Rocky could dehydrate to super middleweight~

Most of the great light heavyweights of history have fought in the high 180s at heavyweight or catchweight fights.

Is that really very different to what many lightheavyweights are doing today?

We have had some very compelling examples of extreme weight cutting regimes given here, but in reality some fighters still have very conservative weight cutting programs.

 

I agree with most all of what you are saying McGrain.
Although his prime weight was 187/188 as he is quoted on film, & he might rehydrate from that weight or very slightly more. Still easily why of 10%.

I do not think he would be best suited as a CW, since he had great endurance & wor rate where he is.

But yeah, 168 would be difficult enough to make effectively.
It would not make sense for him to either dehydrate a dangerous amount or lose functional muscle to get down to MW!

 

Right but giving the single most extreme example, 18% cut & 28 lbs., does not show what the vast majority can or do--->do today.
As Janitor said some do not cut weight that much.
Others cut more, but the most that is *common* & works out is around 10%.

It does not make sense to discuss how much weight can be cut-unless you state both most can do efectively-not a few outliers-AND it makes much more sense to discuss perrcentages rather than an amount in poundage.

Cutting 20 lbs. to get down just below the CW limit?
That is less than 10%, so most would not need to consider say cutting a little fat also.
Going down from MW to try to make 140 just in de & rehydration is somewhat over 10% & ill0-advised for most.
Doing this to make say FW or below would be just a foolish attempt.



So based upon that LHW would be no great strain for Marciano.
SMW would be much harder. He likely clould do it absent much or *perhaps* any enervation, at least *if* he first lost the few lbs. of fat he could have before he dehydrated by almost 10%.

 

I never said Norton and Ali couldn't be cruiserweights. I said they couldn't get down to 175 without being malnourished skeletons. They already looked like shredded Greek statues at the 205-215 range with hardly any body fat. You can't compare them to Marciano. Their in shape starting weight before attempting to lose water weight is drastically different. Marciano would only be losing 10 lbs, whereas 70's heavyweights would need to lose 30-45 lbs which is ludicrous.

 

The only time Marciano was pudgy is in early 1956 when he stopped training and was going to retire in April ...Pudgy? Too funny! He worked his ass off to get to 185-188 lbs. Remember...when he was champ anyone over 175 was a heavyweight

 

Ffs it's not slightly theoretical. Every top fighter today below HW drains or have drained 5-8% of their body weight.

So the question is really the very straightforward "could Rocky today do what every fighter today does?"

 

Exactly. Some seem under the impression that Rocky will have to fight weighing 168lbs. He only has to weigh that much while he's standing on the scales 36 hours before the fight. By the time he sets foot in the ring, he'll be the 185lb Marciano again.

It does beg the question whether all this should even be allowed. Something isn't right when a "super middleweight" weighing 185lbs can potentially fight a natural 168lber who doesn't put on much weight after the weigh-in. By the time of the fight, they'd be two weight classes apart.