abolish the ability for boxers to drain down and make weight with enough time to rehydrate 15-20lb's overnight. pros: .fighters would stick to there natural weight classes, fights would be on a more even playing field .weight draining surely has a negative effect on ones health and longevity in the sport. same day weigh ins means a safer sport and longer careers for fighters i honestly cannot think of any cons for this
I agree about the fighters fighting in their natural weight class, they would need to rely more on their abilities than on size, but then fights like Floyd-Canelo would not possible to make
You've made some fair points, but the cons are, if a fighter still has to dehydrate to make the weigh in, then he may not have sufficient time to rehydrate fully before the actual fight. If you have a fighter going into the ring feeling weak and dehydrated, then it can cause serious injury. Also, every fighter that lost a fight, would probably say that it was due to being weakened going in to the fight. I think a poor performance by a fighter would be blamed on the same day weigh in, even if it hadn't been an issue. I think if it was changed back to how it once was, it wouldn't be long until it was changed back again.
There's no reason why they should be impossible. Historically, Sam Langford, as a middleweight, fought Jack Johnson, who was a heavyweight. Ray Robinson, as a middleweight, fought Joey Maxim, a light heavyweight. So they could still make fights like Floyd-Canelo.
That's surely the point though. If fighters are likely to be weakened by weight draining it kinda forces them to fight at much closer to their natural weight class, as any size advantage that may be gained would be counteracted by the associated rehydration problems. I absolutely accept the health issue, but since fighters are already pushing the whole size/rehydration issue too far anyway, I feel this would not make things particularly worse. Is it, anyway, less safe than having a 185lb fighter go in against a guy weighing 160-5 say? At least same day weigh-ins would put the risk on the guy who's foolish enough to drain themselves. If not same day weigh ins, I'd still recommend rehydration limits of say 5-7% above class, to reduce the effects of excessive draining and make fights fairer.
Same day weigh ins is what caused the G man to get brain damage as he draining so much affecting the fluid around his brain with no time to rehydrate, so I for one say no!
there is no way Canelo would be able to recover quickly enough from 152 to around 170, where he feels the most comfortable, if the weigh-in was on the same day as the fight
Good post, I agree with you. Today's guys are taking advantage of the rule, that's for certain. But you could still have a dehydrated fighter that's fighting in his natural weight class. But something needs to be done. What time are today's weigh ins? I believe they're on the afternoon of the day before the fight. Maybe if the fights are on Saturday night (as most are) they could weigh in Friday evening, or as early as possible on Saturday morning?
:good That's my take on it exactly. Problem is, it probably won't come back because networks don't want the danger of a guy coming in too heavy and heaving not enough time to repair the damage to save the event. The boxers health isn't the main issue here, and it never was.
