Haney is WAY bigger than Loma in faceoff

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

And for the record, fundamentally, I agree with you, but the modern rules are the modern rules.

I'd prefer same day weigh in, one champ per division, 9 divisions total, and 15 round championship bouts... but I believe all of those standards are long gone, never to return. That's boxing today.

As far as Haney goes, rehydration is very much a part of boxing (and it was to a lesser extent even before same day weigh in was abandoned). I don't think you can blame fighters for doing what their bodies allow, any more than you can blame, say, Inoue for being incredibly powerful, or Usyk for being exceptionally skilled and athletic with crazy stamina. And the flipside, as others have mentioned, is that their are potentially negative consequences for boxers who stretch the rehydration limits, either by missing weight, or fighting drained and subpar, or long term fatigue from the strenuous process.

Same day weigh in would be cool, but what's it been now? Over 35 years since that was effectively abandoned altogether? (I forget how long the transition stretched, but I believe the modern practice began taking shape in the very early 80s).

 

The reason Loma moved up to 135 to a division to a division full of fighters who are way bigger, longer and heavier than him where he is routinely outweighed by close to 2, 2 or even 3 divisions is not because he was a weight bully who was huge for the weight and could no longer make weight beating up on opponents he was much bigger than. He moved up because he dared to be great and he was being shamelessly ducked by the other champions at those weights or fights against them couldn't be made for whatever reason. Hence why he couldn't become undisputed at those weights.

He deserves credit for that not to be dismissed as a ''hype job'' when he loses a fight against fighters he's giving away huge physical advantages to by the fanboys of actual hype jobs and massive weight bullies who have ever never even fought a single world champion close to their size or only one or two if they have which is exactly what happened and the narrative they've been pushing relentlessly since he turned pro. He's doing things routinely they've never even done once but he's the hype job and they deserve to be ranked above him


No other fighter ranked in the P4P #10 is routinely giving away the kind of physical advantages he is and that includes Clenelo at 175

Usyk is but he's only had four fights at HW

Loma is giving away way more weight and reach away at 135 than Clenelo is at 175

Unless that is you think giving away 3-5lbs max and 1.5'' in reach against Bivol and weighing roughly the same as Kovalev or at worst a couple of pounds less and giving away 2'' in reach to him is in some way comparable to Loma routinely being outweighed by close to 2, 2 or 3 divisions and giving away close to 5.5'' in reach an awful lot of the time?

Clenelo 70½ reach

Bivol 72'' reach
Kovalev 72½″ reach

Loma 65½'' reach

Haney 71'' reach
Commey 71'' reach
Nakatani 71'' reach
Campbell 71'' reach
Pedraza 70½'' reach
Linares 69'' reach
Ortiz 69'' reach
Teofimo 68½'' reach
Crolla 67'' reach

Many of the LWs Loma has fought have a longer reach than Clenelo and only an inch or inch and a half longer than Bivol and Kovalev

And regularly being outweighed by 10-15lbs is obviously very different to being outweighed by 2-5lbs. Even more so for a fighter Loma's size than one of Clenelo's

But despite all the above there are obviously a number of glaring differences between them

Unlike Clenelo, Loma isn't slapping rehydration clauses on his opponents or fighting them at catchweights

Like Clenelo and so many other multiple weight champs and greats, he didn't jack himself full of PEDs to help him bridge the gap to help him campaign against these much bigger fighters at higher weights

And he doesn't have the safety net in place Clenelo does of having the judges in his back pocket to wave their magic wands and transform his losses into wins

All of which, again, Loma deserves credit for not doing but he doesn't receive any at all for

Even when Clenelo got his ass whooped by the 3-5lb heavier Bivol the judges tried to rob Bivol and only gave it to him by a single round. Loma whooped GRJ in similar fashion but one of the judges scored it a draw even though Loma beat the **** out of him

I could touch on the judging in the Teofimo and Salido fights too. You think Loma loses those fights if he has the judges in his pocket like Clenelo does?


But again, despite all the above, after some well deserved gloating, I still defended Clenelo when he lost to Bivol, maintained he was still a great fighter, and argued how unfair it was for people to hold it against him and to try and discredit all his vast previous accomplishments at lower weights, and drop him right down the P4P top 10 for daring to be great in a division he doesn't belong in

 

I'd be inclined to take the weight bullying isn't a thing crowd a bit more seriously if they actually drew a distinction between multiple weight champions who were small or average sized for their first weight and ones who were absolutely massive for not only their first but even their second and still big at the weight or at worse the same size as their opponents at even higher weights and only moved up because they could no longer make weight.



You have fighter A. who is rehydratingup to 5lbs who is regularly facing opponents who outweigh them by 1, 2 or 3 divisions and are routinely giving away huge physical advantages after moving up

Fighter B. who is rehydrating 10-15lbs

And fighter C. who is rehydrating 15-20 if not more who are facing opponents they outweigh by 1, 2 or even sometimes 3 divisions who they always hold huge physical advantages over

Which one is much more difficult and impressive and deserving of credit?

It's not rocket science

But they don't. They act like both are doing exactly the same thing so they can crown their favs greats and fast track them up the P4P rankings at the expense of far more accomplished fighters who have and are actually facing way bigger opponents when they move up in weight and win titles in higher divisions not ones they're way bigger than, bigger than or roughly the same size as.

Surely beating a prime world champion your size is the bare minimum requirement for warranting inclusion in the P4P top 10, especially when you're going to rank them above ones who've literally not only done that many times but have done so many times against ones bigger or way bigger many times

Both deserve equal credit doe

This content is protected