Here's the thing, in today's boxing landscape you need catchweighths.
The sport isn't as big as it once was and there isn't as many stars, so to get that payday, you might need to do a catchweight fight.
Just the way it is.
When was the last time a CW was even legitimately needed and not used as some A-side draining tactic? Chavez and Canelo makes sense to have one but did Cotto vs Geale? I mean in a day and age of 17 weight classes are they really needed?
I have no problem if it's 2 of the best fighters from two weights meeting half way to get the fight done, that's acceptable. Ward v Dawson would have been acceptable and a good example, but Ward dragging him down to 168 was criminal.
It's a problem when one is purposely dragging the other down in weight for no good reason, especially when they're about the same size. i.e Canelo wanting to fight Golovkin at 155 or something, even though they both held MW titles.
I don't think catch-weights are bad in some cases, it's just that some fighters abuse it to get an advantage.
168 was Dawsons idea..not sure why people blame Ward
Catchweights can be exploited and provide an unfair advantage of. They have been grossly abused in the modern era. Ex. Pacquaio-Margarito, Mayweather-Alvarez, Cotto-Martinez
Boxing already has 17 weight classes, there's honestly no need for catchweights. If a boxer can't move up then he or she needs to stay in their own lane and not make demands or stipulations for a bigger guy to drop down, that's not what boxing is about.
However, I have no problem with a catchweight being used to make a fight if both fighters are in the same weight class and one fighter fails to make weight or whatever, then they can readjust the weight.
The bad catchweights is when one smaller boxer asks a bigger opponent to drop down in weight.
cause people have this false belief that titles actually mean more then they really do. we all talk about how all belt orgs ratings are political not earned in the ring overall yet we want to pretend belts are still sacred. catch weights when done right are fine. nothing wrong with canelo fighting chavez for example that fight is for mexicans. yes us hardcores would rather see canelo fight a bunch other people but honestly the fight is not that big of a deal
here is just one of those "people".......
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/21/19/2DA2F3C300000578-0-image-a-1_1445453113293.jpg
The only time I really see a catchweight as being ok is when a fighter would be jumping up old school style and going from like lightweight to fight a welterweight or something similar. Even then, I don't think titles should be on the line with catchweights. Biggest problem I have with it is it is used as a way to just **** with the B side in most circumstances. Its just some ***** ****.
IT makes Fights happen and both sides accept it,its blessing for boxing and made some fights that would never happen otherwise.
cause people have this false belief that titles actually mean more then they really do. we all talk about how all belt orgs ratings are political not earned in the ring overall yet we want to pretend belts are still sacred. catch weights when done right are fine. nothing wrong with canelo fighting chavez for example that fight is for mexicans. yes us hardcores would rather see canelo fight a bunch other people but honestly the fight is not that big of a deal
I have no problem if it's 2 of the best fighters from two weights meeting half way to get the fight done, that's acceptable. Ward v Dawson would have been acceptable and a good example, but Ward dragging him down to 168 was criminal.
It's a problem when one is purposely dragging the other down in weight for no good reason, especially when they're about the same size. i.e Canelo wanting to fight Golovkin at 155 or something, even though they both held MW titles.
I don't think catch-weights are bad in some cases, it's just that some fighters abuse it to get an advantage.
catch weights to make fight happen and more even, i.e. middle ground between a small guy and a big guy
(i.e. Pacman vs Margarito.
However i am not a fan for catchweights being used to flex financial prowess of one fighter over another to get an advantage in a fight. Easy to say that one fighter shouldn't sign but when they see a great offer they won't get anywhere else they will go ahead and take it even if they know they don't have a chance to make that weight healthy and will likely just lose. i.e. Cotto vs Geale.
Depends on the fights being made.
If I recall correctly, a lot of Pac and/or Money fights became possible bc of catchweights. I was cool with those, bc they were more "p4p" type fights that people wanted to see, rather than defenses of a particular weight class' title
BUt. were boxing fans really clamoring for Canelo v. Khan? Did Canelo grow from this fight. Not really, it was OK fight, but we all figured Canelo would be too big for Khan (who has dropped back to welterweight), and we were all correct.
A catchweight here and there is fine -- even if you're defending a title -- AS LONG AS YOU DEFEND the FULL TITLE REGULARLY.
I'd be willing to accept Canelo v Khan at 155 as a title defense -- if Canelo didn't win the title at 155, and then move down to Jr. MW, and now Jr. Cheeseburger.
I have no problem at all with catch weight fights as long as it's not for a world title. When Canelo had several fights at 155 I had no problem with that because he wasn't defending any titles. When a world champion like Cotto says you must fight me at a catchweight if you want a shot at my title I have a big problem with that. That's changing the traditional rules of boxing to suit your self. No champion should have the right to do that.
I don't think people have a problem with catch weight fights themselves, just with catch weights for titles. If you want to fight another fighter for their belt then fight at the limit and don't try to handicap them
because it's often used as an advantage to drain a fighter of weight, not to make a fight fair. in the advent of the 30 hour weigh in, where guys are already killing themsleves to make weight, these guys deplete themselves quickly by losing as little as an extra lb or so.
just look at some of these guys when they weigh in. you want them to lose extra lbs of water? their brains need it, man.
catchweights aren't inherently bad, but you can't be naive enough to think that it's not dangerous with these guys that already shed a ton of weight.