If catchweights are suppossed to benefit the smaller fighter...

147 was Oscar's idea and that fight was all about money for Pac, who weighed in at 142, having just one fight at 135 before that after coming up from 130. Victory was just a bonus. I'm sure Pac wasn't really comfortable yet at 147 as he went back down to 140 against Hatton. A true 135-140 boxer has a right to ask a 147 guy for a catchweight. I'm sure if Pac could, he would have asked Oscar to go lower. But Oscar called all the shots in this fight. Oscar cherrypicked Pac, an opponent who was 5 (FIVE) weight divisions smaller than he was just a year before. Oscar needed to drop a whole division while Pac needed to climb 2 for them to meet at 147. It doesn't mean Pac is a true welter nor does it mean Oscar is a true welter. It was a meeting point for the fight to happen, a fight that the then cash cow picked, and regreted.

 

Moving up in weight also handicaps some fighters as they tend to get slower and more sluggish. Pacquiao demanded they go lower is the idea of catchweight, so their obvious size advantage won't be more apparent during fight night. Cotto still had close to 10 pounds on Pac and Margarito had 17 pounds and both looked good stamina wise. The idea of catchweight is to allow a megafight to happen between 2 fighters of 2 different weight divisions. Only a fighter knows how far he can drop weight without being compromised. Pac weighed in at 144 in his 150 lb catchweight fight gainst Margarito and that was after 2 meals. Just because he can dominate bigger guys doesn't mean he really belongs in those divisions.

So back to the thread topic. Many smaller fighters in history have asked bigger fighters to fight at catchweight. Why is it only Pac that gets crucified for it?

Why?

 

Re-read post 137.