What’s the Catch?

By Boxing News - 05/30/2013 - Comments

alvarez33By Paddy Dwyer: With the news that Floyd Mayweather Jr (44-0, 26 KO’s) will be taking on Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) at a catchweight of 152lbs, accusations of “cherry picking” and “playing the odds” have once again been leveled at the consensus number one pound for pound boxer on the planet. The credibility of such charges will be debated vehemently by both abettors and detractors. Their reasons will be varied and worthy of being mooted but care must be taken so as not to allow myth to become fact.

“Catchweights” are not a new phenomenon. Despite the scorn aimed at fighters such as Mayweather and his protracted adversary Manny Pacquiao, they belong to a long list of fighters, some of whom esteemed, to have fought bouts at unofficial agreed weights. As far back as 1895, Joe Walcott (“Barbados Joe” rather than “Jersey Joe”) (then operating at what we would recognise as light-welterweight somewhere around 138lbs) took on Kid Lavigne (then operating at what we would know as featherweight or approximately 128lbs) at a catchweight of 131.5lbs. In 1904, the same Walcott had moved up to what we could consider to a natural “welterweight” fighting around the 145lb mark yet took on the legendary Joe Gans at a catchweight of 138lbs.

The trend continues with fighters such as Pancho Villa (tragically losing his life a few days after a catchweight contest in 1925), Henry Armstrong, Sugar Ray Leonard and Julio Cesar Chavez (among others) all at some stage having fought between the weights.
With that in mind, the pertinent issue in discussing these arrangements is not that they exist at all, they always have, but rather why they are put in place for particular fights. The further one travels back in boxing history, the lower the number of “official” weight classes and the steeper the gap between those limits. Prior to 1900, five weight classes existed. Ranging from 118lbs to the upper middleweight limit of around 160lbs (with heavyweight obviously being unlimited). Below middleweight, the next official class was lightweight with an upper limit of 135lbs. To put that into perspective, Zab Judah and Sergio Martinez would today be campaigning in the same weight division despite their obvious different stature. In such an environment, it was imperative to create a level playing field and give both boxers a fair chance of success.

In todays’ climate, there are 17 different weight divisions with the gap between weights being around 3-7lbs. The biggest differential being 25lbs between the light heavyweight and cruiserweight limits. Our boxers however are also very different. While it was common for fighters to campaign “around” the same weight in years gone by, todays’ elite athletes meticulously plan their weights, rarely coming in more than ½lb under the maximum limit in whichever division they chose to operate (hence the mild consternation at Mikkel Kessler coming in at 166½ for his rematch with Carl Froch). As such, a jump of four pounds between classes may be nothing in historical terms, but has quite a dramatic impact on the training regimes, diets and calibration of a modern boxer. Add to this the justified concern of shedding too much weight in the run up to a fight (which causes fluid loss (not easily replenished in period between weigh-in and first bell) which in turn can lead to injury) and it is clear that modern boxers at any one time fight to a particular weight (whatever that weight may be) rather than staying “around” the same weight.

In this particular instance, Floyd Mayweather has fought at 154lbs before against both Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto. However neither opponent could be considered to be natural light middleweights and Mayweather came in at 150lbs and 151lbs respectively for those bouts. Alvarez on the other hand has progressed from welterweight to a big light middleweight known to have recently flirted with the idea of moving up to middleweight. While Mayweather will be the taller man in the ring, the size advantage firmly sits with the younger man.

So far, so good. However the concern is that by settling on a catchweight which one man will easily satisfy and another may struggle to achieve, is the balance tipped too far in favour of Floyd Mayweather? Or, by choosing to fight so close to the Mexican’s preferred weight has the older man bitten off more than he can chew? These are genuine topics to be examined. But referring to the existence of the “catchweight” as being a heinous proliferative tool used by money mad promoters and sensationalist networks is at best inaccurate and at worst an affront to a well established historic boxing tradition. The reason for this fight being at this weight should be thoroughly probed but the use of this arrangement per se should not require such review.



Comments are closed.