|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Reactions: Weight problem? Eight weight classes? 'Yes' say CNNSI.com users
Posted: Wednesday June 21, 2000 07:03 PM
Shane Mosley jumped from lightweight (135 pounds) to welterweight (147) bypassing an intermediate step at junior welterweight (140). CNNSI.com users were asked if his ability to do so is evidence that boxing should return to its traditional eight weight classes, or is the current system of 17 weight classes beneficial to the sport. There was an overwhelming amount of support for the eight-class system. Here's a sample of the responses received: I believe boxing definitely should reduce its weight classes; 17 different classes are too much. I would reduce the number to nine, keeping the cruiserweight class. In the lower weight classes, the weight differential changes by just a few pounds. But the jump from light heavyweight to heavyweight is 25 pounds. It would be better for a light heavyweight to be able to move up to cruiserweight and maybe to heavyweight to see if he can handle the strength and power of heavier fighters. The last thing any of us need to see is another weight-class mismatch such as the Arturo Gatti-Joey Gamache debacle, where Gatti, who made the weight limit for the fight a day earlier, came into the ring almost 20 pounds heavier than Gamache.
NO, I think boxing should stay the same because most of the good Fighters have enough time between fights to return to a regular weight that is up to 20 pounds more that their fighting weight and still maintain most of their conditioning. When they start training, they lose 10 to 12 pounds during their conditioning phase, 8 to 10 pounds of water is cut prior to weigh-in and then replaced before the fight. At fight time, they are usually 5 to 12 pounds heavier than the weight limit anyway, so it is not a big jump in weight for them. The marginal fighter must stay within 8 to 10 pounds of the weight class in case they get a fight on short notice. It a tremendous disavantage for a marginal Fighter at 135 to fight at 147 because he would be out weighted by 10 to 12 pounds at fight time. So a fight at 140 for a marginal Fighter who fights at 135 would be more fair than fighting a fight at 147.
The traditional format is far more evident of a boxer's true skill. Today's boxer can claim of 6 titles in 6 different weight classes when they're actually only moving up in weight by 20-25 pounds! De La Hoya is a prime example, making his case as an all-time great because of his 4 weight class titles! C'mon! He's great but he has really only gone up 2 weight classes.
There are too many weight classes in boxing. It makes people lose interest because they can't keep track of what is going on. And with fighters jumping classes so frequently it is tough to follow the champions. Besides, breaking it into so many different weight groups eliminates some potentially good fights. I'd like to see a Trinidad-Mosley fight.
I believe that having 11 weight classes would be a much sounder idea. Have the intervals go by 10 lbs. The weight limits would start at 110 and go to 200. Anything over 200 would be Heavyweight. Anyone under 110 in one group. Anyone between 110-119, 120-129, 130-139, etc. This would cut down all the confusion, make the numbers easy to remember and eliminate many people out of championships that don't deserve it!
Boxing should definitly return to the traditional eight weight class format. It will give boxing a shake-up that it desperately needs. Gone will be the days of lack of competitiveness within the various classes. Fighters such as Roy Jones, Jr., will be able to match there skills up against SERIOUS contenders and not some fly-by-night opponent. Most importantly, boxing can rid itself of these actors playing boxers that have found a void in one of the numerous weight-classes and are taken serously because they are in a forgotten class that contains no serious contenders. The 17 weight-classes provideds too many hiding places!
In my opinion we should go back to the original eight weight classes. It would squeeze a lot of the top contenders into the same division and it would be harder for a fighter to dodge his toughest competitors. As it is now, it is too easy for a fighter to get a belt, dodge all of his toughest challengers and claim that nobody can beat him.
There is a simple explanation for the ridiculous number of weight classes: promoters. More classes means more belts, more belts means more champions, and therefore more championship fights. With the WBA, WBC, and IBF, and 17 weight classes the potential exists for 51 different champions. That is a lot of title fights. Unfortunately, most of them are meaningless. Eight classes is fine. There is no need for a new division every four lbs.
The sport of boxing should return to the days of eight weight divisions. The junior welterweights, super lightweights, etc. only saturate the sport with lackluster talent and confuse the public with who the real champions are. I say that if you can't make the weight then move up to the next division.
Just as expansion has diluted the quality of major league sports, such as baseball, the numerous weight divisions in professional boxing has done the same. Instead of having 7, 8, or 9 top notch boxers in each weight class we are left to settle for 2 or 3. With only 2 or 3 top notch boxers in each weight class, "mega-fights" like de la Hoya-Trinidad or de la Hoya-Mosley are few and far in between.
| ||||||||||||||||
