Why does the lighter divisions never get any credit

[brucelee]

There's a lot of idiots out there. I find it funny when people claim to be boxing fans but don't follow certain division (the small ones paticular). How the fukk you going to claim to be a boxing fan and not know who the fukk Yutata Niida and Donnie Nietes are?

Never heard of either

strawweight!! isnt that like 100 pounds

who the hell weighs a 100 pounds apart from anorexic teenage girls and midgets anyway??

deanrw - has it summed perfectly. The whole reason the heavyweight division has always been recognised as the premiere division within the sport is because it contains the biggest guys, throwing the hardest punches in the toughest of battles.

I personally grew up having no affiliating with anything below lightweight until your barreras/morales/hameds/pacquiaos came along and completely blew away all your evident stereotypes of little men who probably wouldnt be able to take a good solid punch.

Think in the UK and US in particular these type of divisions are regularly overlooked because we dont often get too many hometown fighters in them.

Its no myth that the further down the divisions you go the more evident you find south american and asian fighters plying their trades. Why that is? i have no idea whatsoever.

Asians are smaller in size that's why they are in lower divisions. The reason why heavyweights before are more popular than the lighter weights is because people looked up to the supremacy of US and UK and they would also associate it with supremacy in boxing. Now that information is becoming accessible to all parts of the world because of advancement in technology, Asian and South American fighters are slowly being given recognition. For example, Pacquaio is becoming very popular because of the support he gets from his countrymen and that is very evident in this site.

[brucelee]

It's just human nature to want to see the "bigger/better" things..

Going back hundreds of years with the gladiators, they would pick the big warrior type men and they were championed by the people... Back in boxings early days, it would have been one thing to see men like yourself fighting in the ring against another guy... What a sport... But seeing 2 really big genetically gifted guys going at it would have been a real treat... It's definetely more marketable, and just our nature in general is to want to observe things that are bigger and better than us..

Think of like a pub fight where 2 little skinny dweebs started grabbing at each other and maybe throwing a punch.. It would sort of be classed as entertaining (not that i'm at all a fan of pub fights)... But if the 2 biggest dudes in the ENTIRE pub start grabbing at each other and were about to fight, it would definetely create a different atmosphere in there..
We are still animals by nature, so with a fight between bigger heavier humans, we would perceive there to be more at stake than if 2 little skinny guys are fighting.... TSo bigger people fighting is more interesting and has more value to us...

I guess that's a part of it... I'm sure there are more reasons..

Another might be that 99% of their names are impossible to pronounce.. Heavier guys have easier names I find..

I agree with you. That's why I said Asians are smaller in size. US, UK and Russia have bigger fighters and people are more interested with them before. As a boxing fan, I still prefer to see fighters who can knock out his opponents. I think, this is the reason why some boxing fans love to watch Pavlik and Pacquaio, etc. though they are in lower weights

[Violent Demise]

Whoever doesn't follow the little guys, is lacking MAJOR shit...
The little guys is where the skills are at.



VD, that's a pretty bold statement there on Niida.
Top 3 all time.

I don't the quality of his opposition merits that but his continous success does. You gotta consider fighters like Rosendo Alvarez, Nene Sanchez and Chana Porpaion who all fought during argueably the best era of the division.

After thinking about it some more, I think I actually place Niida 2nd all time behind (way, way behind) the great Ricardo Lopez. I mean Rosendo Alvarez was great. But he didn't spend that much time at Strawweight. Porpaion was good but I rate Niida higher based on his win over him. And I place Niida higher than Ivan Calderon because I think Niida fought the better opposition.

[HattonTheHammer]

Whoever doesn't follow the little guys, is lacking MAJOR shit...
The little guys is where the skills are at.



VD, that's a pretty bold statement there on Niida.
Top 3 all time.

I don't the quality of his opposition merits that but his continous success does. You gotta consider fighters like Rosendo Alvarez, Nene Sanchez and Chana Porpaion who all fought during argueably the best era of the division.

After thinking about it some more, I think I actually place Niida 2nd all time behind (way, way behind) the great Ricardo Lopez. I mean Rosendo Alvarez was great. But he didn't spend that much time at Strawweight. Porpaion was good but I rate Niida higher based on his win over him. And I place Niida higher than Ivan Calderon because I think Niida fought the better opposition.

Think p4pking made a good point

its not neccesarily that i dont want to watch 2 100pound guys beating on eachother.

But boxing coverage in the UK is few and far between and for my recollection not a single strawweight encounter has ever been televised.

You yanks get the best of all worlds, you get the domestic contests, south american fights and all the latest action from europe.

We on the other hand get friday fight night featuring 2 domestic fighters battling over the british/commonwealth championships and the occasional big fight night stateside.

hence the reason i had to stay up to silly o`clock last saturday night for some dodgy sopcast stream that kept cutting out just to watch mijares-munoz!!

[killersheep]

Niida is definately a badass. Also definately worth mentioning is Hozumi Hasagawa at Bantam, he has amazing skill, quick hands, quick feet and the ability to counter from any angle.

If you see anyone with the last name Kratingdaenggym that is actually a gym that they fight for, I have never been dissapointed watching any of them fight win or lose.

Pornsawan Kratingdaenggym lost a very close decision to Nietes, he did get knocked down and had a point deduction, but on a sheer skill level it was very close.

Eagle Den Junlaphan is also a great 105 lb'er he got shafted in a decision in his last fight, but he is also quite a talent.

[CutMeMick]

Whoever doesn't follow the little guys, is lacking MAJOR shit...
The little guys is where the skills are at.



VD, that's a pretty bold statement there on Niida.
Top 3 all time.

I don't the quality of his opposition merits that but his continous success does. You gotta consider fighters like Rosendo Alvarez, Nene Sanchez and Chana Porpaion who all fought during argueably the best era of the division.

After thinking about it some more, I think I actually place Niida 2nd all time behind (way, way behind) the great Ricardo Lopez. I mean Rosendo Alvarez was great. But he didn't spend that much time at Strawweight. Porpaion was good but I rate Niida higher based on his win over him. And I place Niida higher than Ivan Calderon because I think Niida fought the better opposition.

I favor Alvares over Niida based on opposition. Alvarez was at Straw for a solid 6 yrs. Alvarez also holds a win over Porpaion...
I favor Niida over Nene def.
I favor Porpaion over Niida based on opposition slightly.
I think Niida needs one of the top guys to solidify himself, someon like Condes, Oleydong or Nietes.

[Violent Demise]

Whoever doesn't follow the little guys, is lacking MAJOR shit...
The little guys is where the skills are at.



VD, that's a pretty bold statement there on Niida.
Top 3 all time.

I don't the quality of his opposition merits that but his continous success does. You gotta consider fighters like Rosendo Alvarez, Nene Sanchez and Chana Porpaion who all fought during argueably the best era of the division.

After thinking about it some more, I think I actually place Niida 2nd all time behind (way, way behind) the great Ricardo Lopez. I mean Rosendo Alvarez was great. But he didn't spend that much time at Strawweight. Porpaion was good but I rate Niida higher based on his win over him. And I place Niida higher than Ivan Calderon because I think Niida fought the better opposition.

I favor Alvares over Niida based on opposition. Alvarez was at Straw for a solid 6 yrs. Alvarez also holds a win over Porpaion...
I favor Niida over Nene def.
I favor Porpaion over Niida based on opposition slightly.
I think Niida needs one of the top guys to solidify himself, someon like Condes, Oleydong or Nietes.

I can put Alvarez over Niida. But that's it. Niida wins over Noel Arambulet, Eriberto Gejon, JJ Landaeta, Kat Takayama and Porpaion is a good resume. Enough for me to rate him over Porpaion

[ICB]

Why is Alvarez vs Lopez 2 so rare ?? i've seen there 1st fight but i would love to see the rematch i heard that was close like there 1st fight.

[CutMeMick]

After thinking about it some more, I think I actually place Niida 2nd all time behind (way, way behind) the great Ricardo Lopez. I mean Rosendo Alvarez was great. But he didn't spend that much time at Strawweight. Porpaion was good but I rate Niida higher based on his win over him. And I place Niida higher than Ivan Calderon because I think Niida fought the better opposition.

I favor Alvares over Niida based on opposition. Alvarez was at Straw for a solid 6 yrs. Alvarez also holds a win over Porpaion...
I favor Niida over Nene def.
I favor Porpaion over Niida based on opposition slightly.
I think Niida needs one of the top guys to solidify himself, someon like Condes, Oleydong or Nietes.

I can put Alvarez over Niida. But that's it. Niida wins over Noel Arambulet, Eriberto Gejon, JJ Landaeta, Kat Takayama and Porpaion is a good resume. Enough for me to rate him over Porpaion

I can agree with that...

[Violent Demise]

Why is Alvarez vs Lopez 2 so rare ?? i've seen there 1st fight but i would love to see the rematch i heard that was close like there 1st fight.

That fight was a war. One of the best lower weight fights ever

[CutMeMick]

Why is Alvarez vs Lopez 2 so rare ?? i've seen there 1st fight but i would love to see the rematch i heard that was close like there 1st fight.

Not sure, but a better part of Finitos fights were hard for me to find. I had to trade some JCC fights for some of his early stuff.

I didn't think the fight was close, I thought Finito won it convincingly.
I probably sound like a broken record but I have issues with the 1st fight and how judge Conde had the fight 68-63 in favor of Alvarez. How he had that man had Finito wining ONLY 1 round is beyond me... I mean really watch the 1st fight and tell me Finito only won 1 round that's absurd.

Fuck it, nevermind Delby Shirly had it a draw...

[ICB]

Why is Alvarez vs Lopez 2 so rare ?? i've seen there 1st fight but i would love to see the rematch i heard that was close like there 1st fight.

Not sure, but a better part of Finitos fights were hard for me to find. I had to trade some JCC fights for some of his early stuff.

I didn't think the fight was close, I thought Finito won it convincingly.
I probably sound like a broken record but I have issues with the 1st fight and how judge Conde had the fight 68-63 in favor of Alvarez. How he had that man had Finito wining ONLY 1 round is beyond me... I mean really watch the 1st fight and tell me Finito only won 1 round that's absurd.

Fuck it, nevermind Delby Shirly had it a draw...

Its shame his 2nd fight with Alvarez isn't available i have heard VD say many times that was a war, i personally loved there first fight the skill level in that fight was amazing just pure boxing at its best. One of my favorite Lopez fights is his fight with Saman Sorjaturong, he just took him apart and remember Saman beat Humberto Gonzalez who was an excellent fighter himself, Gonzalez vs Saman was a war that really was an up and downer.

As for Lopez vs Alvarez 1 you already know my thoughts on that Mick last time i see it i had it dead even Lopez was knocked down pretty heavy though and he showed good survival instincts to survive that.

[Spicoli]

This came up in another thread.Heavyweights are very overrated.I started a conversation the other day at the clinic and dude say's "yeh I love boxing,....when Is Tyson fighting again" I Gave him a virtual Wtf face.Psuedo Farce fan.The era of American Dominance at Heavy is over....for now I think much has changed over the last few years and Networks ,media and In turn Fans have followed suite.The Heavyweight Division is no longer the engine of this sport and The lighter weights were always that great and More exciting..Imo...and deserved of top respect and Spotlight.