Playing Devil's Advocate: In a recent Times (of London) it was reported that a fine Para Olympic athlete was bemoaning the fact he is still considered a lesser athlete than his able bodied colleagues. His argument being a Para Olympic Gold Medal was the pinnacle of his career, and thus it should be on par with an Olympic Gold in this era of Political Correctness... Now it was pointed out to him, that athletes from the Special Olympics (those with learning/mental conditions), where considered less than Para Olympics. Also the writer of the article (Mathew Syed), pointed out the Olympics very often was the finest sport you are ever going to see. He also used Boxing in his argument; his thoughts: For arguments sake Basketball does not discriminate weather you are 5' 2" and 120lbs, or 7' 6" and 350lbs you are all same playing field, so why does boxing discriminate? Surely all fighters should fight in an opening class? It is not the fault of the 6' 6" 250lbs fighter, that someone else is merely 5' 4" and 126lbs... Why are Lil Floyd and Paciquao considered the best, when clearly both would be underdogs against anyone in the Heavyweight top 10/20?
It makes thing more entertaining. However, this line of reasoning is why I've never had a problem with catch-weights. If the two boxers agree to a catch-weight, I have no problem provided it makes entertaining fights possible. Obviously, if it's something Manny Pacquiao vs. O'Neil Bell at 168 lbs that's not interesting, because they it becomes entirely about one fighter (usually the fighter coming down in weight) being able or unable to dehydrate to dangerous levels.
Of course, the heavyweight championship is the real championship. The other divisions are just afterthoughts. Footnotes. They were invented because we like to see small guys fight each other, even if those guys aren't really capable of beating the true best fighters out there. Sometimes it's probably true that an excellent fighter at 168 or 170 or 200 could probably beat most of the heavyweights in the world, but he chooses not to run the risks that go with it.
