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The weight-making process is supposed to be just part of the territory for a fighter. but in recent years, and for many top-line fights, it has affected the whole sport. Sadly, it's a problem that most fighters face, and one that forces them to undergo some cruel behaviors that border on self torture in order to facilitate contracted weight loss. Even worse, most fans really couldn't care less about this, until it interferes with a big fight.
There's a lot of ideas flying around concerning improving the way in which fighter's weights are monitored so that we don't have to see anymore fights cancelled and fighter's careers ruined. Some people think that the weigh-in should be conducted on the day of the fight. I believe this is the way things used to be, and of course, it won't work because if a fighter has been training for eight weeks or more, not able to eat and drink properly for maybe three weeks, not allowing them any respite from that whatsoever before the fight is going to increase tenfold the chances of fighters incurring brain damage. The percentage of ring deaths is not on the decrease as you woudl expect thanks to our advances in medical technology. Fight day weigh-ins would increase ring deaths.
My proposal is this:
Instead of having the mandated sanctioning body weight checks done behind closed doors, you make them part of the promotion of the fight. Routinely, a fight will be negotiated then announced and if it is big enough, the fighters will undergo a publicity tour to promote the bout. After that is done, the fighters take off into training camp and can often be reached to handle media obligations whether they be for HBO, newspapers or the proliferation of boxing websites out there.
If a fighter can take time out of his training schedule to do interviews, and can do a weigh-in with a sanctioning body inspector, he can do it in a public forum which accomplishes the feat of also serving as a publicity tool for his own fight, that will in turn, drum up greater interest. I'm no gambler, but I have certainly heard examples of the odds being changed because a fighter appears heavy, or as if he's not going to make the weight. This just adds that little bit more drama to the proceedings, and with the way many fights fall under the radar, it's not as if boxing couldn't use a publicity boost.
The WBC for example, mandates a 30-day weigh-in and so on. Since all participants are working together to draw money to the promotion, it should not be difficult to have the fighters, teams, sanctioning bodies, promoters and networks working in concert to deliver weigh-in ceremonies open to the press. Perhaps start with the higher end fights that naturally draw more interest to try this out.
In theory, if a fighter takes an 8-week camp before a fight, you hold two of these publicized weight checks. You have the first one a months before the fight, and another around two weeks before. No more behind closed doors. Have everything out in the open where we no longer have to take the word of the sanctioning bodies whom, honestly, we don't trust as they will only cover their own backs if something goes wrong anyway.
If this is done in plain sight, it kills several birds with one stone: It promotes the fight, draws more interest, and more money, and it makes sure that the weight process is onboard with the concerned parties. A fighter and his team might be able to bull**** themselves into believing that they can make the weight right up until the last second, but let them try and pull the wool over anyone's eyes if the process is so out in the open.
Plus, the final element is that they wouldn't get the chance. My proposal ends with the notion that if you have a weigh-in ten days out from the fight and one or both fighters is nowhere near the weight, the fight is pulled and nobody loses money. Explanations must be given to justify a rescheduling of the fight, but at least a minimum of cost is incurred by those concerned as opposed to what they would lose if the fighters got to the final weigh-in and couldn't make it.
Safeguarding thinsg this way ensures that everything is not only set financially, but that the fighters are forced to confront the weight process openly. They must be protected from Draconian measures in order to fulfill obligations. If they are monitired properly, and the decision of whether to harm themselves to make weight right up to a fight is out of their hands, we are not going to see the amount of injuries and deaths we have seen over the years.
More than that, we would actually see fighters fighting at their true capacity instead of being impaired by the weight struggle. In terms of legitimacy, this also disqualifies a fighter claiming that he lost because he could not give his best thanks to the battle he had against the weight.
Opinions?
There's a lot of ideas flying around concerning improving the way in which fighter's weights are monitored so that we don't have to see anymore fights cancelled and fighter's careers ruined. Some people think that the weigh-in should be conducted on the day of the fight. I believe this is the way things used to be, and of course, it won't work because if a fighter has been training for eight weeks or more, not able to eat and drink properly for maybe three weeks, not allowing them any respite from that whatsoever before the fight is going to increase tenfold the chances of fighters incurring brain damage. The percentage of ring deaths is not on the decrease as you woudl expect thanks to our advances in medical technology. Fight day weigh-ins would increase ring deaths.
My proposal is this:
Instead of having the mandated sanctioning body weight checks done behind closed doors, you make them part of the promotion of the fight. Routinely, a fight will be negotiated then announced and if it is big enough, the fighters will undergo a publicity tour to promote the bout. After that is done, the fighters take off into training camp and can often be reached to handle media obligations whether they be for HBO, newspapers or the proliferation of boxing websites out there.
If a fighter can take time out of his training schedule to do interviews, and can do a weigh-in with a sanctioning body inspector, he can do it in a public forum which accomplishes the feat of also serving as a publicity tool for his own fight, that will in turn, drum up greater interest. I'm no gambler, but I have certainly heard examples of the odds being changed because a fighter appears heavy, or as if he's not going to make the weight. This just adds that little bit more drama to the proceedings, and with the way many fights fall under the radar, it's not as if boxing couldn't use a publicity boost.
The WBC for example, mandates a 30-day weigh-in and so on. Since all participants are working together to draw money to the promotion, it should not be difficult to have the fighters, teams, sanctioning bodies, promoters and networks working in concert to deliver weigh-in ceremonies open to the press. Perhaps start with the higher end fights that naturally draw more interest to try this out.
In theory, if a fighter takes an 8-week camp before a fight, you hold two of these publicized weight checks. You have the first one a months before the fight, and another around two weeks before. No more behind closed doors. Have everything out in the open where we no longer have to take the word of the sanctioning bodies whom, honestly, we don't trust as they will only cover their own backs if something goes wrong anyway.
If this is done in plain sight, it kills several birds with one stone: It promotes the fight, draws more interest, and more money, and it makes sure that the weight process is onboard with the concerned parties. A fighter and his team might be able to bull**** themselves into believing that they can make the weight right up until the last second, but let them try and pull the wool over anyone's eyes if the process is so out in the open.
Plus, the final element is that they wouldn't get the chance. My proposal ends with the notion that if you have a weigh-in ten days out from the fight and one or both fighters is nowhere near the weight, the fight is pulled and nobody loses money. Explanations must be given to justify a rescheduling of the fight, but at least a minimum of cost is incurred by those concerned as opposed to what they would lose if the fighters got to the final weigh-in and couldn't make it.
Safeguarding thinsg this way ensures that everything is not only set financially, but that the fighters are forced to confront the weight process openly. They must be protected from Draconian measures in order to fulfill obligations. If they are monitired properly, and the decision of whether to harm themselves to make weight right up to a fight is out of their hands, we are not going to see the amount of injuries and deaths we have seen over the years.
More than that, we would actually see fighters fighting at their true capacity instead of being impaired by the weight struggle. In terms of legitimacy, this also disqualifies a fighter claiming that he lost because he could not give his best thanks to the battle he had against the weight.
Opinions?
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