Quote Originally Posted by Taeth View Post
Corrales was shot by the time he went up to welterweight, he jumped 140 to do it against one of the best WW's in the world, and he fought well its just Clottey was too big, and strong. I think if Corrales would have taken the time to naturally become a welterweight he would have been fine, but he had been through two brutal fights wtih Castillo, he was killing himself to make weight at 135, and I think mistreating his body like that made it impossible for him to be a contender at 147. I mean Margarito 5'11 at 147, But Corrales was 6' at 130. He was huge, and could hit very hard, had fast hands, good boxing skills when he used them. He was a beast.

Bernard Hopkins was a different situation because all fighters generally go to higher weight classes as their career go on, but Bernard was 40 before he left the middleweight division, in order to survive he needed to keep his weight down, but he fought at middleweight forever without problems making weight.

I have no problem with guys like Paul Williams and Margarito fighting at 147, I would hate to see them ruin their bodies for the rest of their lives making it, but I don't want to see a fighter give up an advantage, especially that advantage to appease certain fans. Margarito wouldn't survive at 154 where guys are bigger than him, and Santos proved that, but at 147 he is a beast. I think it makes guys like MAyweather who climb so high, and still beat the big guys all the more impressive.
It's not fair to say that Tony wouldn't survive at 154 and that Santos "proved" that. Tony is a better fighter than a guy who lost to Santos, and also, Santos is a tall southpaw. Three of Tony's losses have come to tall Southpaws. Maybe that's a coincidence, but some of it might be a matchup issue. Also, the Santos fight was extremely close, Tony was ahead on one card, and if it didn't go to the cards early because of the cut, Margo may well have one that fight. You could say he doesn't belong there if he got sparked or dominated by Santos, but he didn't. And it's not like Santos is chopped liver. He's one of the top guys at 154. I would heavily favor Tony in a rematch with him and I would make Tony a slight favorite in a rematch to Williams. Nobody else at 154 has a chance beat him, unless Oscar comes back up. At worst, Tony would be 4th best LMW right now. I would hardly call that not "surviving."

On your other point, I agree, and I'll add this. You won't ruin your body keeping your weight down if you stay in shape between fights and live a clean lifestyle. If you are making weight the right way, it's not nearly as damaging. Of course, it's not good to regularly dehydrate down 5 or so pounds, but that won't hurt you like starving yourself to lose 30 in 8 weeks and sweating down another 12. That's how you do yourself a lot to damage. The list goes on and an of fighters who abuse themselves between fights - Gatti, Chico, JCC, Bowe, Vargas, Duran, Mayorga, Guzman, and Toney, just to name a few. It's the rollercoast that gets them. Guys like Hopkins and Mayweather who still train and watch their diet between camps tend to have much better longevity. Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe Joe Calzaghe isn't a drinker he doesn't put on excessive weight between camps. This is why the clock is ticking on Hatton even though he's only 30. Unless he swears off lager and curry for the rest of his career, he'll be shot in two more years, and when he goes, he'll go fast...a al Castillo and Chico.