In boxing, a fighter must be at a certain weight during the official weigh in. Two examples (from WIKI) list a middle weight at 155 to 160 Lbs. A Light weight at 131 to 135 Lbs.
In so many fights, I’ve noticed a large weight gain in fighters in the time period of the official weigh in and the actual fight, usually 24 hours later.
What do these fighters consume to add 10 or more pounds to their bodies in a 24 hour period?
In all likelihood, they’re actually shedding weight before the weigh-in, and then gaining it back before the fight.
Last Thursday I had third row seats to see former two-time heavyweight champ Hasim Rahman fight. He looked like he had gained twenty pounds since the weigh-in the day before. My friends and I argued about whether this was an optical illusion caused by the trunks he was wearing… but the dude was huge. Someone else suggested that he added water weight to avoid dehydration during the bout. It was about 80 degrees at ringside, and must have been hotter under the TV lights.
Rahman’s official weight was 261 – which was about 25 pounds more than he weighed when he knocked out Lennox Lewis and 35 pounds more than when he fought Holyfield.
Of course, heavyweights have no upper weight limits so this isn’t terribly germane to the OP… sorry for the hijack.
Isn’t it quite common for boxers to extremely dehydrate (and starve ) themselves in order to make a weight class? I know this used to really common in high school and college wrestling. I hear that it’s pretty bad for you, especially if you go to extremes. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of people getting kidney damage or actually dying. Immediately after the weigh in you just go ahead and rehydrate. I used to easily drop 5 pounds just from going on a long bicycle ride and not drinking enough fluids.
Heh, like what Ultrafilter said.
Ditto what everyone’s said about cutting weight through dehydration. Watch “The Ultimate Fighter” and you’ll see people sitting in saunas swathed in plastic and sweatsuits to drop a number of pounds before the official weigh-in. A recurring storyline from the current season followed one fighter’s lack of concern about his weight, failure to cut enough weight before his fight and ejection from the show with much venom by UFC president Dana White. A new show on Versus called “TapouT” has in its third episode a kid who drives cross-country for a fight and cuts weight facing an opponent who’s 15 pounds over because he knows the kid is goign to take the fight no matter what.