Catchweights- good or bad for boxing?

:good

 

We have divisions for a reason. What next a HW championship at 154?

 

I cannot stand a fighter who signs a contract and then months or weeks later uses the terms of the contract they willingly signed as an excuse for a poor performance. Making weight is part of the sport. Someone needs to fight for themselves and not take a fight if they are going to then cite an aspect of the weight limit as a reason for poor performance.

The buck stops with the man who signs the contract; the boxer.

Having said all that, I would prefer there were never any catchweights but that is to be unrealistic. There are catchweights. There have always been catchweights. And if you think about it all weight divisions were at one point just chosen and set "catchweights." So you make the best out of weighing (no pun intended) the significance of the weight limit to a fight or an opponent, same as you would factor in which official division limit the fight was at and each fighters' credentials there.

 

You can think for yourself. What do you think?

 

I think what Floyd thinks :nod

 

It can be good and bad. It can be good when both sides willingly(not primarily for the payday) agree to it without facing any disadvantages in the process. This can help make certain fights that aren't possible at a specific weight. It can be bad when one fighter is deliberately weakened to favor the other side.

 

How many cases of big fights that otherwise wouldn't happen have we had in the last couple of years?
Nowadays it's all about the bigger name getting an extra (sometimes even big) advantage over their opponents. And with the current situation of big names not having to fight their mandatories for years or ever, it means they can drain of pull up opponents of their chosing under their rules. Otherwise no fight, no payday, no titleshot. If they refuse they'll just pick the next poor bloke on their list until someone bites.
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So it's clearly a bad thing

 

Does Sugar Ray Leonard challenging for the SMW and LHW titles simultaneously in a bout contested at a 167 lb catchweight count? :think