People always say he was ‘the biggest middleweight ever’ he may have been back then for same day weigh ins, but I think he was no more than 170, I think he may have come in the late 160s like 168-169lbs on average, what are your thoughts?
With same day weigh ins, there would be roughly 8 -10 hours between weighing in and fighting. How could he possibly gain a pound an hour and then fight? When you are fighting in 8 hours, you eat and then you let the food work through your system because you don't want to get in the ring with a full stomach. If he weighed 160, by fight time he was probably 162 . The whole approach to making weight has changed radically. With 36 hours between the weigh in and the fight you have much more time to eat and drink and to process it all.
Nah, he wouldn't be more than 165. He always looks slender, fought in the same day weigh in era, and in his non-title fights only ever weighed around 162.
164 or so the most. Dude, Hopkins used to come in at 168 or less. And most of his oppone ts were around 170. I doubt back then guys would really mess with dehydrating too much.
The low 160s is probably accurate. The weigh-ins were in the morning, sometimes the early afternoon of the fight. He'd have one meal afterwards, maybe two. But that's about it. Sometimes, there wasn't a lot of time. I think Ali, Frazier and the undercard fighters weighed in for their 1971 fight in the mid afternoon, and Ali just wandered around MSG the rest of the afternoon and evening. He never left the building between the weigh-in and the fight. And, over 10 or 15 rounds, he'd lose weight during the fight. As I mentioned before, I remember Ray Leonard saying he lost upwards of 10 pounds during the first Duran fight. When he weighed himself in the dressing room afterward, he was nearly at the lightweight limit. And that was a cold night in Montreal. If Monzon was fighting today, he'd probably be mixing it up with Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Bud Crawford and that crowd. They all weigh in the 160s when the bell rings. Today, he'd be called the "biggest welterweight ever" ... LOL.
He retired in, what, the mid to late 70s? We're talking likely max around 163 IMO, 165 absolute tops. Much higher ring than weigh in weights just weren't really a thing in those days.
Well since it's Carlos Monzon week... @Richard M Murrieta @michael mullen @ChrisJS Its actually true from what I've read and Brusa (Trainer and Manager) goes into detail with a lot things about Monzon .. He was a huge middle and that was his walking around weight well North of 160... and you can rehydrate and eat and get 9-10 pounds back after the morning weigh ins(8-10 hour window).. which he did .. And it makes sense because Monzon busted his ass to make weight, he would often run and spar for hours before weigh ins to make weight. His ring weight was 169 for the Napoles fight, according to Brusa .. McFarland's walking around weight was 139 and he often cut to 133 to make and fight at LW.. which according to Wolgast was very hard for him.. and its on par with what Monzon went thru I think you said you met him Richard, briefly walked by?,, did he look like a 170 pounder to you ? Translated from spanish from the ESPN documentary : The fight, in Brusa's words for a documentary made by ESPN recalls, "was one of the easiest for Carlos. Napoli was a very good fighter, but he was a 147-pound welterweight, how much could he weigh at night? "At that time, the weigh-in was on the morning of the fight. My pupil, on the scale, gave 160 pounds with a lot of effort, but he got into the ring, at least, with 169 ... He was too strong, too vigorous for Naples, who came up with 154 pounds, to compensate a bit ... " Indeed, Monzón - who was 32 years old at the time, while his rival had 34 - dominated the long distance with his huge arms all the time. "When I saw him in front of him, I saw him so big that I couldn't believe it," Mantequilla confessed years later, during a visit to Buenos Aires. "The fight was easier than I thought," Carlos wrote in his book. "The first straight punch I landed on him was tremendous. He flew from the middle of the ring to the ropes. I realized, before the seventh round, that he would not go out to fight ... And he did not fight." "It was too much for Naples," Dundee told us years later, adding that "Monsoon was one of the greatest middleweight in all of history. I don't know how Hagler could have solved the problem of his long arms. He was cold, he had aim and hit very hard ... "
I did happen to run into Carlos Monzon while attending the Sugar Ray Leonard vs Daniel Gonzalez fight on March 24 1979. We approached each other, he smiled and we acknowledged each other with a nod up at each other, he looked tall and had some cold looking eyes that he probably used on his opponents in the ring. He was well dressed, and he looked like he was 160 lbs. He appeared in a hurry as I later found out he had left the set of a movie that he was starring in to attend the fight of his countryman. I would have loved to get his autograph.
It's not the food it's the fluids. You dry out a bit to make weight then drink a fair bit over a few hours and it goes straight to the muscle and blood. I think some middleweights routinely entered the ring at 164 to 168 with same day weigh-ins.
