Are Weight Classes as Important As Most of Us Think?

[Mr Objecitivity]

Manny Pacquiao started at flyweight
Roy Jones started at middleweight
Roberto Duran started at lightweight
Floyd Mayweather started at lightweight
James Toney started at middleweight
Ray Leonard started at welterweight
JMM started as a featherweight
Ray Robinson started as a lightweight
Mike McCallum started as a light middleweight
DLH started as a super featherweight
Broner started as super featherweight
Julio Cesar Chavez started as a super featherweight
Tommy Hearns started as a welterweight
Henry Armstrong started as a featherweight
Jack Dempsey started at 145 pounds
Evander Holyfield started as a light heavyweight
Floyd Patterson was a middleweight
Michael Moorer started as a light heavyweight
Archie Moore started as a middleweight (his biography the ageless warrior is a great read)
Ali started as a light heavyweight
Tony Bellew started as a light heavyweight
Edison Miranda started as a middleweight
Fonfara started out as a welterweight
Guillermo Jones started out as a welterweight
Sadam Ali started as a lightweight
Robert Guerrero started as a featherweight
Whitaker started as a lightweight
Nonito started as a flyweight
Eric Morales started as a super bantamweight
Miguel Cotto started as a light welterweight

There are lots of cases in amateur boxing where a fighter will move up 45 pounds in weight and still be at the top, world champs and all. In amateur wrestling too.
In gym you see sparring sessions b/w featherweights and middleweight, middleweight and heavyweights and so on and so forth. I've seen sparring between featherweight and heavyweights - Team Argentina.
Freddy Roach wanted Manny to fight DLH after witnessing DLH getting outboxed by Ivan Calderon who was a flyweight. I can go on and on, and on but my shoulders are hurting. Let me know what you think or share some other examples too.

Yes, weight (along with gender) are the two most important and decisive factors which determines the winner of a boxing bout. Hence, boxers (along with athletes in other combat sports) are divided into weight divisions and gender divisions. Not skill divisions. Not height divisions. Or reach divisions and so forth so on. This is because weight is a more significant factor which decides the outcome of bouts in combat sports.

There are scientific reasons for this as well. I can further elaborate if you need. You just have to ask.

Also, in the examples you've provided, those boxers moved up in weight divisions as they grew older and subsequently grew bigger physiques. If two boxers are roughly the same weight, then it is going to be a fair contest.

[MasterPlan]

If you already can just barely make 154 and stay strong that extra 2 pounds can hurt you. Mayweather must have thought the 2 pounds mattered or he wouldn't have insisted Canelo make 152 instead of the standard 154 pounds for the 154 pound world title they were fighting for.

Yet he continued to make 154-155 for three more years until May of 2017.

[pesticid]

People generally end up in the lowest weight class than they can possibly fight in, so they have bigger frames and are generally stronger as well.

Having said that, I'd favour Andre Ward to outbox a few cruiserweights, and if Tony Bellew miraculously ended up with a heavyweight title, I think Andre Ward could beat him (obviously after putting the work in at the gym and putting on some more lean mass)

Good stuff man, I think you're one of the few that gets it. It's about how much weight you could lose. Look at Jason Sosa weighing in over 160 pounds and dropping to fight at 130.

Also, Guillermo Jones started out as a welterweight, then became the undisputed cruiser weight champ and now he's a heavyweight. I've seen Kovalev spar him.
Thomas Adamek started as a light heavyweight.

['b']

Good stuff man, I think you're one of the few that gets it. It's about how much weight you could lose. Look at Jason Sosa weighing in over 160 pounds and dropping to fight at 130.

Also, Guillermo Jones started out as a welterweight, then became the undisputed cruiser weight champ and now he's a heavyweight. I've seen Kovalev spar him.
Thomas Adamek started as a light heavyweight.

Thanks. Also, your avatar or whatever those profile pictures are called is mesmerising

[pesticid]

Back in the day when there was 8 weight classes it mattered more. 1 weight class jump back then could = 8-20lbs. Young fighters grow into new weight classes. Some move up or down to chase more money or opportunities.

This new fad of younger guys dehydrating the hell out of themselves to make lower weight classes is funny. There are lots out there who basically gain 20lbs in 1 day. You see those guys move up once they get into their 30's and their body starts to reject that torture.

Look at Rigo and GGG. They did not need to move up as they were fully grown adults when they turned pro. Some of the guys they fought probably had a good weight advantage over them come fight night. They handled it fine.

This has been going on since the beginning of time. It's not just the guys from today, that's why I provided so many examples from different eras.

[pesticid]

Here are some more names:

Dwight Muhamed Quawi started at lightheavy
Joshua Clottey started at light welterweight
Chris Arreola started at light heavyweight
Corey Sanders started at light heavyweight
Jorge Arce and Vic Darchinyan moved up a lot
So did Roman Gonzales
Khan started at lightweight
Gamboa won his Olympic gold medal at 115 pounds
Felix Diaz started as a lightweight
Alexis Arguello started as a bantamweight for Christ sake
Carmen Basilio started as a welterweight
Gene Tunney started as a light heavyweight
Curtis Stevens started at lightheavy and came down to like 154
Darnell Boone fought Lara and Kova and Ward - I mean from 154 to 175

It's like I've listed so far like 70 fighters some of which have gone up 50-80 pounds. So are weight classes as important as they are made to be?

[DinoCop]

Reaching to an unnatural weight for your body should affect your athleticism bad.

[pesticid]

Reaching to an unnatural weight for your body should affect your athleticism bad.

I am not saying that weight classes are not important, however, their importance has been grossly overstated and based on the examples I have provided it's clear as day that a lot of these weight classes are just politics.

[DinoCop]

I am not saying that weight classes are not important, however, their importance has been grossly overstated and based on the examples I have provided it's clear as day that a lot of these weight classes are just politics.

Yes, truly it shows they are not important as they are talked of to be. Nevertheless we know a fighter will lose some speed and mobility as he moves up, even some talk about gassing out (idk how true is that).

[BoxingIsGreat]

I think they are important but not so important you need a weight class every 3 or 4 pounds.105 pounds, 108 pounds,112 pounds, 115 pounds, 118 pounds,122 pounds, 126 pounds, 130 pounds. Do we really need all of these. In the old days it was only 112, 118, 126 and 130. 130 is really too close to 126. When a burger, frys and a giant coke puts you in another weight class they are too close together. I think all weight classes should be at least 6 pounds apart and more as the weights go up.

Good point.