Name some fighters that tried what might have at first seem like an innocuous little hike north just a handful of pounds, if that, and yet they seemed to be disproportionally affected by this seemingly minute detail. Such as.... Donald Curry: By 1985, Curry was becoming more of an infighter at 147, and could handle himself very well in the trenches. Hispower had real shock value, and he just moved people at welter. You put him just 7 pounds north and he was nowhere near the physical force he'd been at welterweight. This isn't a Honeyghan thing either. Even before that, he failed to overwhelm Baez or Green in the same way he was polishing off world-class contenders at 147. His power and strength just weren't there at the higher weight. Buddy McGirt: It's not that McGirt couldn't fight at 147. He could of course, winning a title and defending it and doing okay. There was a marked difference, however, in the slick boxer-puncher we saw at welterweight as opposed to the more aggressive hunter we saw at 140. His power was far more prevalent there, though you'd think just a measly seven pounds shouldn't have had THAT much impact. He was a medium-sized junior-welter and a quite small welterweight I guess, at the end of the day. Others?
Del la hoya to middle. Robbed Felix strum and got creased by hoppkins wouldn't exactly call that a successful weight jump
You put four pounds on Carlos Zarate, and he seemed to fall apart. Wilfredo Gomez did get a few good results when he moved from 122, but he was not fighter he was as a Super Bantam.
Jack Delaney and Al Cole gave up world titles to compete at heavy. In the instance of Delaney, it didn't seem like he was having an issue with weight. He weighed 172 against heavyweight Jimmy Maloney before abdicating and was only 181 for his last fight, but never made any headway at heavy. In regards to Cole, perhaps he was having a weight issue at 6'4" as his weight shot up after abdicating at cruiser. But he should have tested the waters first before giving up his title because at heavyweight he was just an also-ran.
Hatton to 147. Three fights at the weight. KO'd 2 times - Mayweather, Senchenko 1 win - Collazo - a fight many thought he had lost. Granted one of those fights was against an ATGs and one was a comeback, but he seemed to lose a lot when he went up there against Collazo. And probably why he moved back down?
Seems like Buddy is an example of someone who made a successful jump and was able to adapt his game. It worked just fine.
Beat me to it! That was the first thimg that jumped to mind. He couldnt have beaten my grandma after losing all that weight (and he looked very unhealthy).
Curry would have fared better had he had jumped to 154 before the Honeyghan beating. He was very comfortable at 154 by 1985. McGirt could box at 140. He wasnt exactly a stalking slugger. Watch him outbox Frankie Warren who tried to run over him in their second fight. Warren actually outworked him in their girst fight. The Howard Davis fight where he scored a first round ko was kind of an abberation. Better examples are: Carlos Zazarte. Overpowered at 122 lbs by Wilfredo Gomez. Gomez destroyed at 126 by Salvador Sanchez Then did reasonably well but was nowhere near the puncher at 126 lbs hed been at 122 lbs. Hillario Zapata trying to move up to 118 lbs but being outmuscled by Harold Petty.
