By Gerardo Granados: Former WBO featherweight belt holder Mikey Garcia (32-0, 27 KO’s) defeated former two-division world champion Juan Manuel Lopez (33-3, 30 KO’s) last night in Dallas, Texas, but was it a fair match up? If you train hard and control your food intake you will make the division weight limit; on times it will take a tremendous effort and on a couple of times it might weakened you to the point that your performance at the fight will be affected. But what happens when due pressure of money issues, television arrangements or the hunger of a brave fighter it is allowed to a fighter to take only two pounds of weight advantage?
Mikey Garcia didn’t just fail to make the weight division limit but also chose not to try and take off the weight after a certain point. On the other corner, Juan Manuel Lopez did his job to make the division weight limit and ended up fighting versus a super featherweight. Pro boxing is a business but something must be done to avoid this from happening again. Its not enough to penalize the infraction taking a percentage off his purse, maybe he should also fight wearing bigger gloves so his punching edge will be neutralized.
Juan Manuel Lopez ended up not only losing this fight, but he might end up having to consider retirement as an option. Those who have had trouble shedding the last two pounds of twelve or fifteen know very well that on times to take off half a pound means a big sacrifice to your body; the ones who have the natural ability to rehydrate up to twenty pounds after the weigh in know the advantage that this gives them during the fight.
What is the purpose for having so many weight divisions if a fighter will be allowed to fight above his weight class? What is the real use of the rules if some fighters will be allowed to bend them? If two pounds are not that much of an edge then it would be better to take off all those light and junior weight divisions. Pro boxing is a business and money rules most of the decisions made by the industry but if the cash cows are going to be allowed to not make weight then there is no valid reason to have them.
A friend of mine believes that if a fighter fails to make weight for a title bout then he should not be allowed to fight for any kind of title for a full year. Maybe it is too drastic but that is only an opinion, the major problem is that first the rule would have to be applied in all cases or could it be that depending on the fighter the rule would end up bended?
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