De La Hoya: Pacquiao makes fighters lose on the scales 1st

[Kev]

Bilbo, just out of curiosity. If Nonito Donaire fought bigger guys at catchweights would you be defending him?

Yes I would! The reason Donaire is so annoying to me is that he has literally fought nobody since beating Vic Darchinyan.

Darchinyan remains the ONLY fighter Donaire has faced who has EVER held a world title belt.

That's ridiculous. He has never fought another world champion, ever past or present since that win 3 or so years ago and yet he has been ranked number 4 in the world p4p by Ring Magazine.

If Donaire was to move up and beat Amir Khan at 138 lbs I would be mightily impressed. If he took on Humberto Soto at 133 lbs again I would be mightlily impressed.

But he doesn't. In fact he represents everything that is bad about sticking to a weight class because there is literally nobody for him to fight. Instead he's been on a diet of bums and nobodies, with the ocassional former title challenger thrown in.

I just don't understand this zealous commitment to the weight classes. What is it people think they are respecting? The belts in boxing aren't worth anything any more in determining who are the best fighters. Do people even know what light middleweight belt Manny Pacquaio holds now? Or what his welterweight belt was?

The weight classes exist as a way to establish who is the best fighters of a particular size. But once we know who they are, they have served that purpose.

Manny does not need a belt, or a particular weight class to be recognised as a true talent and world class boxer. He doesn't need them to make a fight more meaningful or entertaining either.

It's man binding himself with redtape and tradition as he so loves to do.

In a perfect scenario both fighters would weigh their optimum weight. The weight divisions are arbitary. There is no such thing as a 147 lb man or a 154 lb man. We are just people, and can weight various weights according to how much we eat and exercise, and age etc.

Catchweights just free up some of the red tape. They should be embraced if they allow us to see fighters from otherwise seperate weight classes fight each other, but instead people prefer the red tape and a commitment to an imaginary god of weight class integrity.

[miron_lang]

Darchinyan remains the ONLY fighter Donaire has faced who has EVER held a world title belt.

Bilbo

As stated in the other thread. Sydorenko is a former titlist.

[milmascaras1]

sure sidorenko was a world champion once upon a time but he's tiny compared to donaire, he's 34 years old and he had only had two fights in the last 2 1/2 years before fighting donaire. again, he was the perfect opponent to make donaire look good. also the perfect opponent to hype up the montiel fight.

[generalbulldog]

sure sidorenko was a world champion once upon a time but he's tiny compared to donaire, he's 34 years old and he had only had two fights in the last 2 1/2 years before fighting donaire. again, he was the perfect opponent to make donaire look good. also the perfect opponent to hype up the montiel fight.

To be fair, although the guy Donaire fought looks much smaller than him, the guy Donaire beat was a career bantamweight and this was Donaire's 1st fight in the division. There are no height divisions in boxing but weight divisions.

[milmascaras1]

general,

so you don't think sidorenko was handpicked to make donaire look good? are you eff'ing kidding me? look, the guy was old, slow, small, and he hit as hard as a minimumweight. OF COURSE sidorenko was handpicked. do you think arum was going to risk a montiel fight against a dangerous opponent? come on dude, quit drinking that damned kool-aid and you'll be fine.

[generalbulldog]

general,

so you don't think sidorenko was handpicked to make donaire look good? are you eff'ing kidding me? look, the guy was old, slow, small, and he hit as hard as a minimumweight. OF COURSE sidorenko was handpicked. do you think arum was going to risk a montiel fight against a dangerous opponent? come on dude, quit drinking that damned kool-aid and you'll be fine.

Sidorenko was a former title holder that was a career bantamweight, it was a decent win for Donaire, a tuneup fight for a much bigger fight which in boxing history are littered with it.

[milmascaras1]

again, sidorenko was carefully handpicked to make donaire look great. and hey, donaire passed the test with flying colors. but until he fights someone with size and who can punch, i'm not ready to anoint him as the next great thing!