I had this on my mind for a bit and I wanted to generate a meaningful discussion on this subject. Boxing is a strange sport in comparison with others as the fight can be swayed by factors put in the contract where as the size of the field ball or rule set stays the same every game. All too often I'll see fans of a fighter accuse the winner of negotiating something in their favor or use excuses to exonerate a loss How vital do you think negotiations are for a fight, say a fight where both men are complete fighters 50/50 match up on paper? I mean whats the difference of a 18 foot ring or a 20 foot ring. Say 8 oz gloves vs 10 oz gloves.. Do these factors really make a huge difference. How come with 24 hour weigh ins some fans complain that a fighter can be drained when they lose or too big and unfair when they win? Are there any major fights in history that you think were won mostly due to the negotiations prior and do you think that the fight you use as an example would play out the same way if those factors were adjusted. I mean ring, gloves, ref, whose backyard, whatever
IDK enough about Walker Smith's career but I would love to know more about these aspects of his career. Ray Leonard's career, at least after its 1st 4 years, but probably then too was all about contracts and catching each man at his worst: Duran : After losing the 1st fight in his prime to a former lightweight, Leonard made sure that the bulimic former lightweight had no time to lose weight properly for their rematch. Fact that it was Duran's last fight at the weight. Hagler: duration shortened from 15 to 12, bigger ring, bigger gloves, Hagler was seemed to be deteriorating before the fight and was just about to retire anyway. Had it not for that fight, Hagler would have retired anyway. Hagler's last fight so technically it was Hagler's last fight at the weight too. Hearns: in their 1st fight, Leonard played Hearns' mind and in some way, either contractual or psychological, made him weigh in at 145, when it was obvious that Hearns was already too big for 147. Leonard stopped a tired drained Hearns late. Hearns never got back down again to any of the weights he fought Leonard at after fighting him. Their rematch was at a catchweight, because Leonard knew he could never beat Hearns in Hearns' weight. Lalonde: another catchweight that weakened Lalonde significantly. Benitez: Was of course drained at 147 by that time and never fought again in the weight.
