Beating Brandon Rios

[JazMerkin]

Fight night weights don't really tell you who is bigger. Maidana may choose to only put on a certain amount of weight as putting on 15-20lbs makes him feel too bulky & even slower. It also may be that he trains better.

I will say I think Rios is getting very underrated here. He's far more savvy than he's getting credit for. He uses his jab exactly how an inside fighter should, it's a weapon on the way in, not just an irritant to buy time. I think he'd cause trouble for plenty of the 140lbers even if he wouldn't be quite the same force.

That's ENTIRELY what determines who is bigger (doesn't it? I mean if not that? What does?)

If you've got both guys in the ring at the same time, then yes you can say one is bigger.

However, a lot of it is guys re-hydrating towards a strategy. Some guys I think over-hydrate such as Rios, so he sacrifices speed for the bit more solidity in his legs & his punches. I don't think Maidana does this. I think he has enough faith in his power that he actually hydrates to the point where he feels he needs to. Obviously that's guesswork on my part with regard to those two fighters, but I know pros and top amateurs who treat re-hydrating as part of the tactical battle. That's of course not factoring in people who are unable to recover from draining or who are over-compensating for it.


I suppose what I should have said was naturally bigger. I think the use of 36 hour weigh ins (because it's NEVER 24) means that accurately defining what someone's natural weight is has become a near impossibility.

[marbleheadmaui]

Fight night weights don't really tell you who is bigger. Maidana may choose to only put on a certain amount of weight as putting on 15-20lbs makes him feel too bulky & even slower. It also may be that he trains better.

I will say I think Rios is getting very underrated here. He's far more savvy than he's getting credit for. He uses his jab exactly how an inside fighter should, it's a weapon on the way in, not just an irritant to buy time. I think he'd cause trouble for plenty of the 140lbers even if he wouldn't be quite the same force.

That's ENTIRELY what determines who is bigger (doesn't it? I mean if not that? What does?)

If you've got both guys in the ring at the same time, then yes you can say one is bigger.

However, a lot of it is guys re-hydrating towards a strategy. Some guys I think over-hydrate such as Rios, so he sacrifices speed for the bit more solidity in his legs & his punches. I don't think Maidana does this. I think he has enough faith in his power that he actually hydrates to the point where he feels he needs to. Obviously that's guesswork on my part with regard to those two fighters, but I know pros and top amateurs who treat re-hydrating as part of the tactical battle. That's of course not factoring in people who are unable to recover from draining or who are over-compensating for it.


I suppose what I should have said was naturally bigger. I think the use of 36 hour weigh ins (because it's NEVER 24) means that accurately defining what someone's natural weight is has become a near impossibility.

I think I agree with just about this entire post. But on fight night, in the ring, when they get to tussling and clinching and leaning and pushing etc doesn't the guy who have the extra pounds on him have the edge? Isn't THAT what we're talking about?

I reserve the right to be entirely wrong about this.

[p4pking]

I think JazzMerkin stole your reservation Marble, maybe they figured you weren't coming I completely agree fight night weight is much more telling than what a fighter can make, in almost all cases. Certain peoples bodies are just much better at shedding waterweight than others, I know when I training a couple of years ago I could weigh 135 lbs in the morning and a full ten pounds heavier by that night. I didn't box competively at all and put no effort into managing my weight one way or another. I'm almost 5'11 and not a really skinny guy but I probably could have made bantamweight and been a Caballero if I really wanted to. To this day I have a couple of friends who look smaller standing beside me, even with a shirt off etc, but are a good 20lbs heavier.