What are your thoughts on 'weight bullying'?

For blokes who lack confidence thier own ability

 

Mostly a vehicle for excuses. If the guy you're rooting for is big for the weight and loses, he's drained. If he's small for the weight and loses, the other guy is a weight bully.

The research seems to show that you don't get a benefit from draining a lot.

 

It's why it amazes me when fighters get criticism for having rehydration clauses. They should be standard practice.

 

It's corny opportunism imo but I guess every athlete needs to maximize the chances of takin' tha w, idk.
Also Devin Haney being tha poster boy of dis and makin' an entire career with this size advantage would never not be funny to me.
Also, was it really proven somewhere that weight-in on the day of the match was more dangerous for the fighters than the day before.
Because I can't see how losin' all that amount of water to make weight can be healthful on the long-term either.

 

I view it the same way I view tax loopholes for the rich. There isn't anything against it. As long as the weight cut is done legally and rules don't prevent it, it is part of the game. Obviously the fighters that are doing it aren't the only ones benefiting from it. There is really a simple solution to the problem, rehydration limits. Very simple to impose and enforce, yet it doesn't happen.

 

I'm no fan of it; every world title fight (not including the HW division) should have a rehydration limit, and fighters water percentage should be monitored before the fight to ensure no one is coming to the ring weight drained.

 

Nothing wrong with it necessarily, but you’re gonna get less credit from me in P4P discussions.

I never bought into the hype of Haney being a top 20 P4P fighter, never mind a top 10 or 5 one like I saw some had him prior to the Garcia fight. How can a P4P fighter outweigh everyone they’ve ever fought by more than 10lbs?

 

i think its a term used by fanboys to explain why their crushes get bounced around a ring by guys they hate. since everyone plays by the same rules.

 

I'm torn about it. On one hand I dislike it because of the unfair advantage it can create in some cases, but as said above everyone has access to the same tactics. I just really don't like seeing a guy come in over 20-30 lbs heavier than their opponent, even at heavyweight ive always felt some kinda way about the guys way bigger than everyone else.. I think removing a few weight classes would fix the situation for the most part(which obviously would never happen because, sanctioning fees duh) I also think alot of guys wouldn't be as great if there wasn't a class 4-6 lbs below their natural weight. But this is what we're stuck with.

 

Not sure there's much to this "weight bully" label.
Maybe the smaller fighter should get a nutritionist on board., they may be able to move down a division then.

 

I think it's lame that these guys spend 2/3 months in a camp then can rehydrate 20-30 pounds in the extreme cases. UFC is the same. And this cut can be make or break. Nobody is cutting all their water rehydrating within 24 hours to be in peak condition.

It's stupid. It's dangerous. It does skim off physical performance for size advantage. They should just bring back same day weigh ins and get rid of this element. It doesn't play into the excitement of a fight AT ALL.

I think they don't bother in both sports because everyone would suddenly be forced to jump not just one division but 2 given your average rehydration is 10-12 pounds.

 

Since Loma started losing it seems that this forum has forgotten that you actually have to weigh in the same and therefore drain more weight, which takes something out of you. Before that you heard more about drained fighters and draining opponents and Canelo getting **** for having a second weigh-in (lots of yapping when he had one for Kovalev), but when Loma lost all that was forgotten about and "weight bullies" became the theme of the day. Funny coincidence that.

 

Swings and roundabouts as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, some guys manage to come in huge at a weight and have an advantage. On the other hand getting the weight cut wrong can have drastic effects. Canelo was a "weight bully" for many years but as soon as he stepped up to his more natural weight suddenly his stamina and power and workrate all improved. So yes he had a weight advantage but it came at a cost.