So is a division considered "weak" when there is 1 dominant champ?

[Motorcity Cobra]

In the lower weights Rigondeux. I hear also grumblings about 140 being weak and lacking competition because Crawford is so dominate. Also in recent history the HW Klitchko (before Fury) was considered to be a champ in a weak division...

I think 140 is weak. Burns and that other guy from Africa are the other champs. And the guy that African guy beat wasn't that good. I'd pick a color 135 lb to beat both. I think heavyweight is top heavy. After the top 6 guys the rest are interchangeable.

[Blackclouds]

all 17 divisions have great fighters. but usually a division is considered strong when it has STARS and considered weak when it doesn't.

if right now GGG was WBA middleweight champion, cotto was WBC middleweight champion, canelo was WBO middleweight champion and some random dude was IBF champion, and there were plans for a series of unification fights, everybody would be talking about how middleweight is the most stacked division in boxing.

but the truth is that cotto's team & canelo's team both thought their guys stood no chance against GGG, so they fought each other for the imaginary 155 pound championship and then got the hell out of dodge.

This doesn't explain the cruiserweight division that has no stars but has a solid top 20-30 with competitive fights up and down the ledger. One of the stronger divisions out there.

[Blackclouds]

I think 140 is weak. Burns and that other guy from Africa are the other champs. And the guy that African guy beat wasn't that good. I'd pick a color 135 lb to beat both. I think heavyweight is top heavy. After the top 6 guys the rest are interchangeable.

You are right about the heavyweight division. Yes, it's top heavy with a solid top 7 (8 when Tyson Fury comes back, and minus PEDvetkin who's soon to be suspended). Then there's like 40-50 guys (including prospects) after that would make for competitive fights with each other but not really with most of the top 8. I wouldn't call that weak. I don't think I can make a serious top 5 at Middleweight even with Canelo.

[original zero]

This doesn't explain the cruiserweight division that has no stars but has a solid top 20-30 with competitive fights up and down the ledger. One of the stronger divisions out there.

but outside of hardcore boxing nerds, who the hell is talking about the cruiserweight division? how many of those top 20-30 with competitive fights are being shown by HBO or PBC? out of sight, out of mind.

[Scipio2009]

Thats the feeling I am getting. Thoughts?..

Floyd was the dominant champion at 147lbs, yet no one ever even thought of trying to say that welterweight was a weak division.

A division only becomes "weak", when the talent level in the division isn't very good.

BoxRec isn't the end all, be all, but, of their top 100 fighters, p4p, 5 of them are middleweights. Compared to 11 fighters at 147lbs.

[Blackclouds]

but outside of hardcore boxing nerds, who the hell is talking about the cruiserweight division? how many of those top 20-30 with competitive fights are being shown by HBO or PBC? out of sight, out of mind.

Nobody gives a **** about Cruiserweights but that helps my point that the number of stars doesn't mean much as there are none in that division but nobody is calling it weak.

[DeLorean]

people say this to criticize Golovkin.. they want him to go up to 168 which is just as "weak". weak basically means there's no big name guys. .funny thing is GGG would be the betting favorite against anybody at SMW.

[boliodogs]

A division being weak is a matter of opinion and hard to prove one way or another.Middleweight is supposed to be weak but I don't see the best Jr. middleweights moving up and taking over.

[cork]

A division is "weak" if it fits someone's argument on here.

There is no real barometer.

What makes a strong division is lots of even competition and elite competition at that or close to it.

I have been around boxing for a while though and thus rely heavily on my knowledge and recognition of the sport over resumes or marketability of fighters, wheras casuals tend to judge only by marketability first, resume second, and have no ability to use the eye test. That's why to a casual, a division with no names is a weak division. To me, a division can be full of "names" and be weak.


Right now, I consider the ww division weak, and the hw division strong, for example.

People tend to overrate the ww division. It lacks an elite talent or even great talent without Manny and Floyd. Porter Garcia Thurman are good boxers but they don't have anything great about them. When Crawford moves up I just don't see him losing to anyone. I dislike the hw division also but people are getting excited about it again since its not a unified champ running it.

I think the most stack division with talent is lhw and I don't get how these guys rate what's a good or weak but I know this thread the op probably talking about how everyone always call the mw a weak division.

I think it's an ok division it probably be a lot more competitive if ggg wasn't in that division and Jacobs would probably getting a lot more hype than he's getting now. I would probably favor Monroe over both charlo and the people on this forums love to hype the jmw division.

[JAB5239]

Well Klitchko was dominate for YEARS and it was considered weak until he lost then all of a sudden its alive and thriving. Hell we just saw Andy Ruiz fight for title and get robbed lol But regardless, how can a dominate champ get props if hes dominating the top ten? think of it this way, one of the "weak" top 10 guys woulda been champ if there wasnt a dominate champ...

Wlad was a superior champion and dominant, but that's not why it was weak. It was weak because none of the other top fighters were fighting each other with any regularity and after they got their shot at Wlad and lost never tried to regain top form. It may SEEM better to some now, but it's really not. The talent level is still low or there are guys blatantly cheating with PED 's. Its a little more exciting do to fragmented titles but it's really no better. In the last 15, 20 years heavyweight boxing has crapped the bed.