The positive discrimination of smallest weight fighters.

Ok this is a spin off from my Donaire rant thread but this is something that irks me about the little guys in general, namely that their resume's get so inflated compared to proper boxers at the real weights.

This is my attempt to 'enlighten' the ignorant on something important that nobody ever talks about. :rolleyes:

I'm not sure how many people actually even realise this but the pool of professional fighters operating at the lower weights is far less than those of the higher weights.

At flyweight boxrec registers around 700 pro's compared to around 1400 at welterweight and well over a 1000 at middleweight.

Below flyweight this disparity is even greater. A half size pool logically means half the talent unless for some reason you believe tiny men have a history of being disproportionately better at the art of pugilism than regular size folk which would make for an 'interesting' hypothesis.

So this effectively means you can go a long way with less talent than you could at the higher weights.

Britians own Chris Edwards illustrates this. With a record of 13-13 he the reigning British Flyweight champion. Our talented Don Broadhurst recently defended his Commonwealth belt against Asamoah Wilson, the proud owner of a 0-3 record.

Now tell me honestly at any real weight could you hope to get anywhere near a commonwealth title shot with an 0-3 record?

Of course not, but at flyweight because only women and children are supposed to weigh that much you have the opportunties to fight for the highest honours just by virtue meeting the scales requirements and turning up.

If Kid Thunder was a flyweight, he'd have probably fought for a Pan Americas title by now, maybe an IBO world title strap too.

Now this brings me to my next point. When debating these little guys we are alway told that they beat this unbeaten fighter or this top 3 contender as if that is impressive.

What they don't say is that this undefeated world title challenger has had only 9 fights, has never fought outside Burkina Faso and juggles his boxing career with working 12 hours a day on the plantations and raising his 15 kids.

It's crap.

Yet a top rated welter, middle or super middle gets derided because his unbeaten opponent was just an unknown (but fully professional) European or that his top 3 former world champ opponent was beaten by p4p star and future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins in 8 rounds or was past it 34 etc.

Let's be real for a minute. A man is not supposed to weigh less than nine stone. These arn't real men and they arn't fighting real men, they are fighting fellow childmen very few of which have the opportunity or means to even be fully professional. These opponents, with their 8-0-1 records simply arn't as good and experienced as a full time professional welter for example and therefore they shouldn't get so much credit for beating them.

Little guys are always praised for their speed, their slickness etc but this isn't because they happen to be great fighters as much as they just happen to be small! If you were only 5 ft 1, 105lbs you'd be fast and full of energy too!

And if you're a half decent professional fighter, fit and with a grasp of the fundamentals you'd do great against the plethora of fishermen, tin miners, goat herders and rice herders who make up the bulk of those tiny divisions too.

But it seems that I am the only person who gets this. But can anyone argue with my logic here? Half the competition or less means half the talent right? It's simple logic. If the vast majority arn't professional even at the higher levels then we can assume less real experience and talent too, again simple logic right?

And if a man only weighs 100 lbs you'd also assume speed and stamina and great boxing skills as none of them have enough pop to powerpunch a watermelon.

So I say, please stop the positive discrimination against the little guys.

If Nonito Donaire, Christian Mijares and Vic Darchinyan were the same size as any of the world champs and elite fighters from welterweight to supermidlle they would get their asses handed to them because they have simply not fought the level of professional, experienced real fighters that these guys have.

Their speed, endurance and related strengths are because they are small not because they are world class. If they weighed 12 stone they wouldn't fight the same and the true experienced, professional real fighters would make short work of them.

Anyway rant over, I feel better now, thanks :)

Ain't you like 85 pounds? Why you hatng on your own kind?

Crab mentality ;D

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Originally Posted by Violent Demise

Ain't you like 85 pounds? Why you hatng on your own kind?

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I certainly agree there is a slight "positive discrimination" towards lighter-weight fighters in P4P lists. Perhaps it's a reaction by the purists/hardcore fans who make up the lists in response to the lack of attention the lower weight classes receive?

Interesting observation that anything less than 9 stones (126 pounds) is not considered to be a real man. And anything below Welterweight is not a real weight.

Is this a repercussion to the general sentiments that "Heavyweights" sucks?
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Amongst the "little child men" silliness I think you have a decent argument there Bilbo.

I made a similar point in a debate about Ricardo Lopez recently. He beat no "greats" or P4P stars yet is rated alongside sliced bread with the MAJORITY of boxing fans, even though all other fighters are judged by the "greats"/P4P fighters they beat.

That's a bit inconsistent, no? The answer was - tiny guys get overlooked P4P because it is not popular, so naturally will not produce "stars."

But I think the lack of fighters numerically must surely mean a lack of talent also. Which does seem to get ignored by most.

Yeah I've said the same thing about Ricardo Lopez.

I didn't feel like reading the post, I'm sure I've got the gist of it anyway.

its been like this for the last 10 years now.

Ever since the heavyweight division died out US inparticuarly decided to put a lot of emphasis on south american fighters almost all of which are lower weight fighters.

Yes they produce the better fights for a very simple reason - the lesser you weigh the more punches you are able to throw and the more punch resiliant you are because the guy hitting you is also small compared to a middle/heavy fighter who can bang you out with 1 punch.

Americans and europeans seldom produce smaller fighters because of the fact we are statistically much bigger in heighth and weight than your south american and asian countrys. Doesnt mean those guys produce the better fighters, just the littler ones!!