Kind of an awkwardly worded question so I’ll try to explain. When a boxer fights in the heavyweight or cruiserweight or welterweight class or whatever, do they decide “I want to fight at X class” and then bulk up/slim down? Or is it all about what kind of genetics they have and what kind of muscle they’re capable of putting on?
Mike Tyson is a couple of inches taller than Mayweather, but he is significantly heavier than him.
Mike fought in the heavyweight class. Is that because Mike Tyson trained to be a heavyweight by choice, or is that because Mike had a heavyweight type body?
Do boxers generally decide which class they wanna go into, or do they let what their body best performs at make that decision?
The weight classes are, obviously, defined in terms of weight; each class is defined by means of an upper limit which boxers who wish to compete in this class must not exceed. This makes it possible for a boxer to “go up” as much as they want to; there is (at least to my knowledge - I am happy to be corrected here by people with more detailed insights) nothing in the rules prohibiting a 120 pound fighter from competing in heavyweight. This puts them at a disadvantage over physically superior competitors in the same class, though, so I think the usual approach is to regard each class as defined by a range, with the upper limit of the next lower class as lower limit, and pick the class accordingly.
If I may add to this: Sometimes commercial considerations come into play in professional boxing. Some classes are more prestigious and generate more media interest than others, so a fighter might choose to compete in a class that would be above their actual weight in order to get more attractive bouts.
Sometimes they are overweight, and they do go on a diet, or work out regime to drop weight to meet the rules of their class , they certainly don’t want to be moved up to the higher weight on a permanent basis ! Its not likely they are quickly (unplanned) adding muscle bulk worth a whole weight class…
Some boxes are always just over the weight and have to go to extremes for each bout.
The OP might be wondering about the politics here… perhaps they should do more frequent (at home base ?) weight checks on the competitors to ensure they are not doing extreme weight loss techniques shortly before their bouts.
Boxers generally fight at the lowest weight that they can train down to. The exception is moving up in weight to get paid more. So a boxer’s body determines the lower limit he can make weight for. A boxer can train to go up in weight as much as he wants.
This. It’s almost always an advantage to be at the upper edge of a weight class.
e.g. Assume the weight class is 165-175 lbs. and fractional pounds are rounded in the typical way. In that case it’s better to be a muscled-up 176-177 who can dehydrate and over-poop enough to be just below 175.49999 at the official weigh-in 24 hours prior versus being a muscled-up 163-164 who can overhydrate and under-poop enough to be just above 164.500 at the same official weigh-in.
Then you have 24 hours to undo your weigh-in gamesmanship and get to proper fighting trim in hydration, feeding, and pooping.
Beyond that boundary gamesmanship above, in general the goal is to be as muscular as you can be without sacrificing speed. Some folks gain muscle more easily than others, even within the ranks of folks athletic enough to be professional boxers. So a given boxer’s overall inherent body size and type will pre-determine which classes they could plausibly compete in.
2-Heavyweights tend to be seen as the most prestigious.
3- Welterweight (147) is very popular because at that weight you have the best power/speed ration. Any less weight you loose power, get any heavier you loose speed. Most welterweights are between 5’ 6" and 5’9". If they get much taller then they choose to either stay lean and fight at whatever (lower than heavyweight) weight they can maintain, or they may bulk up and go heavyweight. Someone like Tyson was just naturally strong/big to begin with. But what people forget about Tyson is he was incredibly fast for a heavyweight.
4- As has been stated, to weigh in at 147 a boxer probably has a “real weight” between 155 to 170 pounds. If they are close to 170 “normally” they will loose 10 pounds over the course of a month during the last 30 days before the fight. I would say however, that probably most people who fight at 147 walk around close to 160 most of the time and loose 5 pounds in the last 30 days before a fight. Almost every fighter will “sweat” off 10 or 15 pounds the 48/24 hours before a fight. This is called cutting weight. People will occasionally cut up to 20 pounds, but that is probably for weight classes higher than 147 pounds. Some fighters do walk around at 147 pounds or whatever weight they fight at) all the time, but, it is rare.
5- I’m not so sure about this but I think it is correct. A lot of boxers who finish their careers fighting at 147, start their careers in their early 20’s and actually weigh less than 147 and fight at lower weight classes. They just naturally put on muscle as they grow older. The pay scale for classes below 147 is not good at all, so for a smaller fighter moving up to welterweight it is a bit like a larger fighter moving up to heavyweight.
By the way, how much toll does this take on the physical condition and fighting prowess of the boxer? If I had done this to my body, all that I would want to do is stay in bed for three consecutive days. I would definitely not want to take part in an exceptionally demanding athletic competition, let alone a brutal fight.
Weigh-ins now occur 24 hours before fights to give boxers and opportunity to rehydrate and recover. The effect is minimal for a boxer who has been undergoing a rigorous training regime. When weigh-ins were held only a few hours before a fight and boxers might have had to run off a little extra weight they could be seriously fatigued at fight time.
I’d like to say that an improved system that required two weigh-ins 24 hours apart should be instituted to make sure both fighters actually belong in the weight class they’re fighting in, but it really only matters for title fights and titles don’t make much difference anymore. Yesterday’s super-fight wasn’t about the titles.
Would you be open to the idea that 30 days before a fight, once a week a fighter would have to go to a doctor/nurse/etc and weigh in? Basically, you are going to “force” them to fight at their actual weight instead of cutting the say before?
No. It’s not practical for athletes to maintain such a steady weight. If the weight classes are going to matter they should have to weight in twice at least 24 hours apart. If they can’t maintain weight for that long they’re really to heavy for that weight class. But I don’t know if it really matters anymore, the public knows which fighters they want to see meet in the ring and the fighters decide their weight requirements by contract.
I’m a little confuse. Weighing in four times over a 30 day period would do a better job of keeping fighters at a healthy weight, wouldn’t it? Basically, no cutting of weight at all. Only what they can maintain on a healthy permanent basis.
We’re talking about a couple of pounds. One quart/liter of water and one normal poop is about 3 lbs. Anyone can certainly overdo or under-do that much for a few hours and then get right back to normal long before it matters for the actual fighting.
Many weightlifters fast and underhydrate for a day or two before weigh-in, then promptly pig out to reload. 24 hours later they’re good to go for the short bursts of intense effort they need.
To be sure, the kind of multi-week starving and dehydrating that bodybuilders do before their competitions would be harmful to sustained performance in something like boxing.
