When did the weigh ins on the same day as the fight

[Sam Donald]

stop?

now its a day before?

it plays a major difference in todays boxing

[studentofthegam]

Yeah I was watching the limited vids on Jersey Joe Walcott and just wondered how much greater he would have been as strictly a LHW. Not that he wasnt a great HW but it would have been the difference between being top 10 or 15 and being the man.

[Toney616]

stop?

I think it was becasue of a Micheal Spinks fight, were he refused to fight, because his opponent was over the agreed limit. So it was pushed forward to give fighters a better chance of making weight and reduce the risk of cancellations. It was more about money than a fighters health. I think same day weigh ins became the norm late 80's

[hhascup]

Here's what I found:

Same-day weigh-ins got tossed by the wayside back in 1983, when Eddie Mustapha Muhammad came in overweight for a light-heavyweight unification match with Michael Spinks. Back in the day, this was a legit superfight with all the attendant hoopla.

Spinks refused to go through with the fight, even after Eddie proposed just making it a nontitle go. Spinks was pissed because, as he said, he sacrificed and trained hard to make the weight, and if Muhammad couldn’t bother to do the same, then screw it ...

The promoter, HBO, the alphabets and the commissions decided that in the future, all weigh-ins would be the day before, so that a cancellation like this would never happen again.

Another source:

After the Eddie Mustapha-Michael Spinks unification bout that didn't come off in 1983. Eddie weighed in at 180 & proposed they make it a non-title fight. Spinks told him where to go because he had sacrificed & lost the weight & felt Eddie should have also.

The fight was canceled & HBO & the Promoters were left holding the bag instead of raking it in for what was a super fight in it's day.

Shortly after that to protetct the promoters & networks the alphabets switched to day before weigh-ins for he "health" & "security" of the fighters.

Here’s yet another report:

Published: July 22, 1983
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad issued an apology of sorts yesterday for the cancellation of his light heavyweight title bout against the champion, Michael Spinks, last week.

The bout was cancelled after Mustafa Muhammad refused to take off 2 1/2 pounds to make the 175-pound weight limit. ''I realize,'' the boxer said in a statement billed as an apology, ''that had I made an attempt at losing the weight, my status in the boxing world would not have deteriorated as it has.'' When questioned, however, the fighter sounded less than contrite. ''I don't regret what I have done because I am a man of principle,'' he said, ''but someone has to apologize.'

Also:
The fight between Griffith and Benvenuti was outdoors at Shea Stadium, and they both weighed in the day of the fight. Benvenuti weighed 160 pounds and Griffith weighed 155 pounds. There was inclement weather that afternoon, and the fight got postponed to the next day.

The next day, they made them weighed in again, and Benvenuti weighed 159¾! and Emile weighed 154!

Here's what I found out about the Mancini/Kim affair in 1982:

Just so you know, Kim had to struggle mightily to lose weight on the days prior to the bout with Ray Mancini so that he could weigh in under the Lightweight's 135 pound limit, or, as they say in boxing, "make weight". Prophetically, he wrote the message "kill or be killed" on his Las Vegas hotel room's mirror only days before the bout.

I do believe their were bouts before that that were a day before including:

Sean Curtin worked on the Illinois Commission in 1987 when Chapo Rosario fought Juan Nazario and the weigh in was the day of the fight.

However in December of 1982 when Ossie Ocasio fought Young Joe Louis the weigh in was the night before.

Curtin does think the overweight Mustafa Muhammad Eddie Gregory had a lot to do with weigh-ins the day before.

[JAB5239]

Here's what I found:

Same-day weigh-ins got tossed by the wayside back in 1983, when Eddie Mustapha Muhammad came in overweight for a light-heavyweight unification match with Michael Spinks. Back in the day, this was a legit superfight with all the attendant hoopla.

Spinks refused to go through with the fight, even after Eddie proposed just making it a nontitle go. Spinks was pissed because, as he said, he sacrificed and trained hard to make the weight, and if Muhammad couldn’t bother to do the same, then screw it ...

The promoter, HBO, the alphabets and the commissions decided that in the future, all weigh-ins would be the day before, so that a cancellation like this would never happen again.

Another source:

After the Eddie Mustapha-Michael Spinks unification bout that didn't come off in 1983. Eddie weighed in at 180 & proposed they make it a non-title fight. Spinks told him where to go because he had sacrificed & lost the weight & felt Eddie should have also.

The fight was canceled & HBO & the Promoters were left holding the bag instead of raking it in for what was a super fight in it's day.

Shortly after that to protetct the promoters & networks the alphabets switched to day before weigh-ins for he "health" & "security" of the fighters.

Here’s yet another report:

Published: July 22, 1983
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad issued an apology of sorts yesterday for the cancellation of his light heavyweight title bout against the champion, Michael Spinks, last week.

The bout was cancelled after Mustafa Muhammad refused to take off 2 1/2 pounds to make the 175-pound weight limit. ''I realize,'' the boxer said in a statement billed as an apology, ''that had I made an attempt at losing the weight, my status in the boxing world would not have deteriorated as it has.'' When questioned, however, the fighter sounded less than contrite. ''I don't regret what I have done because I am a man of principle,'' he said, ''but someone has to apologize.'

Also:
The fight between Griffith and Benvenuti was outdoors at Shea Stadium, and they both weighed in the day of the fight. Benvenuti weighed 160 pounds and Griffith weighed 155 pounds. There was inclement weather that afternoon, and the fight got postponed to the next day.

The next day, they made them weighed in again, and Benvenuti weighed 159¾! and Emile weighed 154!

Here's what I found out about the Mancini/Kim affair in 1982:

Just so you know, Kim had to struggle mightily to lose weight on the days prior to the bout with Ray Mancini so that he could weigh in under the Lightweight's 135 pound limit, or, as they say in boxing, "make weight". Prophetically, he wrote the message "kill or be killed" on his Las Vegas hotel room's mirror only days before the bout.

I do believe their were bouts before that that were a day before including:

Sean Curtin worked on the Illinois Commission in 1987 when Chapo Rosario fought Juan Nazario and the weigh in was the day of the fight.

However in December of 1982 when Ossie Ocasio fought Young Joe Louis the weigh in was the night before.

Curtin does think the overweight Mustafa Muhammad Eddie Gregory had a lot to do with weigh-ins the day before.

Thanks man!!

[BennyST]

It slowly started being weaned out in the early to mid 80's though wasn't in full effect until the mid to late 80's. I think it's one of boxing's major problems actually and should be put back to what it was. Due to certain bodies, the ability to lose then regain massive amounts of weight allows them to drop down and gain unnatural advantages that have nothing to do with their natural size (ie. see Thomas Hearns; his natural size was an advantage but he weighed in exactly the same weight as his opponent on the day of the fight) advantage and any advantages in boxing skill.

It should be about the skill and any natural advantages they have in the same weight division. When one fighter can put on 20 pounds even though he's meant to be weighing in the same as his opponent at a certain weight limit it basically kills the entire point of weight divisions. When one fighter can fight at 147 yet weigh in for that 147 fight at 165 pounds it rather defeats the purpose of having the weight limit of 147 pounds. If you can't fight at 147 pounds then you shouldn't be there, you should be at 154, 160 or 168.

You get ridiculous fights like Gatti/Gamache which was for all intents and purposes a welterweight fighting a lightweight yet billed as two fighters in the same division. It does create an unfair advantage which should not have to be made up for by extra skills. Things should be equal when fighting in between weight limits. Then areas such as skill, speed, power and natural size and strength play the part they are supposed to. It's the entire reason weight divisions were put in place in the first place! To stop one fighter from fighting a guy 10, 15 pounds smaller. Great fighters don't necessarily need weight divisions but overall it's an incredibly important part of equal play sport which is being made a mockery of in today's boxing game.

You only need to look at certain fights today to see how wrong it can be. Nonito Doniare vs Someone Marquez was a classic example. Doniare was scary big compared to a genuine looking Flyweight and I doubt Donaire would have had any chance of getting to that weight without day before weigh ins with well over 24 hours to regain his strength and weight. He looked like a solid, natural lightweight fighting a solid, natural Flyweight and that's how it ended up....ie. with Marquez broken and beaten. It might have ended the same way but that's not at all the point.