By Joshua Vickers: While watching the recent Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz fight on HBO PPV I heard Emmanuel Steward and Jim Lampley talk about the different weight classes in boxing and the fact that there are too many titles floating around. As the sport of boxing is nowhere near the popular sport it once was, a couple of decades ago, we the fans also have to look at what is damaging this great sport the most.

Is it the fact that there are now 17 different weight classes in which to fight in opposed to the “traditional” 8 eight classes of the early 20th century? There are very good reasons as to have these multiple “super”, “junior”, and “light” sub divisions from the original weight classes and I would have to think the most obvious reason is safety. Along with safety I believe it was out of necessity to make some of these divisions, however with that being said I think the powers that be may have over did it a tad bit. With the level of competition and the skill level of fighters on the rise these newer weight classes give a more level playing field. Take the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight against Juan Manuel Marquez for example. Back in the day with the 8 eight classes JMM would only have been going up one weight class to fight Pretty Boy Floyd, fighting a weight class above or below your current division is a common event in boxing today. However we see the clear disadvantages in going up that far in weight to fight, Marquez being the warrior that he is made the jump anyway and was totally outclassed by the much bigger and better Money Mayweather. Marquez is a natural lightweight, but he fought not only his best but a majority of his fights as a featherweight. Many people say that Juan was too bloated and too slow to compete at welterweight which I believe is true. This is why these extra “subdivisions” were created, leveling the playing field.

But there are always two sides to every argument and these weight classes do have a downfall. By more than doubling the amount of weight classes by default you create more champions. Now as great as that sounds you have to factor in that there are at least 4 different governing bodies giving out at least one belt per division sometimes more than that. So now instead of having 17 weight classes with 17 champions, you have a huge mess with way to many people claiming to be THE champ. To make matters worse there is another trend in boxing, to use catchweights. Why on earth do we need these catchweight fights when the average weight difference is just under 6 pounds? Because of the same reason for creating the new weight classes in the first place, to level the playing field. I understand the uses and the functionality of these catchweight fights, however to hold a title fight at a catchweight is a crime to the sport. You are watering down the prestige of being a multiple division champion. Back in boxing’s glory days if you could secure a title in 3 different weight classes you were automatically going to the hall of fame. While a 3 division champion is today’s sport is impressive, it’s no where near what it use to be. Prefect example here is the legendary Bob Fitzsimmons who was the first ever 3 division champion. Fitzsimmons fought anywhere from middleweight to heavyweight, that’s anywhere from 160 on up to unlimited! That would be like Sergio Martinez beating up Wladimir Klitschko, because Mr. Fitzsimmons not only won the Heavyweight championship, he knocked out Jim Corbett only 6 years after winning the Middleweight title. Bob’s opponent outweighed him by 14 pounds that night. With the way boxing is set up with too many weight classes, and by default too many so called champions, it is impossible to compare the multiple champions of today to the multi champs of yesteryear.

With the invention of the extra weight classes and the extra champions by default, another ugly problem has grown into existence. This is the problem of promoters carefully picking and ducking who their fighters will fight. While carefully picking the right opponent has always been apart of boxing, in today’s game promoters can protect their fighters more than ever and have more ways to do it. Back when boxing was at its peak as a fighter you had no choice but to climb the ranks and fight your way to the top. The promoters may have gotten away with dodging 1 maybe 2 fighter but there was no way you would get to be champion if you didn’t deserve it. The best fought the second best that beat someone else to gain that spot. Soon as boxing started having 3,4,5 champions per division that’s when the promoter can choose who to fight for a belt instead of the true champ of that division. Promoters and fighters themselves can dictate who they want to fight, not who they should fight or who the paying fans want to see them fight and yet still be considered champion. Just doesn’t seem right to me.