How bad is weight differences on fight night compared to old-school era?

[SlySlickSmooth]

Nowadays we see fighters re-hydrate 13-15+ overnight. Few fighters only gain a maximum of 5-6 pounds the two main guys likely being May and Pac.


But how bad was it in the old school era on fight day weigh ins? Say you were a Middleweight boxer who just couldn't make the Welter limit so you typically weighed in at 150 vs another MW who consistently weighed in at the MW limit of 160.

Is it worse to fight fighters who blow up overnight, possibly draining for a weigh in, or fight fighters that naturally trump you in size in your natural weight class?

[ИATAS]

Since there were only 8 weight classes there were some pretty damn big size differences back then especially when fighters moved up in weight to challenge someone often times they'd weigh the same amount they normally would

[IronDanHamza]

Since there were only 8 weight classes there were some pretty damn big size differences back then especially when fighters moved up in weight to challenge someone often times they'd weigh the same amount they normally would

Absolutely.

Think about when Robinson lost his first fight when he fought Lamotta.

Middleweight fight but Robinson weighed 146 lbs.

Happened a lot back then because there weren't any Jr weight classes (with any real legitimacy)

[bojangles1987]

Since there were only 8 weight classes there were some pretty damn big size differences back then especially when fighters moved up in weight to challenge someone often times they'd weigh the same amount they normally would

This........

[ИATAS]

Absolutely.

Think about when Robinson lost his first fight when he fought Lamotta.

Middleweight fight but Robinson weighed 146 lbs.

Happened a lot back then because there weren't any Jr weight classes (with any real legitimacy)

That'sfunny I was jjust about to post that but couldn't remember what SRR weighed so I checked boxrec.com, said he was 144. Everyone leaves that out for some reason when talking about his loss to Jake Lamotta 144 vs 160! In today's time that wwould be totally discredited .

[SlySlickSmooth]

Absolutely.

Think about when Robinson lost his first fight when he fought Lamotta.

Middleweight fight but Robinson weighed 146 lbs.

Happened a lot back then because there weren't any Jr weight classes (with any real legitimacy)

That's a key point in discussing that fight, something I didn't even know. I guessed fighters likely came in lower than they could of for some (higher weight) fights but it really is an important factor.

Does anyone know the first fight that had day before weigh ins? Was it after the Kim Duk-koo (RIP) incident with Ray Mancini?

[IronDanHamza]

That'sfunny I was jjust about to post that but couldn't remember what SRR weighed so I checked boxrec.com, said he was 144. Everyone leaves that out for some reason when talking about his loss to Jake Lamotta 144 vs 160! In today's time that wwould be totally discredited .

Sorry 144 not 146. I think he weighed 146 in the first one that he won.

Very true, Robinson did grow into 160 eventually just not at that point.

Craziest part is it was a regular occurrence back then.

[DeadLikeMe]

Just think of Henry Armstrong having titles over a breadth of 21 pounds all at once. Nowadays we are supposed to heap on the praise when a guy moves up three or four pounds.

[Divine Hammer]

30+ lbs at least

[Reloaded]

That'sfunny I was jjust about to post that but couldn't remember what SRR weighed so I checked boxrec.com, said he was 144. Everyone leaves that out for some reason when talking about his loss to Jake Lamotta 144 vs 160! In today's time that wwould be totally discredited .

16 pounds , Floyd gave Oscar that , and Cotto 14 pounds and Canelo 20 pounds , Manny gave that to Mosley Margarito , and they won they never got beat like Robinson did .

May and Pac are just 2 , there a quite few guys fighting today that give that weight away and win yet all this place does is bash them .