Moving through weight classes is overrated

It is to some extent especially in the modern era where you can win belts off a weak belt holder because there's so many more belts and more weightclasses now.

For example someone like Broner is statistically a 4 weight division champion but does any boxing fan really believe Broner has the quality of any former past great fighters who were 4 weight division champions ? Absolutely not sometimes you need common sense when assessing a fighter.

Someone like Crawford for example his walking around weight is 180 pounds and hes been bigger with a longer reach than most of his opponents. So is it overly impressive he moved through a few weightclasses whilst being bigger than most of his opponents who are B class fighters for the most part ? Absolutely not.

 

Beating skilled bigger men is always the most impressive thing you can do in boxing so no it’s not overrated, it just needs context

 

I’d say it’s one of the most impressive things a fighter can do, with context when it comes to opponents of course.

 

Both things can be true. Long reigns are impressive, even against less than stellar opposition, and so is moving up multiple weight classes…

If it was a minor as you make it out to be, everyone would move up in weight and become 5 weight world champions….and even if that’s not the case, why wouldn’t they move up more often when the pay days are available?

Usyks great, and so are his accomplishments…. But uh, I don’t think we need to downplay Pac and Floyd to appreciate him. For the record, they bought fought good opposition……

There’s a reason lighter weight classes are closer together, because it’s a much higher percentage of a fighters overall weight…

 

Yeah, it's a metric that people weren't in such awe of not too long ago. A very modern phenomena. And Pac and Mayweather are hardly the first (or best) fighters to ever move up in weight.

Back when Ruben Olivares fought there was no super bantamweight safe haven. The jump for fighters from 118 to 126 was huge and plenty failed... even great fighters.

 

That’s definitely true in some cases yes

 

Context and quality and the timing all matters.

I mean just looking at the Japanese boxing scene post 2010, Kazuto Ioka became a four division beltholder before Inoue, and Kosei Tanaka accomplished it in less fights than Inoue (in fact he holds the "world record" for 3 and 4 divisions if I recall). However neither of them are rated anywhere near the level of Inoue even in their own country let alone worldwide.

Nakatani is actually quite unlucky in that sense as he started with two vacant belts thanks to Ioka's blatant ducking of the mandatory, but atleast he should be able to fight other beltholders at 122 and above.
Navarette is another guy who would've been a four division champion having only fought one active beltholder (Dogboe) his whole career if he won against Berinchyk to get third vacant belt, having never unified.

 

Seems like it, but no we have so few champions who hold long reigns. It´s kinda sad.

 

In modern times Adrien Broner and Mikey Garcia really cheapened the idea of it. So it’s kind of should be judged on a case by case basis.

 

Personally I think moving up in weight as an achievement should be given more credence, when the fighter has cleaned out his division - undisputed - and has no more challenges at that weight.

Of course, the insane weight cuts that fighters manage to pull off today muddy the waters even more - Crawford got undisputed @140 and 147, and won his initial title at 135 - but did not clean out 135 as he likely outgrew it far too fast. But Crawford should get props for cleaning out 140 & 147 - that's the way to do it.

I guess there is probably a lot of politics that mean that cleaning out / undisputed is not always possible (look how long Crawford v Spence and Bivol vs Beterbiev took to make!)

 

Fanboys of cash cows love to tout the whole "He's challenging himself", when the fact of the matter is, they have the financial backing or right promotor to pick and choose virtually ANY boxer they want to face around their weight.

Broner is technically a 4 division champ. Robert Geurrero is a 5 division champ (with interims). Tank is a 3 division champ all the while avoiding his top peers. That's just a little example of how diluted that accomplishment has become.

Most of the time, a boxer moved up in weight because he out grew it, got KTFO of that division, or saw an easy title jump.

If I boxer unified his division, has all the belts, then I have no qualms about them moving up for the challenge.

But being a top a mythical P4P list seems to take precedence now a days over unifying and becoming undisputed in their weight.

 

One thing for certain is that as much as the alphabet soups are near worthless, for the sake of division hopping only the actual main alphabet soups should count...meaning no fake "Regular", no "champions in recess" (just strip them if they are gone that long), no interim "beltholders" for more sanction fees. In fact the "interim" or "regular" being upgraded shouldn't really count either, but unfortunately they do for some. Heck, even vacant belts for main belts are really borderline and asterisk worthy as well but can be a bit more considered depending on the situation of how that belt got vacant. I'd rather see the interim and regular guys just fight the next one in the ranking instead of simply upgrading what they had.