how much difference does 1 pound make in boxing?

I agree with you. He'd have still lost (He was being utterly savaged, he'd have been outpointed on 10-8, 10-7, and 10-6 rounds), but weighing at the limit might have given him the legs to keep staying alive.

He was still toast, though. Once Leonard got to him again, he couldn't hold him off.

 

Jack London wrote a good short story about a boxer called "A Piece of Steak." It's about this aging ex-champ who takes a fight with a rising up and comer. He's spent all his money in advance on his debts so he can't even buy a decent meal the day of the fight. With all his experience he nearly knocks the kid out early, but when he loads up and has him rocked he's just missing this tiny bit of strength. The kid comes back and knocks him out because he's just depleted by that point and had no more to give.

I think that 1 pound or that piece of steak represents the small advantage, the little things the fighter didn't do, which might have ensured success, and you think about after the fight back in the hotel room. It's worth saying, that you can give a small advantage to your opponent, but every one you give starts adding up, and when you are nearly even those advantages suddenly aren't so little anymore. Could Hagler afford to start slow and give away those early rounds to Leonard? A pound or two probably makes as much difference as the weight of the gloves, the size of the ring, or the name of the ref.

The reason we don't do same day weigh ins anymore is because in 1983 Eddie Mustafa Muhammad came in 2.5 pounds heavy against Michael Spinks and Spinks called the fight off. You'd think that might be an overreaction but just in recent history when Mayweather fought Marquez and came in 2 pounds heavy he was more like 20 pounds heavier on the fight night and bullied Marquez around.

 

I don't know, you should ask Pacquiao.

 

Just about to mention SRL/Hearns, my son once asked me a similar question about 2LB's & whats the big deal. You are 6ft & trying to get down to a weight of a 5ft.4in man in the street weight then something has got to be sacrificed, no body fat = no ****ing fuel. He still said 2LB dont sound much, i was getting exasperated now + he'd come in from the boozer tanked up on Stelle Artois as well & becoming his usual lairy self, so i went into the kitchin & picked up a 2LB bag of sugar & threw it at the **** & he went down like a bag of ****

I recall the commentary stating that Hearns is DRY & under that heat from the TV lights as well, Hearns coming in at that 145 was dangerous, absolute **** up, totally spent, no fuel left in the engine, the body starts to consume muscle mass for fuel, all down hill then.:yep