I've posted several times regarding this on various threads and feel I've been justified in doing so when it came to retrospect...most recently with Callum Smith and Kel Brook. For me, just because a fighter is still able to boil himself down sufficiently to make the weight, doesn’t mean that he can still be affective at it. Credit to them obviously for showing the determination and sacrifice to effectively go into starvation mode for a few months whilst training very hard at the same time. There's two variables with doing this though that's detrimental to what kind of performance they can put in the ring on the night...they have to be in touching distance of the weight several weeks before the weigh in so they can then dehydrate immediately beforehand. Let's use Callum has an example...his body has got naturally bigger as he's got older, so to be in touching distance of 168, he's got to also decrease his muscle mass as well as fat. That means he's not as strong and won't carry the same power. To top it off, he then dehydrates to shift those final few pounds for the weigh in. When he hydrates, he will only hydrate up to the weight he was at in the camp. That means less muscle mass...less power...less durability. Plus, can someone in their 30s hydrate as well as they did in the 20s? My point is, it's not just about the dehydration, it's also about the fact that they have a bigger frame than they once had, so the muscle has to be sacrificed to still make the same weight.
I watched a video on this on YouTube. It was a MMA fighter I think and the guy who spoke to him did a weight cut and tested his performance before and after. Obviously he isn't cutting to a weight he would have to fight at for years and years but the results were that he was only able to about 90% of the reps he could do before 'cutting weight. It was very interesting to see the performance loss based on a cut. I'm sure the MMA fighter noted it but said that size was the more important factor. To a degree it is but after making weight for so long, it's clear that performance starts to have an increasing detrimental effect, both on power and resistance. Jarrett Hard was another against J-Rock. People were saying for ages how does he make the weight, he's huge etc and J-Rock bullied him and broke him down.
People should go up as they get older but often they’ve got themselves into a position to fight for a belt in a fight they think they can win. Many think they can still use the advantages they gain in size/reach or whatever and their lesser power or sharpness and energy will be worth it. Lee Selby and Callum Smith are the worst examples. Smith would probably have battered Ryder a couple of years earlier before he had outgrown 12 stone and I certainly think Warrington would have lost handily against that fresh Selby who won the title.
The Mcdonnell brothers instantly spring to mind, they looked like they were out of a Nazi Concentration Camp.
Is the callum smith one really justified tho twenty. Or did he just come up against a great fighter who was possibly on something as well. Was only 2018 he had his best win against george groves and then knocked a boy out in 2019 in 3 rounds. Following that was the closely fought fight with ryder...who many rate quite highly. Throughout smiths career at different stages hes shown to be not quite as good as billed. Looked less than great at other times in the super series. But also was made to look slightly average against rebrasse way back in 2014. He kept telling us he was just having off nights. But nothing in his career really pointed to him being able to hang with canelo. Agree its a big problem tho...the brits need to start moving them up when their younger and start working more on skill than just what seems to be hard work more than anything else...imo we,re starting to lag behind training and sport science techniques used in america etc. Probably drugs too as well tbh. Not everyone but the majority. Pretty sure the smiths, joe gallagher and callum smith all said he makes the weight comfortably.
I got told Callum Smith fights so rarely was that he could only make weight once a year now....which means he is 168 lb for probably a few hours a year at most....He has not been a 168 fighter for a very long time and will get smashed to bits at 175lb if he can even make that..!!! Would not surprise me if he retires
Hmmm maybe. Or if a fighter knows he doesn’t have as much time to rehydrate and get to his ideal fighting weight then he’ll fight at a weight or 2 up.
I think the weight cuts has always been a issue for a lot of fighters especially on the British scene it seems. Part of the problem is how the weight in is done. But first and foremost each division should be what each man enters the ring at. For example, we have fighters cutting weight to make a championship weight, so a 147 lbr usually gets in the ring at around 160. Some might do 155ish while his opponent is 165 so the difference on fight night, it's not unusual for a 2 division difference between fighters. Now I understand that the fighter who puts on the most weight is the one that's usually cut the most also, altho this isn't always the case, it usually is. It's usually then a trade off for how much weight they've cut in a certain period of time against how much of a benefit the weight cut will be for a fighter in a certain bout. The Irish fighters are notorious for this, especially the fighters that can bang. From Recent memory Marco McCullouch and James Tennyson spring to mind. The reasoning behind the drastic weight cuts are that they (trainers) can send their fighter into the ring with a massive size difference, they know their fighter will be good for around 8rnds before they see a decline in performance and in that time they've inflicted that much damage on the opponent, that the fleeter footed opp is in no position to be mobile as they're that worn down from heavy punches that both fighters are now around evenly matched. The draining has kicked in on the heavy fighter and the damage has built up on the lighter fighter as to make the final 4 rds more evenly matched. Of course this is just one reason why cutting weight is so extensively invested into but there are other reasons too. All just as valid as the one given above for a trainer and his fighter. In this day and age we should go back to same day weigh ins. The science is now there to test fighters hydration percentages, so having fighters fight at their fighting weight in the correct divisions is able to be done in this day and age.
I think Pacquiao is a great example of this. Not just that he is a generational talent but that he fights at the weight he walks around in. It really is vital for longevity
He started to light for minimum weight and naturally went up the weights then many people will say PEDs then made him put on weight once he had reached his top weight.....He probably has never had to make weight in his life... Mayweather has always walked around almost on weight and constantly fought guys who were bigger
Top postage...... Imagine going into a 10 week camp and the first 6 weeks is shifting weight...This is probably why BJS has never kicked on,he spends all camp dropping weight then misses it half the time.... I once watched a 24/7 type show and watching Crawford making weight (think it was 135)was absolutely brutal....He must have been a shadow of the fighter he really is when he got in the ring..Imagine how good Crawford would be fighting at his true natural weight,Goes for many other boxers too...
