Boxing News Boxing News
Featuring the winning submissions of Jake Shaw and Daniel McCarthy
The majority of the time, a person’s profession is based on an interest that they had in something while growing up. For example, some found the laws of our nation captivating enough to attend law school. Others had an interest in the human body or desire to help the sick and medical school became the place for them to embark their journey.
I myself had no such luck. It takes too long for a degree in medicine or law to be obtained and the truth is that I hate school, although I have two college degrees sitting on my wall. One is in business and the other in criminal justice but I am no 9-5 guy, nor do I have the desire to chase around bad guys.
One thing that I have always had is the gift to express my opinion, or as my wife likes to say, I have a big mouth!
Well guess what? That big mouth has served us well over the years and during that time, I have managed to go from running my mouth to writing about what I have to say. I have not only been blessed enough to have the ability to write, but I also get to write about my favorite topic in the world other than my children; boxing!
I mean, c’mon, how much better can it get than that? Like anyone else who is a sportswriter, it is my love of the game that makes it so easy. I not only get to state my opinion on what is good, bad or in dire need of change, put out for the world to see, but I also get to ramble on about my favorite or least favorite fighters for a few paragraphs.
But when it comes down to it, it does not matter if you are a promoter, fighter, manager or just a writer, it is the fans that keep you going.
Without fans, there are no gates to be collected, no support for your warriors and that means no big paydays. Without fans to read what we the writers have to say, everything we push out on to paper (or in this modern day, computer) is just mere rambling.
It is these fans that I get many of my idea’s from. They are the ones who put topics in my mind and I just run with them. Here at SaddoBoxing, we have one of the busiest and in my opinion the best forum on the internet.
What makes it the best is our fans. Some people tend no to take their forums seriously, but here at Saddos, our forum is what helps keep us going. It lets us know we are doing a good job because if we weren’t, nobody would come back.
I also am in full confidence that our forum members are the most knowledgeable fans on the internet. So, after thinking about it, we decided to let some of our fans have the opportunity to express their opinion to the front page of SaddoBoxing, letting the world know that they are the ones who help keep this whole thing afloat and it is their opinion that matters most!
After reading through some three dozen submissions, we narrowed it down to two. It was so close to call that an actual decision could not be made. So, we have decided to run the articles of both our winners and let everyone else know exactly what they had to say about one of boxing’s most talked about topics.
The first article is from Daniel McCarthy AKA BIG Dan McCarthy, or to some, more well known as Yoitsdan.
His article is based on the seemingly never ending amount of weight divisions in boxing, divisions that are in some cases separated by just a few pounds. Dan examines if this is good for the sport or does it water down the quality of the divisions, since some fighters are there just to make an easy statement. Big Dan gives us and the world his thoughts on what needs to go and what needs to stay.
Our second article comes from Jake Shaw AKA Sugar_Shaw.
His article is related to the subject of Dan’s in that it’s focus is the weight classes in boxing. Jake investigates whether or not the super and light divisions in the sport should be removed and the possible consequences of their removal, should that occur. Jake draws on fighters from the past as well as current world champions to make his case.
So, we would again like to thank everyone who has participated in the contest and to say that every submission was a good one. It was a very hard decision to narrow down and anyone who did send something in should not be discouraged, or feel that their submissions were not top notch, but unfortunately we could not pick everyone.
Congratulations Dan and Jake; without further ado, here are our winners:
Too Many Champs!
By Daniel McCarthy
On the whole boxing is the most confusing sport there is. With football everyone knows that Manchester United won the Premiership this season, with golf everyone knows Tiger Woods is the best man out there. With boxing, there’s a load of guys who could feasibly fight each other to see who’s the best, but are separated by too many weight classes.
Weight classes make the average fight fan’s brain smart. Every time there’s a fight on the the telly people always ask me, “What weight is this fight at?” and when met with an answer like super middleweight, they look at me like a dog that’s been shown a card trick, so I then say it’s 12 stone, or 168lbs.
They’ll then ask me, “So is this Joe Calzaghe fella the best for his weight?” to which I’ll tell them, “Well he might be, but there’s Mikkel Kessler who’s also good at this weight, or there’s Jemain Taylor who’s a middleweight, but could easily be good at super middleweight, and there’s Bernard Hopkins who currently fights at light heavyweight, but used to be a middleweight, so he could probably fight Joe at his weight too,”.
At this point the ‘average fight fan’ has already switched off, now knowing less about boxing than he did five minutes ago. I couldn’t give him a straight answer about who’s the best at Joe’s weight because there is no right or wrong answer, nobody knows! And it’s the same story throughout all boxing weight classes because there’s just too many.
The idea of a weight class is to make sure that the fight isn’t a mismatch, and that’s how it should be, but right now there are too many “Champions” because there are too many weight classes. It’s bad enough that there are four recognized belts!
Here’s a really good example of the confusion; Manny Pacquiao is currently one of the best fighters in the world, but he doesn’t technically hold a belt because he moves up and down in weight to fight the recognized best for the range of weight classes he is able to fight in. He could fight at featherweight (126 lb), super featherweight (130 lb) or lightweight (135 lb) and it wouldn’t be a mismatch at any of those weights in terms of size.
So why does there have to be three weight classes spanning 9 lb of weight? If Manny can be competitive at all three of those weight classes, why have all three? Having that many weight classes creates 12 recognized “champions”. How will we ever know who’s the best fighter for that range of weights?
The fact is, there’s no scientific way of setting the weight classes, but there is common sense. Why not do a complete overhaul of the weight classes, to get rid of some of the obsolete ones?
Some of the “supers” or “lights” are completely necessary in my opinion, and some of them aren’t. The jump between middleweight and light heavyweight for example is too big, so super middleweight is a good gap between the two, but why not just move the goalposts all together?
If it was up to me, there’d be less weight classes, with sensible gaps between them, rather than the halfway gaps that “supers/lights” bring.
I’ve thought about this long and hard, and if it was up to me we’d have 13 weight classes, which is more than the “original” number of 9 weight classes (the ones without super or light preceding them) but a lot less than the frankly ridiculous 17 we have today.
So here is Dan McCarthy’s 13 dream boxing weight classes:
Heavyweight (+200 lb)
Cruiserweight (173-200 lb)
Light Heavyweight (167-172 lb)
Middleweight (158-166 lb)
Super Welterweight (151-158 lb)
Welterweight (143-150 lb)
Super Lightweight (135-142 lb)
Lightweight (128-134 lb)
Super Featherweight (123-128 lb)
Featherweight (118-122 lb)
Bantamweight (113-117 lb)
Flyweight (109-112 lb)
Minimumweight (up to 108 lb)
This is very much a prototype and could easily be improved, (hey I’m just a fan at the end of the day) but wouldn’t it be great if all of the best fighters from say, two weight classes were in just one weight class? Think of any active boxer you want, they all belong in one of those divisions comfortably, and two if they’re pushing it, but they definitely don’t fit in three or even four like some do today.
You can’t just get rid of all of today’s “super/light” weight classes, but there’s far too many of them at the minute. What we need is a compromise, it’s just one of many improvements that are required if our beloved sport is going to have a bright future.
I hate to bring it up but it looks like MMA has a part of the solution we’re looking for. The Nevada State Athletic Commission has designated just 9 weight classes for MMA.
Flyweight-125 lb
Bantamweight-135 lb
Featherweight-145 lb
Lightweight-155 lb
Welterweight-170 lb
Middleweight-185 lb
Light Heavyweight-205 lb
Heavyweight-265 lb
Super Heavyweight- +265 lb
These weight classes were created in the year 2000, when MMA was codified, and they seem to make sense. The jumps between the weight classes are bigger but they can be because the body type required for MMA is different from boxing so it’s still safe. To this day, there has never been a death or serious injury in sanctioned MMA bouts in the USA, so something must be working!
I’ve watched quite a bit of UFC and I can tell you that these weight classes work extremely well. There’s five weight classes, and 5 champions. It’s so simple.
Boxing’s rule book has been chopped and changed hundreds of times since the Marquess of Queensberry rules were published in 1867. Weight classes have been added in as afterthoughts over the years, and right now, it’s a Frankenstein creation.
It’s about time the sport had an overhaul, and lowering the amount of weight classes is just one way the sport would improve. We’ve got to start somewhere.
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Should Boxing Get Rid Of The “Super” And “Junior” Weight Divisions?
By Jake Shaw
I am a hardcore boxing fan, but like many lovers of the sweet science I can admit that the sport is in decline. Fights like Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather will always be intriguing to the casual fan but when two of the most talented fighters in the world today, Zab Judah and Miguel Cotto, clash and can only muster up approximately 200 thousand Pay-Per-View buys, then the sport needs sorting out.
The sport does still have its superstars but today’s idols are certainly not as well known as Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson. People flock to purchase George Foreman’s latest cooking contraption, but who would seriously buy the Ruslan Chagaev lean, mean, fat grilling machine?
But in all seriousness, our beloved sport isn’t the same as it used to be and this has only been highlighted by the rapid emergence of Mixed Martial Arts organizations such as the UFC.
Everyone knows the sport needs a revamp and seemingly everyday someone comes up with a proposal to improve the boxing game. One of the most common ideas is the disposal of the ‘super’ and ‘junior’ divisions.
But this writer does not agree that this would improve the state of the game and I can think of a large amount of reasons why. In this article, light heavyweight is not considered as one of the ‘junior’ divisions, even though it does posses the ‘light’ prefix.
This is because it was one of the original 8 weight classes and because cruiserweight separates light heavyweight and heavyweight. Instead, cruiserweight is treated as ‘junior heavyweight’.
Having just 8 weight divisions worked perfectly when the champions were more active, but now most fighters of a world-class stature fight twice a year or so. Even with the four major titles in each division, the amount of world title bouts would drop suddenly.
Additionally, some fighters are made for a certain division and would never be the same somewhere else. Surely it is unfair to deny fighters the opportunity to be a world champion because they are not as good at one of the original 8 divisions than they would be in a ‘junior’ or ‘super’ weight class.
A prime example of this is Ricky Hatton. Ricky Hatton, 42-0 with 30 knockouts at the time of writing, looked excellent when he dethroned the then junior-welterweight champ Kostya Tzsyu. Hatton then went on to defend against Carlos Maussa.
At that time, there was a large call for Mayweather-Hatton to happen, but then Mayweather moved up to 147 lb (welterweight) and outclassed Sharmba Mitchell, knocking out the former IBF interim junior welterweight world champion in the sixth stanza.
Hatton tried to follow Mayweather up to welterweight and his first fight at 147 lb was against the then WBA champion, Luis Collazo. Hatton did relinquish Collazo of his title, but was far from impressive in doing so. Hatton clinched repeatedly through out the fight and was thought lucky by some to get the nod over the New Yorker.
Hatton quickly moved back down. Hatton is a world-class junior-welter but at welterweight he is just not the same fighter. If the ‘junior’ and ‘super’ divisions where to be disposed of, then many fighters would never get to show the world their full potential.
Also, if a fighter was fighting in a weight division which then ceased to exist, they could know that they couldn’t cope in a higher weight division and try and move down or know their abilities would be diminished in a lower division and try and move up.
We all know how dangerous it can be for a fighter to try and boil down to weights which their bodies are not made for, just look at the picture of Jose Luis Castillo laying on the floor, physically drained after failing to make weight for his rubber match with Diego Corrales, which due to Castillo’s problems never took place.
It is not so dangerous for a fighter to move up in weight but if a fighter struggles to get up to the higher divisions, steroids can be used secretly to help add that at extra bulk.
Roy Jones is one of many fighters to be accused of this, as he rose from middleweight to heavyweight over the course of 9 years. More than a few eyebrow were raised over that, especially due to the fact that Jones had allegedly tested positive for steroids before. Boxing has been dealt so many black eyes over the years; it could do with out any more.
People who support getting rid of the extra weight divisions often point me in the direction of the records of Sugar Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Ray Leonard – all fighters who competed in lots of weight divisions and had successes in all of them.
But Robinson and Armstrong, who in my opinion are the two greatest fighters ever, amassed a total of 40 losses between them, that was fine in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s but not in today’s ‘one loss and your finished’ culture.
Duran won plenty of belts and is one of the top ten fighters of all-time but he also ended his illustrious career with a fair share of defeats, 19, all of which bar his loss to Esteban De Jesus (which he later avenged) came at a weight past his best, which was lightweight.
Thomas Hearns was only able to skip divisions so easily due to his unnatural frame, at one point in his career he was a welterweight standing just short of 6’2, and even he lost five fights during his travels.
That just leaves Ray Leonard, his weight class escapades are the hardest to dispute. Leonard was hugely successful in all of the divisions he fought in but his ballooning up and down in weight caught up with him eventually with a devastating KO loss to Hector Camacho.
Leonard also looked a shadow of himself when ‘Terrible’ Terry Norris floored him twice and won a wide decision against ‘Sugar’ Ray. Some say this was down to age, but if Bernard Hopkins can become light heavyweight champion at 41, after only fighting in two divisions in his career, then even supporters of less weight classes have to admit the years of changing weights had something to do with it.
The weight divisions that people propose should be done away with are:
Cruiserweight: Home to Mormeck, Haye, Maccarinelli, Adamek and Cunningham.
Super middleweight: Home to Kessler, Calzaghe, Berrio, Bute, Mundine and Froch.
Junior middleweight: Home to De La Hoya, Mayweather and Spinks
Junior welterweight: Home to Hatton, Castillo, Torres, D. Hopkins and Malignaggi.
Junior lightweight: Home to Pacquiao, Barrera, Soto, J.M Marquez, Guzman and Valero. One of the strongest divisions in boxing.
Junior featherweight: Home to Marquez, Caballero, Vasquez and Daniel Ponce De Leon.
Junior bantamweight: Home to Mijares, Munoz and Arce.
Junior flyweight: Home to Solis and Cazares.
One look at these rosters of the top fighters from the divisions, whose future are under doubt, should hopefully convince everyone that these division should stay with boxing. I just beg the boxing commissions to realize that there are other things boxing needs to fix, but this isn’t one of them.
