Comments Thread For: Zuffa Boxing announces the eight divisions it will recognize

[Coverdale]

It would be foolish of fighters to sign with Dana, he is malevolent leech who rips off fighters of their hard earned money. The sanctioning bodies take like a single digit percent of a purse and being a title holder at least gives fighters legitimacy leading to bigger fights.

If you're American or Mexican maybe. Otherwise you still get ignored and messed about like Bivol, Stanionis, Giyasov, Murtazaliev and countless others.

[Coverdale]

You can't just make arbitrary declarations like that. You are not the sole decider of who is elite.

There's a reason dudes move up one weight class and get completely wrecked all the time. Reducing the number of weight classes is just going to make more guys cut extreme amounts of weight and get themselves hurt. This isn't going to increase the competition level in the other divisions, it's just going to force talented fighters out of the sport altogether.

This is absolutely moronic.

In case you hadn't noticed, fighters make savage weight cuts irrespective of how many divisions there are. Returning to fewer divisions will encourage fighters to come in hydrated at a more comfortable weight class, with the added benefit of having deeper divisions.

Look at the 30 fighters currently ranked by TBRB between 160lbs and 175lbs and tell me how many elite fighters you see there. Look at the calibre of opposition Canelo faced during his reign at 168lbs (to illustrate a point, not 'hate' on Canelo).

[Spray_resistant]

Handicapping? Every "Jr. Division" fighter can still fight, nobody is stopping them.

Now do I like Dana? Fcuk no! And I hope his gimmick entry fails. But this 8 divisions thing is very much howd id like to see boxing, be from now on.

Its my understanding that if they sign with Dana they won't be allowed to fight in any classes other than the 8 divisions but I guess fighters better suited for in between divisions just won't sign with him.

[PRINCEKOOL]

It did not work for the UFC and by your logic every UFC fighter should leave the sport. In UFC EVERY fighters cuts at least 15 pounds but a lot and the majority cutting 30 pounds. Alex Perreira one of their biggest stars was cutting from 220 to 185. Mcgregor was literally dead on the weigh ins at featherweight cutting 25+. Look at Khabib or Makhachev these guys all cut 30 pounds.
Boxing having more weight classes prevented this from happenin, here we usually cut 10 pounds and in extrem cases 15-20 pound but 30+ pounds of weight cutting by pure dehydration is insane. I'm talking about guys weigh in 155 and the next day fighting at 185-190 pound. Not a guy starting his training camp 30 pound heavier because he is fat like Benavidez or so many others.

Boxing has prevented nothing from happening, seriously? What sport have you been watching the past few years or decades? Every single year in boxing at top level within the lower weight divisions, a fight is completely ruined due to ether one of the fighters breaching their threshold when it comes to weight draining themselves. They all have excuses for their loses, or why they have just been smashed up.

And my view and opinion is this? If you feel the need to avoid fighting at your more natural weight 'get out sport before you get smashed up. Or suffer serious consequences'.

The only thing that will prevent weight draining techniques from being used extensively in boxing or combat sports 'is the same day weigh in rule being applied to the sport. Modern day weight draining tactics, are a modern phenomenon. Fighters during past great eras, pre-1980 never used such tactics during fight preparation'.

Note: Sugar Ray Robinson, and Henry Armstrong 'did not fight 201 fights and 181 fights while weight draining themselves, and dropping between 10 to 30 pounds for each contest. Those are the facts of boxing history'.

If modern day combat sports the athletes all are dropping 30 pounds in weight, that does not mean it is right 'logically it is completely backwards. And at some point in all of their careers, the accumulative negatives effects of using such training methods will surface. And then bad things will happen'.

To conclude: So yes they definitively should all leave. Or stop complaining and whining when they collapse due to the negative effects of weight draining techniques 'how many fighters both in boxing and the UFC do you think have lost fights or underperformed due to using weight draining techniques? I estimate 1000's'.

Chris Eubank Junior has effectively just accelerated his own demise in boxing, because he refused to stop using weight draining tactics 'to keep himself fighting at 160 pounds. Regardless of the catch weight stipulations which Conor Benn and his team mandated in the fight? Anyone with understanding of basic physiologically, could see that Eubank Junior needed to move up back into the 168 pound weight divisions for the remainder of his career immediately after his first fight against Benn'.

I have been over this subject many times before, it is really not difficult to understand 'combat sports athletes, are the only athletes in the World who use such backwards training methodologies. It is a completely manufactured, and modern day phenomenon in the sport'.

Back the main subject of the thread, the 8 weight derisions are fine 'but in my opinion, they are not being used by Zuffa Boxing to prevent weight draining tactics from being used. They are there because they are the historically most established weight divisions in boxing history' etc.

[dannnnn]

Again, this is absolute nonsense. You cannot possibly be arguing that eliminating 154 won't make guys cut harder to get to 147.

Some will, some won't, and that goes across all weight divisions.

At 154, maybe Boots and Ortiz would move back down to 147 (though I doubt even that tbh, Ortiz has already talked about moving up to 160), the rest who are all career 154lbers would move up. Fundora, Tszyu, Madrimov, Murtazaliev and Bohachuk would all go to 160, Josh Kelly would probably go back down to 147.

So now instead of a dead middleweight division and a weak welterweight division, you would have:

Middleweight: Janibek, Adames, Lara, Vergil Ortiz, Fundora, Madrimov, Murtazaliev, Tsyzu, Bohachuk. Possibly Sheeraz, Munguia and the Charlos.

Welterweight: Haney, Barrios, Rolly, R. Garcia, Benn, Catterall, Stanionis, Boots, Josh Kelly, Teofimo, Keyshawn, Dalton Smith, R. Hitchins, Matias

(bolded are already at that weight)

I think Boots would go to 160 anyway but whatever. How would this not be way better? All those extra names you can mix and match, all fighting for one championship belt meaning nobody can hide out while milking a bogus belt and avoiding other top competition.

I don't know how any real boxing fan can see this and say it looks like a worse alternative to what we have now. Who gives a **** about Dana White? He's still going to be rich enough to blow mine and your salary in one evening of blackjack whether he's in boxing or not, so why even care?

[elfag]

So if you're a 154 pounder, do you go up to 160 and be outsized by those guys, or drain yourself even more to make 147?

If you weigh 154 pounds then you drain 7 pounds of water which is nothing and fight at 147


the problem is theyre not 154 pounds. theyre all in the 180s out of camp. if youre 185 dont cry and tell me youre "too small" for 160

[dannnnn]

Utterly delusional. All this is going to do is create more mismatches, and acting like this somehow gets us to one belt is even crazier. This just means there is one extra belt in half the weight classes that is artificially cordoned off from the others.

And it isn't about Dana White personally, but what he's going to do to the sport. UFC fans are disgusted with the current state of UFC. The rankings don't matter, merit doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is how much Dana White likes a guy and how much Dana White thinks he can make off a guy.

Obviously I'm not saying this is how it's going to be looking anytime soon, I'm saying it's ultimately what they're aiming for and I support that. If the sanctioning bodies can eventually be phased out and over the next few generations the majority of significant boxers brought under one umbrella, this is eventually akin to what things could look like and I don't see how that's not a drastically marked improvement over the current boxing landscape.

The matchmaking in UFC at its worst is far more rational, rankings-oriented and merit-based than what we have in boxing.

[SouthpawRight]

If modern day combat sports the athletes all are dropping 30 pounds in weight, that does not mean it is right 'logically it is completely backwards. And at some point in all of their careers, the accumulative negatives effects of using such training methods will surface. And then bad things will happen'.

Spray_resistant is Parker’s Cousin Jai 230 pounds of buff between fights

[Spray_resistant]

Spray_resistant is Parker’s Cousin Jai 230 pounds of buff between fights

I could see it, very buff and the bigger you are the more weight you can shed. Alex Pereira over on UFC is about the same size and was fighting at 185.

[SouthpawRight]

I could see it, very buff and the bigger you are the more weight you can shed. Alex Pereira over on UFC is about the same size and was fighting at 185.

wow these ufc weight cutters makes boxing weight cutters sound like total newbies