do you think floyds stance on re hydration will influence future boxers to follow him

Depends. How many of these fighters are truly as self motivated as Mayweather?

A lot of them, need the camp to focus. Something Mayweather doesn't need because he's always focused.

No one can say for sure. You have to super talented like Pac and Mayweather to keep fighting guys that outweigh you. And I don't see anyone in that talent range for awhile.

 

I have no doubts that fighters like Floyd and Golovkin who take a sensible approach to their camps and fighting weight will have better longevity and age better than the drain/rehydrate fiends. To me, the latter strategy is mortgaging the future- it may give you a size benefit today, but your body will make you pay that back with interest down the road.

It'd be nice if fighting towards a comfortable weight did become more common, but it does take more ability to compensate against the short-term weight cutters and overcome that size advantage. I also think that skills work can get neglected in an attempt to win the weight cutting race.

 

Heck no.... He pulls it off bc he is damn good. Other fighters will get ktfo. He is not even a JMW.

 

Fighters draining opponents like Floyd? I hope not.

 

There is no problem with Mayweather coming in at whatever weight he wants, and maintaining his weight even when he isn't preparing for a fight, however, don't move up to a weight where you have a size deficit and force a champion at that weight to come down enough where that fighter will have an issue performing. Not saying that it matters in this fight because Alvarez isn't a particularly gd fighter, but I don't doubt Mayweather will try it again against someone at 154.

 

Floyd fights at a very close weight to his natural weight alot of guys drain down. Drain down means less fluid in your body so you ccan't take punches. Canelo looked emaciated today. He can probably still hit hard, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was knocked out how drained he was. He has no fat to absorb hits. No fluid in his brain to take a head shot. He is one of the first opponents who isn't shot and has some defence that floyd will fight in a long time.

 

Clottey, Rios, Margartio, Canelo, chavez jr all drain and they all have iron chins.

 

It pays off for them now, but they'll repay it back with interest over the course of their careers.

Over time, that will affect not only punch resistance, but how well your brain itself handles the trauma it receives in a boxing match because the amount of cerebral fluid that surrounds it will also decrease, and it's the slowest to regenerate. Starvation also effects mood and brain function, potentially compromising fight IQ come fight night.

That's beyond the potential compromising of strength and conditioning.

All those effects may not happen the first time a fighter does it; but every time they do, they're taking at least a small piece of longevity off of their career. When all those mortgage payments they took out on their bodies catch up to them, they catch up hard.

 

one would hope so

 

It would be great for boxing if they did, but most guys need every edge that they can find, size being one of them. Guys like Floyd, perhaps Pac, don't because they have the ability to overcome larger, heavier, fighters. They can choose the most lucrative fights from a range of weight classes due to their superiority.

Carl Froch is unusual in that he walks and fights at close to the same weight (about 170-2) despite not being an exceptionally skilled fighter. Ward is one who would probably have a lot of success at LHW, but chooses to rehydrate from 168 upto about 180-5. GGG fights at around 169-70, and if the proposed SMW fights come to fruition, he'll likely be fighting around the same. Kovalev also in his only CW fight only weighed in at about 178 - though I suspect a normal fight weight of about 182 - still not big for a LHW.

As has been pointed out, fighters who repeatedly drain and rehydrate are incrementally damaging their bodies and inevitably shortening their effective longevity. Generally though, it seems that the younger guys are far more able to take rehydration to extremes, and one would hope that as their experience and skills develop, the size advantage may become less critical, and they would gravitate upwards towards their natural weight class.

In many cases though, younger fighters may appear far better than their actual abilities allow simply due to their massive fight weight advantages, which will once more shorten their effective careers as they become 'exposed' when no longer able to make the lighter weight classes.

Still, I am very much in favour of same day weigh-ins, ideally as close to the fight as possible, while being fully aware of the potential risks that go alongside them. For me the long-term risks of repeated cycles of weight loss and rehydration outweigh the risks of coming into fights at less than full health - which would quickly be seen as a foolish strategy

 

it might influence the WBA to make a Super Catchweight belt between every 2 weight classes

 

They need to weigh that against the dangers that come with fighting in a higher weight class, and for a guy like Canelo (IMO) it's a no brainer that he shouldn't be fighting at 160. He can compete with the best at 154, but I think he'd get seriously ****ed up against the best at MW.

 

Agreed. It's all about managing risk, and it does take a higher level of ability to manage fighting bigger men while sticking to your own healthy weigh-in plan.

I do think Alvarez has the ability to develop into a quality Middleweight and will move there within the next 2 years out of necessity, but he's not there yet. If he moved up sooner, you'd likely see him fight a couple 154 pounders he pulled up before he moved on the the bigger men in the division, some of whom are boiling down from 168 or 175 to make the 160 limit.

It's not easy to stick to your guns like that and succeed in boxing, but then again, nothing really comes easy in boxing to most fighters. :!:

 

This only Applies to exceptional boxers, as if you have two well rounded boxers but one is 25+ lbs larger than you(example Chavesz Jr.) the larger fighter has an Advantage over the smaller fighter