt McClellan was 38lbs heavier in the ring than Jackson.

Even if he didn't drain to make 160lbs, Jackson would have been at least a couple of lbs over that in the ring, just as I weigh a couple lbs more at night than I do in the morning.

McClellan wasn't 200lbs in the ring. That's crazy. Frankly you can tell by looking at him he's nowhere near 200lbs.

I'm not saying day before weigh ins haven't led to material in the ring weight differences, because they have, but something that is common is for people to anecdotally hear of an extreme example and then pass that off not only as fact, but as common.

Such examples being the norm or average do not pass the scrutiny of proper research into the matter.

 

Bingo!!!

 

There’s certain things about the past I would want back.

There’s always been 2 recognized titles since the 1920s, but usually one fighter had both. Somehow it’s becoming like Accounting with a Big 4.

I prefer same day weigh-ins, but either way, there’s going to be issues. I prefer 15 instead of 12, but it’s not a major complaint of mine.

 

Almost half of the posts on that thread are of one poster making silly claims and then throwing a little hissy fit after being corrected on those silly claims.

 

I agree in general.
In terms of improving things now, I’ve always favored a much more radical change to how world titles “work”….make it like most other sports involving individual participants (tennis, golf, formula one, amateur boxing) and have it be an annual tournament every year, in each weight class. Boxers fight regularly to qualify for the tournament and are seeded, and the winner is the world champion. But there’s no concept of “winner stays on”…you have to win it again the next year in the next tournament.
Kind of like the HBO heavyweight tournament in the 80s and the super six at super middle, but only one title awarded at the end.

 

Speak for yourself

 

One of the interesting things about Greb was that he came from a middle class (or even upper middle class) stable family and had options for a career outside of boxing. It points to his love of the sport as opposed to the usual narrative of a boxer who doesnt have any options outside of boxing.

 

Exactly....he's certainly off the reservation that guy. That was just one of many threads too.