We know the difference exists. Some divisions are clearly blessed with stronger and/or more talented fighters as others. Some divisions have so little amount of fighters in it that sometimes even a single win can launch you into the top100 already. But I do think some divisions are purposely adressed as weak because a big portion of the fans don't like the fighters who have the belts or even dominate the divsion. So this counts for all divsions that are labelled as 'weak' with a considered stronger division(s) neighboring it. Why don't the 'strong' fighters step up or down (if they can) to that divsion and beat or even dominate the so called 'weak' champ? Some divisions of the past have called strong while a boxer from 1 or 2 divisions lower stepped up, beat 'the man' and actually stayed at the division fighting the guys in line of their newly conquered belt. So why can't the current highly touted guys do the same with a 'weak' division? Or is it that some of these divisions aren't that weak at all and would bash that high class champ if he had the guts to move up or even down?
Some guys cant simply over-come size disparities. Yes a guy at 160 could a better p4p fighter than anyone at 168, but just cant beat the 168 guys because they're too big. Theoretically 160 could be jam packed full of top class fighters and 168 could be mediocre, but it doesnt mean the best at 160, can step up and beat the best at 168. An OK big man, can sometimes beat a very good little man.
I've actually made this argument before several times - if one division was notably weaker than those around it you would kinda expect fighters from the surrounding divisions to take advantage of the situation. There is a caveat of course, in that it would have to be worth their while to do so. For instance in the current 154 - 160 stakes there's a lot of especially US and Mexican fighters who are really MWs draining down to 154 because the division has greater US exposure and there's more money there. Now, FWIW I don't buy into the idea that some divisions are particularly weaker or stronger as a whole than others, but this is argument than can be used to justify such a position. Once you get past maybe the top one or two guys guys in a division - essentially the elite - who are exceptional and may have the capacity to transcend their weightclass successfully, you will essentially get a pretty steady progression. A #7 SMW will beat a #7 MW 4 times outta 5, a #7 MW will beat a #7 JMW 4/5 etc. Simple fact is that when people are talking about strong and weak divisions, mainly they have in mind just the top few fighters, which can skew things somewhat, as can exceptional individuals in any walk of life.
And a lot of the MW's are really SMWs draining down to 160. Most 160 fighters are still noticeably bigger than 154 guys
IDK. What I was getting was guys like Geale, Mack, GGG, HNN, Maravilla. Rubio all fight around 168 -170ish. Guys Like Canelo, Trout, Andrade, Angulo and Rosado (when they were at JMW) all fight at the same kinda weight as these MWs, or even higher, up into the 170s. There's a coupla of larger MWs, obviously, like Quillin, perhaps Murray, Love before he moved up and obviously JCC jr before he moved up, but I think excessive draining's much more prevalent among higher level JMWs.
A perfect example of a weak division is the Heavyweight division. I'm a Klitschko fan but there's no denying that the division is awful.
Outside Wladmir, that place is a wasteland. Fury makes some noise and brings some entertainment and thats it. Joshua will make it big, if he keeps his head on. Hughie Fury is absolutely ****. Break Mike Tysons record my arse
Some divisions just lack depth or fights among the top guys. For example 160 ****ing sucks. Cotto is lineal champion, Quillin won't fight anyone, Taylor is fighting for a championship, Martinez and Sturm are shot, and GGG can't get a meaningful fight. Oh yeah Canelo in his first fight at 160 will be fighting for the lineal title, what a joke of a division. 147 top fighters are old as **** Mayweather, Marquez, and Pacquiao. The next guys in line are Broner, Thurman, Guerrero, Alexander, Bradley, Khan, and Maidana. A solid group but nothing elite. HW sucks
It's based on which divisions have a depth or a good top tier of fighters in it at any given time. Of course that changes frequently. Now more than ever guys move up in weight frequently. For example Heavyweight doesn't feature very many accomplished or skilled looking fighters. Flyweight does. Bantamweight was stacked just a few years ago and it faded out big time compared to how great it seemed it might be for a while.
Its perception and hype! Aside from the top 2 or 3 king pins, a division's strength will be determined by the amount of guys competing in it. The law of averages will even things out for an entire division, but the top few guys of a division will determine if its perceived as "strong" or "weak". The problem is that sometimes you get a really special talent, and they make the runner ups look really bad. A good example of this right now is the middleweight division, vs. the super middleweight division. Most would say SMW is a stronger division than MW, but in reality the MW division has about 30% more fighters competing in it, plus it gets many JMW coming up to compete. The reason SMW appears 'stronger' is because the top 5 or so guys have had good exposure and hype, and when they fight, its usually competitive. At MW, you have Golovkin, who destroys people in such a way that it makes the top guys look way too ordinary, and people start thinking they are bums, and the division is weak. If Ward Knocked out Froch, Kessler and Abraham, in spectacular fashion, and Golvkin beat Geale, Macklin, and Rosado by Split decision - the perception would reversed.
