Which instances were legitimate cases of a fighter being weight drained and less effective than they could of been, and why? What about Jones vs. Toney? Honeyghan vs. Curry? What about examples come to mind? I'm curious to hear some.
IMO weight draining is a bull**** excuse. If the fighter wishes to bend the rules to fight at a lower class against smaller people then they should suffer the consequences. If it affects their performance so be it, but they shouldn't blame their loss on it
Not in every case, just some cases. I think in the case of someone like Hearns vs. Leonard it was a factor becase of Tommys build and physique. Of course he wilted late in the fight against a somewhat demanding opponent. You also saw it in the medal fight except Tommy didnt have to pay for it against so puny, so feeble and opponent. James Toney was just outclassed and you could see it from the start to finish unlike Tommy Hearns where he had been outclassing his foe throughout most of the bout. The Curry - Lloyd Honeyghan match causes some doubt as well because it wasnt an issue of stamina. Donald just ran into the wrong opponent. Lloyd put the hurt on Donald early and was too powerful. He just overwhelmed him as you saw. The bout itself was close but only in the first round. After a major blow had been struck, Donald's knees dipped and almost went down. He regained his composure but before the end of the round you could see what the commentator described as "has he got Donald's head popping back!" Theoretically, guys like Curry and Leonard can out point an agressor with inferior skill. But if that aggressor is quick to hurt them and won't let up, they struggle just to survive. This is what happened in Leonard's fights with Norris and Camacho,, they hurt him and he caved in without a struggle. So the short answer is that weight does play a factor when you're outclassing your opponent and you still lose but you lose it in the late rounds.
Colbert vs Hagler. Mike, like Tommy, came in too light and was giving Marv a lesson in sitck and move until he gassed out in the 12th.
I'm sure there were many worse but Eddie MM Gregory vs. Spinks? He looked like a shriveled pear entering the ring tho I'll agree it was his own doing; IMO its a testament to his greatness that he did as well as he did.
Weight drain "excuse" is no excuse, it's really an admission that you cant beat that fighter at that weight. Or an admission that you didn't train right, you got something wrong. Maybe the "weight drained" fighter should have fought another fighter at that weight, or fought that fighter at another weight. Or trained and dropped weight in the right way. Some fighters simply cut their weight in the wrong way. You can overdo it, saunas, cutting water, all that ****, it can be dangerous. You have to do it the right way. Fighters and trainers have been doing this stuff for 100 years and more, so it's down to the fighter and his trainer to find out the best ways, to read warning signs, to get it right. It's part of being a professional. The fighter blaming his defeat on "weight drain" was usually defeated by a fighter who had to make weight too, or, as someone mentioned, was gambling on being the naturally bigger man in a division he had to squeeze down to - and the plan backfired.
Here was a case in which you could say weight loss was truly a factor similar to Jones-Tarver 1 where Roy was caught much of the time covering up - same as EMM. Colbert I'm not so sure about since he ended the bout with a broken jaw.
Don lalonde was unbeatable too we all know that. At least Roy dont ask John if he could drop down for him.
