By Gerardo Granados: It has been reported that the WBC middleweight belt holder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s trainer Eddy Reynoso stated that if the middleweight Champion of the World Gennady Golovkin wants to fight Canelo, he should agree to a diva catch weight of 155, just as the former belt holder Miguel Cotto, who argued to be small for the middle weight division and now Canelo seems to try to impose on his mandatory challenger an unjust and unnecessary catch weight.
If a boxer no longer can make the division weight limit, he will be forced to move up; be it the 160 pounds middleweight limit. He will normally move up to 168, not to 161. When a fighter campaigns at a weight division, he will cut weight to make the division limit be it 160 or 168, but he won’t go down to 155 or 161.
As the reader knows the middleweight limits goes from 155 up to 160 pounds. If a boxer is a small middleweight and rehydrates only 5 pounds and weigh in at 155, then he should be smart and cut off 2 pounds and campaign at light middle, instead of giving 5 pounds edge at the weigh in (160) to his opponent, who could rehydrate up to 175 pounds.
There are voids in the rules that have been used to take unjust advantages over natural middleweights who were forced to cut off weight below the limit of 160 in order to get a fight. Miguel Cotto twice weighed in at 153 pounds below the lower limit of the middleweight division; once against natural middleweight Daniel Geale and the other versus Canelo Alvarez, who was moving up.
By having catch-weight fights at 155, it’s like creating a new weight division with the excuse of being small to defend the belt at the full weight limit and being allowed to drain a fighter who already struggles to make the division limit.
Maybe now a few privileged boxers will be allowed to create a new weight division that formally should be called the diva catch weight division in which they can get an unfair advantage.
There are many examples of welters moving up to middle without any catch weight involved, also featherweights who have conquer the lightweight crown and the reader must recall more than a single name.
In a perfect boxing world no unification bout among organization champions should demand any lousy catch weight; no mandatory challenger could be imposed any catch weight or when at a sanctioned title bout an organization champion moved up to challenge the upper champion no catch weight should be demanded by the lower weight champion.
Also at a title bout both the Champion and the Challenger must weigh in between the limit of the weight division being forced to weigh in between the minimum and maximum limits.
If the so called big names will be allowed to impose the weight that suit them the best then what would be the utility of the boxing organizations besides collect sanction fees. Maybe it is time for the major organizations to properly regulate this issue and perhaps those organizations could find that it is risky to demand of a fighter who already struggles to make the maximum weight limit to shed off extra pounds.
The belt at the full weight limit and being allowed to drain a fighter who already struggles to make the division limit.
Maybe now a few privileged boxers will be allowed to create a new weight division that formally should be called the Diva catch weight division in which they can get an unfair advantage.
There are many examples of welters moving up to middle without any catch weight involved, also featherweights who have conquer the lightweight crown and the reader must recall more than a single name.
In a perfect boxing world no unification bout among organization champions should demand any lousy catch weight; no mandatory challenger could be imposed any catch weight or when at a sanctioned title bout an organization champion moved up to challenge the upper champion no catch weight should be demanded by the lower weight champion. Also at a title bout both the Champion and the Challenger must weigh in between the limit of the weight division being forced to weigh in between the minimum and maximum limits
If the so called big names will be allowed to impose the weight that suit them the best then what would be the utility of the boxing organizations besides collect sanction fees. Maybe it is time for the major organizations to properly regulate this issue and perhaps those organizations could find that it is risky to demand of a fighter who already struggles to make the maximum weight limit to shed off extra pounds.
I think that this new Diva catch weight division hurts Pro boxing and also the fighters, but what about the reader do you agree?
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