When moving up weight does a fighter really "lose" his power

I think there might be some truth to that.. Bigger fighters are used to taking punches from big fighters. Guys moving up usually have to adapt to that weight. But then again there's fighters out there who are able to move up and be a KO type puncher like Mickey Garcia and Manny Pacquaio. So anything is possible.

 

They don't lose their power. The fighters in the higher weightclasses just have better punch resistance due to being naturally bigger, with everything that comes whith it.
So you need more power, and just adding extra weight and muscle doesn't always do the trick. Boxers tend to get slower and lose the "snap" in their punches. Moving less athletic, becoming more stationairy.
More mass, but less speed to deliver the mass.

Look at Moorer's build as a LHW and a HW for example. Pretty clear why he only scored 18 KO's out of 35 fights in his Heavyweight career after going 22-0, 22KO's as a LHW.

 

He doesn't lose his power. His power just stays the same. The opponents are bigger and take a better punch. Great power at lightweight is average power at welterweight and featherfisted at middleweight.

 

I think it had a lot to do with him moving up in weight... He only stopped guys by TKO accumilated by punches in bunches in the lower weight classes.. As he moved up he became more feather fisted... Floyd was never a 1 punch KO puncher though, his KO's came because of his speed and precision punching ability. Which often enough were too much for fighters in the lower weight classes.

 

Nah, he was allowed to numb them in all of his Nevada fights (last decade of his career), so that surely wasn't his problem. Floyd's going up in weight and being very defensive in his later career are the main reasons in his case.

 

I was always under the impression Floyd became feather fisted because his hands started going bad. Depending on punching style and physique, some people punch harder as they get bigger. But if your frame, particularly your hands can't support it you can start getting fractures and other problems.

Floyd and Calzaghe are two examples that come to mind.

Sergio Martinez's athletic and awkward style was much more effective when he both put on mass and stopped effectively weight cutting. Manny seemed to also gain power to a point, maybe about 140lbs or so.

Chavez Jr on the other hand lost almost all his effectiveness once he stopped weighing 25lbs more than his opponent on fight night. Pavlik and Abraham lost power, relatively speaking when they moved up as well.

I really think it just depends, and though sometimes you can make an educated guess you never know for sure until they do it. Examples can be made of people gaining and losing power as they climb weight, though losing seems more common overall.

 

Canelo would hit harder if he stopped to drain himself and fought in his natural weight class instead.

 

Yes, but as a Cruiser he would get mauled

 

:good
Manny weighed at 144 or so when he contested at 126. Back then most guys weighed less than him. Now most weigh outweigh him by 10+ pounds.
He can still obviously hurt them but he wont be able to put them away as easily.

 

if hes weight drained he could gain power moving up

 

Fighters don't lose power when they move up, they lose their relative power advantage.

Also, they often lose a bit in height and reach, relative to their opponents, and so this also puts them at a relative disadvantage in delivery their power.
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Fighters don't 'lose their power' when moving up. They are hitting bigger men.