Why is a greater weight disparity allowed between heavyweights than sub heavyweight?

[Mr Objecitivity]

Why is a heavyweight boxer allowed to outweigh his opponent by 50 pounds, but a boxer below heavyweight can't? Why is a boxer below welterweight barely allowed to weigh more than 10 pounds more than his opponent but a heavyweight can outweigh his opponent by roughly 100 pounds (Nikolai Valuev outweighing David Haye)?

What is the logic / reasoning behind this? Is weight difference between two boxers less significant at heavyweight than below heavyweight? If so, in what way?

Please explain!

Thanks!

[juggernaut666]

Heavy weight class is a category all its own (though out dated one ) it really needs a readjustment of 225 and over . Getting hit by someone over 225 and someone barley over 210 iis a big difference at least on average as well a being able to absorb more punches .

The lighter weight classes are more directly even matched and easier to disperse the weight categories where today the majority of Heavy weights are about 240 pounds so the size between 230/250 is less noticeable than that of say a 160 pounder fighting a 190 pounder where the size there is much more of an advantage .

Boxers like Valuev and Fury certainly arent the norm so its irrelevant to use them bc both are over 6'8 . !

[1hourRun]

Try getting those fat slobs to cut weight - they can barely stay off drugs/PED/Steroids. Also back in the day HW was 160+ evidently they made a lot of progress.

[Redd Foxx]

It's logical but no one wants to hear it for some reason. I've heard endless arguments about leaving HW alone but never a good one. If a guy like Golovkin or Marquez fights a slightly larger opponent, people freak the fk out, saying how unfair it is, etc. Yet, a HW can be massively out-muscled and no one gives a fk.
I think it's a shame as there's a lot of talent that never gets anywhere because they're too large to cut to cruiser but not large enough to compete with the monsters in the division.

[BrometheusBob.]

I think there is a reasonable case to be made that there should be another weight class cutoff somewhere between 200-250. The fact that there isn't one already is a result of the fact that there weren't really many 6'6' 240lb men fighting when the divisions were originally formed.

You'd be met with reluctance from most fans however who already believe there are too many weight classes as is.

[NEETzsche]

The way the divisions are distributed at the moment is extremely unfair to larger fighters

Short of overhauling the whole thing from top to bottom to make it more logical and fair, they could add another couple of divisions around 185 and 220

[DARKSEID]

Because we already have too many divisions, it would just make the current system too confusing to add a super heavyweight division.

Heavyweight has always been the box office division. If you make a super heavywight division, it would skew what the mainstream publics views as the box office division.

if you re-adjust the weights, and make the cap 215 or 225, then you would have to redo all the weight classes and belts and there's already too many belts. It's just simpler to leave it the way it is.

[Scipio2009]

Why is a heavyweight boxer allowed to outweigh his opponent by 50 pounds, but a boxer below heavyweight can't? Why is a boxer below welterweight barely allowed to weigh more than 10 pounds more than his opponent but a heavyweight can outweigh his opponent by roughly 100 pounds (Nikolai Valuev outweighing David Haye)?

What is the logic / reasoning behind this? Is weight difference between two boxers less significant at heavyweight than below heavyweight? If so, in what way?

Please explain!

Thanks!

because the heavyweight, in essence, is an openweight division.

[NearHypnos]

It's hard to imagine a weight class above the "top" weight class. The best solution is to broaden the weight range for Cruiser and give it a bigger buffer I guess. Like a mini HW class. Really, fighting at the "max" type of weight is fine if only some of the smaller HWs who are really close to cruiser had a few more (or less in this case) pounds to lose. When you go on the football field you dont feel bad for the smaller guy getting bulldozed and you shouldnt feel bad for someone trying to "roll with the big dogs" for being undersized. There are a ton of guys who could lay off the weights and burritos early and never let themselves get big enough for HW or get too big to cut... nobody is forcing them to fight and while I think there's a ridiculous disparity at times in size (like say...if Haye fought Fury or something of the like) it's also why people watch. The biggest baddest guy on the block fights the biggest baddest guy from the block over.

Maybe a 5-10 pound buffer for Cruiser but then youd have guys like Haye cutting weight and being bigger, faster, stronger against smaller cruisers... there's already 25 pounds...or make a new weight class which will not go over well with the general public. Super hw? Who wants that belt?
Super Cruiser? Who wants that? Everybody at that current weight class wants to be the recognized HW champion. It means something.


Super Heavy sounds fine and all in the amateurs but it sounds freakshowy in the paid ranks.

Lets be real...if Chavez jr could get down to 160 once upon a time and cut 25+ pounds... some of these buff ass hws who do ZERO cutting could make cruiser if they really wanted to. I'm sorry but if you're 235ish+ you're a huge mother f ucker and you need to be fighting at HW lol.

[boliodogs]

Because the lower weight fighters increase a lot in punching power and ability to take a punch as the weight classes go up. When they get up around 200 pounds punching power and punch resistance doesn't increase much with higher weights. The huge guys often lack the speed and athletic ability of a smaller heavyweight. The smaller heavyweight often punches harder and takes a punch better than the giant heavyweight. For instance the 185 pound Jack Dempsey KOed 250 pound heavyweight champion Jess Willard. It's possible that Dempsey hit harder and had a better chin than Willard. All though out boxing history it's been shown that giants are rarely the best heavyweights. Most of the best heavyweights in history have weighed from 185 pounds to 225 pounds when the won the title. Here are the weights of some famous great champions on the day they won the title. Ali 210, Liston 212, Jack Johnson 192, Joe Louis 198, Dempsey, 185, Marciano 184, Frazier 205, Foreman, 215, Tyson 220, Lewis 223, and Holyfield 204. Under today's rules if you can't weigh in at 200 or less you fight heavyweight and take on all fighters no matter how much they weigh. The rule needs no changes. Every good cruiserweight moves up to heavyweight anyway. It would be silly to have a weight class of 215 then 230 then 245 then 260 and so on.