Settle a bet for me...Is there a minimum weight for a Heavyweight Boxer?

1 stone = 14 pounds

 

If I was a mod I'd instantly ban anyone who says anything other than a resounding "NO"

 

Not sure if the womens rules are just the same, but Natascha Ragosina (a SMW) fought and won the IBF HW title, weighing 172 (LHW) while her opponent was 237. Pretty big difference, especially for women.

 

:nut

 

201+ is heavyweight and up

 

This.

- but the problem is the way the OP asked the question:
"Is there a minimum weight for a Heavyweight Boxer?"

What is he asking?

ASFAK, there is a minimum weight of 201 lbs to be CLASSIFIED as a heavyweight, but not to FIGHT in the heavyweight division.

-but it raises several interesting questions:

1: Let's say a 195 lb fighter fights a 230 lb HW champ, and wins. I guess he'd be the the new HW champ, yes?

Now, what if a 190 lb fighter then wants to fight this new champ. Does it get sanctioned as a HW bout? If fighter "B" then wins, is HE the new HW champ?

2: What if Pac & Floyd finally decide to fight, but at HW. No title on the line, just a sanctioned HW bout, with the winner looking to fight Helenius & then Wlad. Is this possible? (I'm assuming that at least ONE of the fighters must weigh over 201 lbs on fight night, which would add an asterisk to what demigawd wrote.)


3: What if a fighter routinely goes up & down in weight, from 190 lbs to 205 lbs. What do we call him? (I guess we don't officially "call" fighters by their divisions, but unofficially don't we all do this?)

 

I think that's a fair assumption.

Yes. Leonard was the WBC light-heavyweight champ despite fighting at 167lbs.

Yes. If Floyd had taken Sergio up on his offer, he would have fought Sergio at 154lbs for the middleweight and jr. middleweight title, and if he won would have been the both the light middleweight and the middleweight champion despite weighing only 154lbs (or less).

This is the toughest question you asked. It depends on what you mean by "at HW". Theoretically speaking, either of them could fight, say, Chisora and actually get ranked at heavyweight if they won, but I don't know if a boxer "registers" at a weight class when they get their license. I doubt it because fighters who fail to make weight will sometimes be able to fight at a catchweight. They no longer qualify for any title they were going to fight for, but they don't have to "register" at the next weight up. However, should they win, I don't think they suddenly get ranked at the higher weight class because the opponent never fought at that weight class.

So my *guess* would be since neither Mayweather or Pacquiao are ranked at heavyweight, if they fought each other, neither of them would be ranked at heavyweight. They could, however, challenge a ranked heavyweight and if they won, they would then be ranked themselves and show up in the heavyweight rankings.

In other words, *nobody* is a heavyweight in the eyes of a boxing commission until they're ranked by that commission. The ranking would be entirely subjective (and political), but usually beating a ranked heavyweight would do the trick.

Oh, fighters do stuff like that fairly frequently nowadays. They're subsequently ranked in both divisions. I don't even know what to call Juan Manuel Marquez. Is he a lightweight? Jr. welterweight? Welterweight? I suppose he's whatever he fought at last.

 

What an odd unit of measurement. Most Americans (myself included) are usually baffled when we hear it.

 

there is none.

 

Didn't Pacquiao fight Marg weighing below 147 lbs. despite the WBC 154 lb. title being on the line? Theoretically, you could weigh 199 and fight a 240 lb. Wlad

 

Interesting nugget of information. When jack kid berg rematched tony canzoneri for the lww title, both men weighed below 135. Canzoneri won by third round stoppage and took the alphabet belts but the ring continued to recognise berg as the fight wasn't officially in the lww division. They rematched again and again tony won and again both weighed below 135 and again the ring continued to recognise jack kid berg as lww champ.

In all reality if you weigh less than 201 you are a cw today but that's not to stop a cw fighting a hw.

Dempsey could get a fight against vitali for instance and there's a precedent to that. Charley burley have away 70 pounds to fight a fringe hw contender who weighed 230+.

 

State athletic commissions have rules about the maximum weight difference between fighters. This is from the NY Commission's 2010 Lawbook:

§214.8 Weight limits in nonchampionship bouts
other than four-round contests. In nonchampionship
bouts, other than four-round contests, the following
differences of weights between contestants may be
permitted:
junior flyweight (108 pounds) 4 pounds
flyweights (112 pounds) 5 pounds
junior bantamweight (115 pounds) 6 pounds
bantamweights (118 pounds) 7 pounds
junior featherweight (122 pounds) 7 pounds
featherweights (126 pounds) 8 pounds
junior lightweight (130 pounds) 9 pounds
lightweights (135 pounds) 10 pounds
junior welterweight (140 pounds) 11 pounds
welterweights (147 pounds) 12 pounds
junior middleweight (154 pounds) 13 pounds
middleweights (160 pounds) 13 pounds
super middleweight (168 pounds) 13 pounds
light heavyweights (175 pounds) 14 pounds
cruiserweight (190 pounds) 15 pounds
heavyweights (all over 190 pounds) no limitations

To me, that sounds like both fighters have to over 190 lbs, and if they are, there is no restriction on weight difference. I've checked other commissions as well and they all (Nevada, Washington, Texas) have the same rules (or very similar).

Source: http://www.dos.ny.gov/athletic/pdfs/2010AthleticLawbook.pdf

 

:good

They vary slightly from state to state but in general these are used:

http://www.abcboxing.com/documents/abcboxing_regulatory_guidelines.htm

 

I always thought the rule was that you couldn't weigh less than two weight divisions down from the weightclass. Welterweight can't weigh less than 135, Light Heavyweight can't weigh less than 160 etc. Very informative thread.

 

Perhaps in 1920 but not in 2010