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Originally posted by WillieWild114
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The simple answer is "yes" it is the only such division. Historically this makes more sense than it might first appear to do in today's boxing landscape. Back in the days when boxing was gaining a foothold as a sport, the rules were very different and favored the men who came in lighter and were both: strong for their weight, and had reach. You could not hit someone as hard as you liked because you would break your hand. Fighters were obsessed with hardening the hands. If you think about it, imagine hitting someone flush in the forehead with a power shot barehanded. Having been a bouncer for years I can attest to all the broken hands you see in scraps lol.
Hence, accuracy was prized. the KO shot was a piston like lead to the tip of the chin. Hooks were to the body under the elbows, like today, and reach was also, like today a big advantage.
So there was no real issue when smaller pug built men like the original Barbados Joe Walcott, who weighed in at about 160ish fought for the heavyweight title. Think of a pitbull and their relative size, versus where they carry the weight... Bob Fitzzimons was another example. He had the upper body of a heavyweight and the legs of a light weight.
As gloves got bigger, and other such things changed, weight became more of an issue... With bigger gloves you need strength and mass to swing them, and accuracy does not allow for you to transfer the strength of a hit, like you can with smaller gloves. |The whole art of boxing changes and became less of an art and more a sport. When punching with accuracy there is a science to transfering your body weight into the target, usingn your weight, timing and locking the right parts of the body structurally... This changes as people get bigger muscles to swing the arms with bigger gloves to generate force instead.
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