Fighters make weight, weight does not make fighters

Nah...I disagree...90% of the time, weight is crucial, especially when you move up more than a couple of pounds...just look at Dawson and Adamek...would most people pick Dawson to beat Adamek at CW? I don't think so. He'd get KOed. At LHW, though, Dawson wins every time.

Another example is Jones Jr. Coming down in weight fast had a big effect on him...it changed him as a fighter.

When the gap in class is big, or the difference in weight is very small, and when you gain/lose the weight "right", then it doesn't make a difference...there are too many weight divisions anyway, it's true...but sometimes, a fighter like Pavlik is really better off fighting at 160 than at 170, and that's only a 6% difference. Weight matters...

...but a fighter like Haye is so much better than Maccarinelli...and Pacman was so much better than Ricky that it makes the weight disadvantage seem insignificant, when in fact, it was pretty significant, but overcompensated many times over by the talent/skills/strategy advantage.

There ain't many like Manny, though...that's for sure...if there were, many more fighters would be 3-4 division champs, especially now that there are so many more divisions than when there were only 8.

 

Due to recent conversations, I thought it would be a good time to bump this thread.

 

Totally agree with TFFP here, the issue of weight is talked about as if it is the only defining intangible when your deciding who you think will win a fight, this is ridiculous because 'styles' make fights ..
Manny Pac is quite rightly getting all the plaudits for beating Hatton at 140 and De La Hoya at 147 but theres no way on earth i'd put money on Pac beating Mayweather, Cotto or Mosley at 147 just because he beat De La Hoya at that weight ..
Getting the right fights at the right times can improve your legacy from a very good one into a great one .. Manny Pac wouldnt have any chance against the truly great welters of all time like Robinson and Leonard but a natural 130 lbs fighter like Pac can beat plenty of 147 lbs fighters because his skills are superior even though he is the smaller man ....

 

fighting guys of similar weitgh make it competative. being troughly the same size you are able to bully and use your speed.

when your sparring, you spar guys bigger and smaller than you and you use different methods of beating each as well as finding openings and figuring them out.

now when you fight/spar someone of your own size. it becomes unclear whether you should box or brawl. becuase both ways you still have an advantage.

a similar weight makes it much more competative. which is why i will always defend the junior and super classes. becuase some fighters just cant make a certain weight and be fightign fit while in a division above they are too small...terry norris being a perfect example.

hatton vs pac had the advantage in wieght and it showed for the early part of the round hatton was much bigger and was on top of him...now manny even though a puncher and a brawler has alot of slickness and speed to him. he doesnt run at you he keeps at a distance where he can land and bounces in and out while being ultra aggressive and being a southpaw makes it just as hard to adjust. hatton while clinching could man handle him. BUT it never got to that stage. everytime ricky came in thwack a right hook and left hands came a flying.

which is why the wieght didnt matter. due to style.

take fenech, the bigger he got the more feeble he became. his punches having little to no effect against a healthy azumah in the rematch and he wasnt doing anything to holliday.

put it this way if you run 100m race with someone, you may be 2 or 3 seconds infront or behind now in relativly speaking they both ran that distance at roughly the same time but still one guy had more. that second is the extra pound of weight that he can bring into the ring to bully you with that you dont have.


i do agree that weight is brought up way too much as a deciding factor. but for example cotto and clottey are massive fighters after the wiegh in and it might be hard for cotto to fight a guy who is just as big as him ....yah semme:blood miguel could prolly box his head off or land some heavy combos and body shots...but it will be tougher fight regardless.

 

ZZZZzzzzz Pacquiao's now solid 140lb'r.

A real disciplinarian, a ****ing superstar.

 

Good post,

Just like to add it depends on which fighter is moving up/down weight, every fighters body reacts different to moving up/down weight. You will find fighters from lower weights have more effects on them when moving up weight mostly due to their height, size, frame. Also factors which should be looked at are how the weight is put on, or taken off.

Fighters who have great natural skills all round for example like Pacman weight is not as bigger factor on them than other fighters who are less skilled, great fighters learn to adjust their gameplan and tactics to combat the weight difference. It is very important I must stress how the weight is put on/off, hydration or dehydration can play a big role on performance.

 

It would be intresting to see what would happen if same day weigh ins came back into play.

If you take the Welterweight Division, Williams, Cintron, Cotto, Margorito, Mosley, Berto all weigh 154+ on fight night, you can even add Hatton to the mix.

Mayweather will weigh 147 on fight night. People critasice him for not fighting top welters but he always has 7lbs+ agaisnt him in the other corner.