I've realised being a one division man is extremely rare below heavyweight

My Dad used to say that MW was THE division, a glamour division, for the optimal fusion of P4P skill and power.

Interesting that two of the greatest fighters of all divisions, were MWs - Monzon and Hagler who stayed put and proved their superiority over many same weight opponents over many years.

Such dominance is not to be sneezed at - even while stunning divisional “drop in” victories have that WOW factor - eg Leonard vs Halger, long term domination of a single division is another thing again.

Incredibly, Duran also had that at LW even before his forays into the upper divisions.

 

Cervantes. He was tall and muscular looking too, its usually one or the other outside HW.

Bigger weight cuts and there being more titles as well. You can start lower and pick up a strap from some schmuck a few pounds heavier and a couples notches below you in skill.

 

He was 259-11 as an amateur, winning a bronze medal in the 60kg class at the 1989 World Championships and gold medal at 63.5kg in the 1991 World Championships.

 

Good question, and I honestly don’t know. I added the question mark to hedge my bet.
Related to fighting lighter as an amateur, I’m always surprised to learn that some pros fought quite heavier as amateurs. I believe Porter fought at 160 and
Beterbiev fought at 200.

 

So it sounds like he didn’t fight too much heavier as a pro at all.
*Edit
Ok, I just did the math and 63.5kg is 139.7lbs. Impressive that Kostya was disciplined enough to maintain that weight for years.

 

Obviously due to pro boxing not being allowed in Russia but that’s still a helluva lot of fights as an AM...and then the pro career on top.

I see KT started boxing at the very young age of 9. He was great as a pro but the AM footage reflects a true wunderkind who might’ve lost a touch of the finer edges he had in pure boxing skills as an AM - particularly in terms of defence - stamped himself as a true boxer/puncher as a pro - so a fair and unavoidable trade off I guess.

Also noticed that, as a pro, when he perceived a foul move by his opponent, KT tended to pause for a sec and look to the ref to intervene - instead, he should’ve just got on with it and even returned in kind where applicable.

Perhaps KT’s reaction was a legacy from his AM days where bouts are more strictly regulated. No such kid gloves applied in the pros.

Imo, Mike Tyson also looked to the ref a bit when he felt he was being hard done by. Particularly in clinches when Mike seem to expect the ref to break them rather than he himself getting out of the clinch and/or fighting his way out.

 

Aaron Pryor.

 

I think there are two issues. ideal fighting weight and the opportunities to fight boxers in other weight classes. Did GGG move up to super middle because he struggled to make middleweight or because there were better fights for him in the division above?

 

Terry Norris

 

First name that came to mind for me also

George Groves and James Degale as well.

 

Nonpareil Jack Dempsey, the first holder of the world middleweight championship whose reign was just a couple months shy of Monzon's and Hagler's

 

especially in the Past!