Are fighters in smaller divisions at greater physical risk?

I think the theory is that chin strength doesn't scale as much with size as power does, thats why we see more KOs at heavyweight than flyweight.

Lighter weights also throw more punches, so as a result they get punched in the head a lot more. Plus the weight cuts on top, makes it more likely to get an injury.

 

If heavyweights had to cut water weight we'd have seen significantly many more deaths, brain injuries and plenty of fights would have ended with a different winner. Really no reason for weight cuts anymore, train your body to go through war effectivly only to dehydrate yourself the night before, it's illogical stupid lame and homoerotic.

 

I agree to a point but weight cutting is something that everyone do to gain a little bit of advantage. It’s not as easy to control as it sounds and it’s even harder to get fighters to stop cutting weight.

 

My understanding its mostly because of weight cutting. Lighter division especially today cut a lot of weight and the more weight you cut the more you put yourself at risk. Whereas heavier divisions especially HW don't cut weight as much so they're not at risk as much.

 

maybe fighters should just try to keep in shape between fights and come in at what would be their normal in shape weight. right now, they dehydrate and then the night before regain what is their actual weight. looking at you canelo!

 

imo this is an excellent question and i am not sure what to think offhand. i hope this thread produces many pages of conjecture.

 

Absolutely. When you consider...

1. Fighters being able to throw more shots due to being lighter
2. Fighters being able to take more shots due to their opponent not having as much power
3. Weight cuts I'm sure play a factor too.

Boxing is the most dangerous combat sport on earth. It's ironic, when you compare it to other fighting sports which have been looked down on through the years for their brutality and have been labelled 'blood sports'. For example... MMA, fighters throw nowhere near as many shots, because there's different ways to win. Kicks, clinch/ground control, submissions etc. And, there's no counts for a knockdown... you get knocked down, you're more than likely getting ground-and-pounded. Even bare-knuckle boxing which has re-emerged in recent years which I watch from time to time... it can get pretty grotesque, but it seems like most fights barely seem to make it out of the first round, due to fighters not being able to take the shots they do in regular gloved boxing. It's the injuries you can't see which are usually the deadliest. Sadly, regular boxing, as much as we all love it, has all the right conditions to cause these kind of tragic events from time to time.

 

Imagine if someone of authority in boxing actually cared enough to engage experts to investigate this. Any other sport would make it a top priority and leave no stone unturned. Not boxing.

 

I'd argue just about every death in boxing (outside of heart attacks or a fighting slamming their head on the canvas) is due to weight cutting.

The adult human body is 60% water. When you weight cut 20+ pounds a couple of days before a fight, you're starving your entire system of the most essential thing to keep it operating. This includes the water and fluid that surrounds the brain. In fact, when you rehydrate, the last thing to come back is the fluid surrounding your brain.

So you intentionally deplete the in-built protection the brain has and then you go get punched in the head repeatedly. Now, instead of your brain sloshing around in its own fluid like its supposed to, it's banging off the inside of your skull. That's why all these deaths involve serious damage to the brain itself. Bleeds, blood pooling and causing a hematoma, clots, etc.

Meanwhile, two gigantic heavyweight fighters pummel the crap out of each other and look like Picasso paintings at the end of the fight and they won't have any of those problems. Why? Because they're operating at 100% because they didn't have to cut any weight. Plenty of fluid protecting the brain.

Everyone knows weight cuts are what's causing the problems and yet we have guys cutting ever more weight. You've got guys dropping 30-40 pounds to bully dudes at lower weight classes now. It's obscene.

 

It is easy.

Just weigh them right before they enter the ring, before the ring walk maybe.

 

That way they won't even have had a chance to rehydrate for 24 hours. Potentially even worse.

 

Yeah that won't work, then some crazy MF's enter the ring dehydrated. You monitor their weight for a week leading up to the fight, I'd think.

 

They’re cutting water to make the weigh ins, which also decreases fluid around the brain.