Who Benefited the Most from the introduction of "Junior" Divisions?

and bingo was his nameo!

 

Pryor was fine at LW, he only moved up out of nessecity as no one would fight him.

I say Gomez, who would've had trouble making Bantam but was too small for FW.

 

hatton

 

He might have challenged them but he did not go up and dominate the divisions they were in to make it an issue. Saying he wants to fight them and wanting to are two different things. I think those two guys were greater than Pryor.

 

Hatton is probably the best call but there's been plenty of others. For example:

Terry Norris - Would have been Ko'ed by PLENTY of middleweights, and I doubt he could make 147 without being utterly weight drained.

Ricardo Lopez - If there was no 105 or 108 I think he would have been bothered by lots of flyweights.

Kostya Tszyu - I think there's a reason he never moved to 147. Welterweights would have been more punch resistant, and with height and reach advantages, I can't see Kostya doing much. I think the likes of Quartey, Tito, DLH, even Jose Luis Lopez would have destroyed him.

Joe Calzaghe - I think he would have been in trouble if he faced some prime guys at 168, to say nothing of the strife he'd have been in at 175. That said 175 wasn't exactly stacked during his time and he'd probably be able to pick up a belt before Roy hit the division.

 

great picks. Norris is definetly a guy who would have had trouble at 147 and 160. 154 was made for him. Actually 154 was made for Hearns also, but Tommy Hearns seemed to have to move up and take bigger challenges.

 

Hatton would have made 135 if necessary.

Think - all that booze and fried breakfast..... he makes 140 without pain really, an extra 5lbs is very little.

 

He challenged them without actually bothering to fight at 147. Don't beleive all the BS about Leonard and Hearns ducking Pryor, it just didn't happen.

By the time Pryor had finished with Arguello, Leonard had retired and Hearns was a Junior Middleweight.

I' going to vote for Pryor (Hatton a close second) for the reason that if he couldn't make lightweight then he had Leonard, Hearns and then later Curry to contend with.

Without Cruiser Holyfield would have had the luxury of leaving 175 and then fighting small heavies until he thought he was ready for the big guys and Gomez proved he could win a title at feather.

 

Overall it made it very easy for some fighters to duck dominant champions...

Evander used cruiserweight (jr Heavy) to bridge his gap of success coming out of the amateurs , and aiming to eventually becoming a full heavyweight...

Many fighters (when James Toney became Middleweight champ) chose to either drop to jr middle of move up to supermiddle... i remember it at the time so clearly... And when Mike Moorer was a light heavyweight, a few fellers shifted up to cruiser and a few down to light middle..

 

Between Pryor and Gomez.

 

Flash ellorde is worth a shout.

 

Good enough to beat the man at Feather...and was doing well over 15 until busted up.

 

History remembers flash as one of the longest reigning champs in history and i'm not sure he'd have achieved that had there been on inbetweeners