What exactly are boxers gaining/losing when they gain/lose weight?

The Game Room
1

I’m not talking about heavyweights who can sometimes get out of shape and become even-heavierweights. My question is about boxers who deliberately change their weight to qualify for a different weight class.

For example, Canelo Alvarez just fought at about 175 points, about 20-25 pounds over his fighting weight a few years ago. Similarly, Manny Pacquiao and Roy Jones Jr eventually fought at significantly higher weights than their earlier career fighting weights. Could guys like that be adding that much muscle? They were presumably working out to the fullest even at the lower weight, and these guys get tested for steroids.

I’m aware that there’s some amount of game-playing with liquids at the official weigh-ins (whether temporarily adding a bunch or dehydrating) but still it seems like a lot. Is there also some excess body fat that gets added/subtracted or is it different training regimens producing different amounts of muscle? (If the latter, it would seem hard to predict, and these guys sign contracts well in advance.)

2

You guessed it in one. The boxer needs to be within the weight limit at the weigh in, not necessarily during the fight. A person can easily lose 3-5 kg in water and by urinating and evacuating the bowels. Not real healthy, but it’s done under supervision.

The rest is taken care of during conditioning and training for the fight.
Ricky Hatton fought at 64 kg 147 lb, when his normal weight was about 85 kg, or 188 pounds.
This was his regimen.

3

Going up in weight boxers will try to add more muscle. Usually they don’t end up having to dehydrate themselves for the weigh-in to stay under the limit so some of the weight is just water. Most boxers try to get down to a very low percentage of body fat, which I think simply reflects a high level of training, so moving up in weight they may carry a little more body fat.

Not all boxers gain any extra weight moving up in class. They may want the option to return to the lighter weight class, or they don’t want to change too much and affect their speed or stamina.

Canelo has said he’s staying at light-heavyweight for now. He doesn’t think it makes sense to try to lose the weight he’s picked up.

ETA: Canelo has been fighting as a middleweight (160) and super-middle weight (168) for years now. Moving up to light-heavy is not a huge jump for him.

4

A fighter’s walking around weight is often higher than his fighting weight, and people tend to gain weight as they age, even if it’s into their 20s.

Since there is more money to be made at the higher weights, fighters who have the opportunity don’t need to push to remain in a lower division, if they have the frame to carry the extra pounds. Muhammed Ali won the Olympic gold as a light heavyweight. Floyd Patterson won gold as a middleweight. Evander Holyfield won bronze (he wuz robbed!) as a light heavy, won the world pro title at that weight, moved up to cruiserweight, and finished as a full heavyweight.

Michael Spinks is the quintessential example of a planned move to add weight, and he did with weights. But he was kind of an anomaly - he was the first light heavy to win the heavyweight title. Just eating normally will often cause a fighter to end up heavier than usual.

Plus, with the proliferation of divisions, there are often just a few pounds difference - superbantamweight is 4 pounds heavier than bantamweight, etc. For smaller fighters, that is a larger percentage of their total mass, but still a smaller amount overall.

Canelo’s 25 lb. move is unusual, but he is an unusually gifted fighter. Henry Armstrong is the other anomaly - he won titles in three divisions back when there were only eight, from featherweight to lightweight to welterweight. He even fought a draw in a bid for the middleweight title. But again, he was an amazing fighter. But he fought mostly as a welter, because that’s where the money was.

The traditional wisdom is that you can move up in divisions, but you can’t take your punch with you. Heavier is slower, and speed is power. Witness Alexis Arguello, for whom the welter title was a bridge too far, because Aaron Pryor could take his shots and outlast him, while two generations of lightweights, featherweights, and super feathers couldn’t.

Regards,
Shodan

5

Drug testing isn’t taken that seriously in boxing, like most sports, although it’s getting better. Of the three fighters you mention RJJ failed a drugs test (testosterone) in 2000 and no one really gave a shit, least of all the boxing authorities. Canelo got dinged for clenbutenol prior to fighting GGG. Amazingly, Pacquiao has managed to evade the testers thus far which gives you a good idea of the level of rigour we are talking about. So there is a rich tradition of pharmaceutical assistance in managing a fighter’s weight.

Yo-yoing up and down the weight divisions is considered risky, though - particularly dropping serious weight. RJJ moved up from light heavy to beat Ruiz at heavyweight, but when he dropped back down he was finished - got sparked out by journeymen fighters. You can argue the point as to how much of this was down to the weight bounce but it certainly didn’t help (RJJ is also a special case, v unorthodox fighter).

6

Of possible note: according to this article, "Hallmark cautioned them: any unneeded muscle would sap much-needed energy. As the boxing truism goes, punchers are born, not made. Extra weight only offers a marginal increase in power, if any."

It sounds like according to this, the difference between adding muscle and adding fat is marginal, and better than both is not adding anything.

7

There’s also the odd outlier like Sugar Ray Leonard who managed to win a major title in 5 weight classes, even though he was a natural welterweight. This being said, only his welterweight and middleweight titles were exemplary. The other three titles (Junior Middleweight, Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight) were against weak title holders. In fact, the latter two belts were won in one fight against Don Lalonde in 1988 and he immediately vacated the Light Heavyweight title after the win.

8

He didn’t even have to fight anyone at the Light Heavyweight weight limit. He contracted to have Lalonde weigh in at the Super Middleweight limit and the title is barely regarded as legitimate. That time period in boxing was just the beginning of the end for the what legitimacy boxing titles had maintained. Leonard represented the change to the focus on the boxer instead of the title.