Could a lighter man fight in a heavyweight division if he wanted to?

I always wonder about this? - How strictly the weight thing would be adhered to if an agreement was made between camps etc? - Roy Jones weighed 193 for Ruiz but can't remember whether the heavyweight minimum at the time was officially 200lbs or not?

 

When Roy Jones weighed 193, he made a big deal of saying he would weigh what he weighed and he wouldnt deliberately put weight on, just for the sake of it. If he came in under the limit, then so be it.

I am not sure how much of this was just media hype or whether or not he would be allowed to fight at the lighter weight, but i assume, with boxing being boxing, inter weight fights would no longer be sanctioned, but for certain fighters, or mega fights they would find a way around this if both parties agreed.

 

I made a thread not too long ago about how old heavyweight champions would fight for the belt, even if they weighed 190. And many times it was their weight in which their victories were in part attributed to.

 

Convention holds that there is a 7lb alowance for a fighter coming in under the weight limit.

So a cruiserweight must be no more than 200lbs but a heavyweight can be as little as 197lbs.

In practice though, if a fighter has an optimum weight of 190lbs then making 193 for a weigh in is going to be easier than a good sh1t after a hot curry.

 

Back in the 1920s, the light heavyweight title was a chump change belt.

Today you can make a tidy living off it in its own right!

 

As I understand things the cruiser limit is still 200lbs so anybody over 193 could compete.

Roy Jones made 193 one way or another, because that was the weight he needed to make.

 

The cruiserweight limit was 190lbs in 2003 (it got changed to 200lbs later that year). Jones was above the cruiserweight limit as it stood at the time when he fought Ruiz.


You'll also see fighters fighting for heavyweight titles at 180lbs before cruiserweight was established because it was above the lhw limit.

I've never heard of this 7lb allowance. At lower weights it would mean that fighters could come in 2 weight divisions below the one they're fighting at. I'm not saying it's bull**** just because I've never heard of it but do you have any examples of where it's actually happened.

 

Roy Jones fighting Ruiz is a textbook example.

 

What part of "the cruiserweight limit was 190lbs at the time" do you not understand ?

Or do you think that 190 - 7 = 193?

 

I understand that it varied between sanctioning bodies back then.