Boxing Only Needs 7 Weight Divisions…Not 17!!!

By Boxing News - 07/12/2011 - Comments

By David Kassell: When people argue that boxing is a dying sport I always find about 100 different reasons to prove them wrong. A lot of people have gotten on the MMA bandwagon and no disrespect to Mixed Martial Arts (I am a fan of the sport as well), but the fact is that boxing still generates more revenue and draws better television audiences than MMA.

With that being said however, there is one thing I hear people say that I have no argument for (other than it’s just another way for the sanctioning bodies to earn more money). Boxing has too many weight classes. Mixed Martial Arts only has 9 nine weight divisions while boxing currently has 17. Boxing weight classes currently read as follows…

Heavyweight…(201 lbs & up)
Cruiserweight…(200 lbs)
Light-Heavyweight…(175 lbs)
Super-Middleweight…(168 lbs)
Middleweight…(160 lbs)
Junior-Middleweight…(154 lbs)
Welterweight…(147 lbs)
Junior-Welterweight…(140 lbs)
Lightweight…(135 lbs)
Super-Feathertweight…(130 lbs)
Featherweight…(126 lbs)
Super-Bantamweight…(122 lbs)
Bantamweight…(118 lbs)
Super-Flyweight…(115 lbs)
Flyweight…(112 lbs)
Light-Flyweight…(108 lbs)
Minimumweight…(105 lbs)

Count them yourselves…17 weight classes. I don’t so much have a problem with the Heavyweight and Cruiserweight divisions, but once we start getting into each weight class only separated by 7 pounds or less we have a problem.

Part of the reason fans don’t see the best fighters matched up against one another is fighters try to stick to these ridiculous weight restrictions and are unwilling to move up.

The solution is simple and will eliminate needless excuses about fighters moving up in weight or having to drain themselves to make weight. Imagine boxing where every fighter comes into the ring in great shape and doesn’t have to starve themselves making them weak come the championship rounds. The following realignment of weight divisions would help bring boxing back stronger than ever…

Heavyweight (201 lbs & up)
Potential match-ups: Klitschko vs Klitschko (of course this will never happen), Adamek vs Haye

Light-Heavyweight (176-200 lbs)
Potential match-ups: Bernard Hopkins vs Steve Cunningham, Tavoris Cloud vs Marco Huck, Danny Green vs Jean Pascal

Middleweight (161-175 lbs)
Potential match-ups: Sergio Martinez vs Andre Ward, Bernard Hopkins vs Lucian Bute, Carl Froch vs Andy Lee

Welterweight (148-160 lbs)
Potential match-ups: Floyd Mayweather vs Sergio Martinez, Victor Ortiz vs Saul Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao vs Alfredo Angulo

Lightweight (136-147 lbs)
Potential match-ups: Mayweather vs Pacquiao, Marcos Maidana vs Brandon Rios, Juan Manuel Marquez vs Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan vs Robert Guerrero

Bantamweight (123-135 lbs)
Potential match-ups: Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Adrian Broner, Chris John vs Daniel Ponce de Leon, Brandon Rios vs Juan Manuel Lopez

Flyweight (122 & down)
Potential match-ups: Nonito Donaire vs Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Joseph Agbeko vs Giovani Segura

So what do you all think? Please leave your comments and follow my blog at http://boxingobservers.blogspot.com/



Comments are closed.