Ryan can't even make the 140 weight limit in 2024 why should we expect him to make the 135 limit in 1900?
Ryan shows up over the weight limit and using banned substances, gets his ass handed to him and then complains about how the deep state rigged it against him despite every single factor being in his favor.
Wasn’t the level of ostarine in his system so low it had barely if any effects at all? Besides, from what I’ve heard it’s a roid that mainly helps you maintain muscle during weight cuts, which is pretty damn ironic lol
He was over the weight limit and using a banned substance. Not that either of those factors would help him against Gans who accomplished more in a single year than Garcia has in his entire career.
Valid, it doesn’t seem like the old timers really minded your weight outside of title fights. I personally think Gans spanks Ryan regardless of size. When you watch his fight with Nelson he ducks from the left hook like it’s instinct, so Ryan’s main weapon is kind of gone here.
I fail to see how that's relevant. I criticise Lamotta failing to meet weight multiple times in his career, just like I criticise Garcia or any other fighter regardless of time period. Weight classes exist for a reason and showing up sometimes up to 10 lbs over the limit like Lamotta would do is disgraceful and should be noted when rating his wins where he has a major weight advantage. That might be unpopular but to me it makes sense so I'm sticking with it until someone proves me wrong.
I just added my two cents on how little the old timers would've cared about Ryan missing weight as long as it wasn't a title fight. This actually seems more relevant to Gans' era than LaMotta's, as Joe was rarely within the LW limit of 133 lbs for most fights and it drew criticism from many including Nelson's team who claimed he shouldn't be recognized as the lightweight champion as a result. I could certainly still see Ryan having a worthwhile career, though far away from any title picture due to the issues you've previously underlined.
I do agree that Gans missing the 133 lbs limit hurts him, I'm not sure how much but it certainly affects his legacy. It is a tricky case because he was usually inside the modern 135 limit. Which then gets us to how do you define weight classes in all time rankings? Do you go by the name or do you go by weight? I've never really had a good answer to that but whatever the answer is, it will drastically changed how certain old fighters are ranked. For example should Mcgovern's win over Dixon for the 118 featherweight title be counted as a bantamweight win or a featherweight win? This is one of the many reasons I'm not an all time list guy. I'm not sure how to handle cases like that.
