What fighters do you feel should have moved up from their natural weight class

Jeff Chandler and Eusebio Pedroza.

 

Most of those who did and very few of those who did not

 

Why should Chandler have moved up? He really needed to fight Pintor (both of them needed this fight), and lay claim to the dominant force at Bantam.

He claims that Gomez didn’t want any part of him? I love Chandler and would pick him over Gomez but I doubt Wilfredo was scared of him or anyone. But outside of Gomez there would be little reason to move up.

I wished him and Pintor could have come to terms to solidify thier legacies. Not sure moving up helps him outside of Gomez

 

If there was a super middleweight division during Hagler's prime I'd agree, but he would've got decimated at 175, so I think he made the right decision staying at 160.

 

Before the escalation of his drug problems, Aaron Pryor had pretty much dominated the junior welterweight division. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he had managed to stay on the straight and narrow and chanced his arm up amongst the welterweights.

 

If Norris could have moved down successfully that might have been his best option. I think he was too small for middleweight and would have lost the natural advantages he had at 154. Moving a few pounds down would have given him some excellent big money fights and presumably retained his power and speed.

 

You are right about Pintor, but if he had moved up, it is possible the fight could've been had at 122, and maybe his career would have ended in a better note.

 

I doubt it, the eye problems seemed to be leading in that direction. But I always like my man Jeff getting a shout out in a thread

 

Hopkins should have moved up after beating Trinidad. Instead he stayed there for 4 more years.

 

I think Kostya Tszyu should have moved up after his homecoming fight (vs. Leija) but I guess it’s hard to give up an undisputed championship and then he kept getting injured. I’m sure his body would have benefitted not shedding the last few pounds by the Hatton fight.

There were fights with Spinks, Judah, Mayorga, Forrest provided the network situations could be sorted and he’d have beaten any and/or all of them. It would really help his all-time standing in my view because he was a special fighter that probably underachieved in a historical sense.

 

Sot Chitalada. Charles Atkinson Jr told me he implored Sot to move up to super feather his cut to fly was so bad.

 

What's the point of weight classes if a fighter "should" move up? Moving up is entirely voluntary and I don't hold it against any fighter if he doesn't unless his legacy is being directly compared to a rival who did move up.

 

A not real known fight is on 1954-04-02 WW Champ Kid Gavilan moved up and went after MW Champ Bobo Olson's title but lost by MD. Gavilan's next fight was to move back down to WW and defend his WW title in the infamous loss to Johnny Saxton on:

1954-10-20
Kid Gavilan 145½ lbs lost to Johnny Saxton 146¼ lbs by UD in round 15 of 15

• Location: Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Referee: Pete Pantaleo 6-9
• Judge: Jim Mina 6-7
• Judge: Nate Lopinson 6-8

• The fight finally took place on October 20 at Convention Hall in Philadelphia. [1]
• On the day of the fight, word spread that the fix was in. Odds favoring Gavilan at 2½ to 1 tumbled to even money in a couple of hours. Finally, the books wiped the fight off the boards, meaning that they weren't accepting any more bets. The ugly rumor of fix and the flood of Saxton money worried the men who made the books. [2]
• A crowd of 7,909 produced a gross gate of $57,121.
• In the January 1955 issue of The Ring (pages 8-9), Nat Fleischer wrote that the referee showed favoritism, frequently warning Gavilan against holding, whereas Saxton was mainly to blame. It was an extremely dull fight, with scarcely any action for the first eight rounds.
• 20 of 22 boxing writers at ringside had Gavilan winning the fight.

1954-04-02
: Kid Gavilan 155 lbs lost to Bobo Olson 159½ lbs by MD in round 15 of 15

• Location: Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Referee: Bernie Weismann 141-147
• Judge: William O'Connell 139-147
• Judge: Ed Hintz 144-144

• World Middleweight Title
• Program cover

"Bobo Olson, last night, hacked and harassed a left handed punching Kid Gavilan, whose right eye was spurting blood from the 9th round on, for a majority 15 round decision before 18,562 roaring fans at the Chicago Stadium. Gavilan repeatedly flashed vicious left hooks to the body and head which seemed to stun Olson. But Bobo seldon took a backward step and was willing to match punching power whenever the Kid elected. Gavilan coasted through the 11th, 12th and 13th rounds, trying unsuccessfully to salvage each of those rounds with his patented flurries. In the final analysis, it was Bobo's persistency and crisp hacking combinations to the body and head which repulsed Gavilan's bid to emulate Ray Robinson's climb from the 147 to 160 pound championship." Associated Press

• Purses (including TV monies): Olson - $122,866, Gavilan - $87,762
• Unofficial scorecards:
  • AP: 142-141 Olson
  • UP: 142-140 Olson
  • Of 13 fight scribes polled at ringside, all 13 scored in favor of Olson
• Kid Gavilan claimed he had injured his right hand on February 23rd in Miami against Johnny Cunningham.
• The IBC set Olson's next title defense for September against Joey Giardello. However, Giardello was convicted of beating up a gas station attendant over a dispute over the price of gas and the fight was scrubbed.

 

All wrong. Pintor and Gomez' legscy are made and talked about. Whining Chandler got what he deserved. He is the forgotten man. If Sandoval almost takes him out in 1 rd, you can bet yr ass Gomez gets him out of there quickly. And dont go hiding behind the drug excuse Philly. Chandler is a footnote in history now and deserves to be. Pintor came back when washed up and won a legendary fight vs. Meza to be champ again. Yrs after covering himself in glory vs Gomez. El grande campion! People remember Chandler as a bigmouthed whiner who got his mouth shut by Sandoval and went back under the rock he climbed out from