Top Fighters who struggled with a move up in weight.

[eagle]

I was reading a post recently that was talking about how Ricky Hatton was never quite as effective at 147 as he was at 140. Got me thinking of other fighters who were great at their favourite weight but struggled with a move up. Far worse than Ricky!

A few i can think of include

Bob Foster, great Light heavyweight champion, but got blasted out in his attempts at fighting Ali and Frazier at heavy.

Vassily Jirov, made numerous title defenses at cruiserweight but struggled to be more than a fringe contender at heavy.

Kelly Pavlik. Middleweight champ who never seems as effective when he moves up to supermiddle

Vic Darchinyan, did not look nearly as good at 118 as he does at 115.

Anyone else u guys can think of?

[ICB]

I was reading a post recently that was talking about how Ricky Hatton was never quite as effective at 147 as he was at 140. Got me thinking of other fighters who were great at their favourite weight but struggled with a move up. Far worse than Ricky!

A few i can think of include

Bob Foster, great Light heavyweight champion, but got blasted out in his attempts at fighting Ali and Frazier at heavy.

Vassily Jirov, made numerous title defenses at cruiserweight but struggled to be more than a fringe contender at heavy.

Kelly Pavlik. Middleweight champ who never seems as effective when he moves up to supermiddle

Vic Darchinyan, did not look nearly as good at 118 as he does at 115.

Anyone else u guys can think of?

Orlando Canizales
Wilfredo Gomez

[ElTerribleMorales]

Jermaine Taylor

[generalbulldog]

De La Hoya at middleweight.

[CFH]

Ricky Hatton

Soon to be Tomas Adamek

[eagle]

Jermaine Taylor

Good call on Taylor.

[bradlee180]

Meldrick Taylor.

His ceiling was 140 lbs, at 147 he wasn't strong enough nor did he have enough of a punch to get respect, to keep guys off him.

Terry Norris just steamrolled him, even said beforehand that all Meldrick had was pitty-pat punches.

.

[gest12645]

JMM when he fought Mayweather'
Toney at heavyweight
judah at 147
juan diaz
nate campbell

[ICB]

JMM when he fought Mayweather'
Toney at heavyweight
judah at 147
juan diaz
nate campbell

James Toney didn't struggle at Heavyweight, he had some very good performances at Heavyweight. Its because in some fights he got lazy and didn't train, but thats no different to James Toney at the lower weightclasses.

[Master]

Micheal Spinks
Tony Sibson at light heavy
Johnny Nelson at heavy
Curry at light middle?

[THE THIRD MAN]

I was reading a post recently that was talking about how Ricky Hatton was never quite as effective at 147 as he was at 140. Got me thinking of other fighters who were great at their favourite weight but struggled with a move up. Far worse than Ricky!

A few i can think of include

Bob Foster, great Light heavyweight champion, but got blasted out in his attempts at fighting Ali and Frazier at heavy.

Vassily Jirov, made numerous title defenses at cruiserweight but struggled to be more than a fringe contender at heavy.

Kelly Pavlik. Middleweight champ who never seems as effective when he moves up to supermiddle

Vic Darchinyan, did not look nearly as good at 118 as he does at 115.

Anyone else u guys can think of?

All good points there Eagle, Foster was a little stiff in that there was no Cruiserweight back then. Vic was well out of his depth against Agbeko.
I will say this, Roberto Duran lost all power and was never the same after No Mas. 147lb was his limit and apart from his win over Davey Moore at 154lb never showed the power and 'Hands Of Stone' we knew was there at 135lb.
He got blasted By Hearns and Hagler had little difficulty.

[gest12645]

JMM when he fought Mayweather'
Toney at heavyweight
judah at 147
juan diaz
nate campbell

James Toney didn't struggle at Heavyweight, he had some very good performances at Heavyweight. Its because in some fights he got lazy and didn't train, but thats no different to James Toney at the lower weightclasses.

True, he did really good vs Holyfield. But overall, he was an average heavyweight and would be much better at cruiser, we know he could if he didnt eat that much

[El Kabong]

Jermaine Taylor

He did better vs Pavlik at 166 than he did at middleweight...I just think he was physically shot by the time he moved up in weight due to his battles vs Hopkins and Wright.

Shane Mosley at 154
Tito Trinidad at 160
Ike Quartey wasn't much over 147
Bert Cooper at heavyweight

On the other hand a guy who moved up and made a huge splash is Carmen Basilio who was really a natural welterweight and maybe by today's standards a junior welterweight but he beat THE Sugar Ray Robinson at middleweight and then had another extremely close rematch with him.

[miron_lang]

I was reading a post recently that was talking about how Ricky Hatton was never quite as effective at 147 as he was at 140. Got me thinking of other fighters who were great at their favourite weight but struggled with a move up. Far worse than Ricky!

A few i can think of include

Bob Foster, great Light heavyweight champion, but got blasted out in his attempts at fighting Ali and Frazier at heavy.

Vassily Jirov, made numerous title defenses at cruiserweight but struggled to be more than a fringe contender at heavy.

Kelly Pavlik. Middleweight champ who never seems as effective when he moves up to supermiddle

Vic Darchinyan, did not look nearly as good at 118 as he does at 115.

Anyone else u guys can think of?

All good points there Eagle, Foster was a little stiff in that there was no Cruiserweight back then. Vic was well out of his depth against Agbeko.
I will say this, Roberto Duran lost all power and was never the same after No Mas. 147lb was his limit and apart from his win over Davey Moore at 154lb never showed the power and 'Hands Of Stone' we knew was there at 135lb.
He got blasted By Hearns and Hagler had little difficulty.

I would like to point that Roberto Duran did knock Iran Barkley down then the MIDDLWEIGHT Champion. Barkley is not a guy who migrated to Middleweight he's a legit BIG MIddlweight that can compete at SMW and/or 175.