Some fighters are more than capable of holding extra weight. It's far easier for a massive welterweight like Thomas Hearn's to effectively move up in weight than, say, Roberto Duran. P4P considerations of course have to be made and usually are in these cases. I think there's a difference between a fighter like Oscar De La Hoya moving up and being successful at a higher weight class as opposed to, say... Bobby Czyz. I've never seen Oscar at a weight where he couldn't be successful. Where he looked terribly out of place. Against Shane Mosley Hoya looked huge! Not the smaller man at all. But Bobby Csyz moving from middleweight to heavyweight? His punches were feather fisted. He was completely and totally ineffectual. Thoughts? What fighters should be given the most credit for being succesful at a weight they had no business being at? What fighters should be given little to no credit because they belonged at a higher weight class to begin with?
A good example of a fighter I give little to no credit for moving up in weight... David Haye is a 6'3 giant in the 200 pound cruiserweight era. Who gives a **** if he moves up? He should be a heavweight in the first place.
Great topic, I agree with your post. I give little credit to men like Haye who were fighting in a division they were too big for in the first place. I give some credit to guys who just naturally grew as they got older. As you referred to Hearns, he's a natural for this category. I don't he was weight draining nearly as much as people make it out to be. He just finally starting adding weight to his lanky frame. Its the guys like Duran who deserve the credit. For not just moving up in weight, but chosing to face the best in the division like Hagler. Which is different than a guy like Jones who just went chasing a paper title.
Whitaker and Mayweather at 154, for their wins respectively, over Vasquez and De La Hoya. Jones, and Toney, at heavyweight. Duran, as mentioned, above at middleweight. But with Toney and to a lesser extent Duran, it's also frustrating because they could've made lower divisions if they took the forks out of their mouth. None, provided they made the weight fairly. They all deserve credit, even if they were bigger in the ring. It just has to be taken into perspective. De La Hoya would never have made 130 or 135 under the old weigh-in rules, and there's more titles nowadays, so you have to take into consideration when comparing him to fighters of the past.
As you originally mentioned, Tommy Hearns belongs here. His thin frame and large height allowed him to gain 30 pounds and still be effective. Out of the 'fab 4' he was the most effective at higher weights and his work done at light-heavyweight should be taken into consideration. He beat numerous world class fighters there including Virgil Hill.
Arguello was a little like Hearns at early weights, tall thin and plenty of reach. Interestingly both retained enormous amounts of power all the way up.
