HBO commentator Jim Lampley, in the latest edition of his show ‘The Fight Game,’ expressed his displeasure with a growing phenomenon in boxing, catch-weights.
Lampley’s comments, of course, are off the heels of last week’s HBO Boxing middleweight title clash between champion Miguel Cotto and Daniel Geale in which Team Cotto imposed a 157 lb catch-weight as a prerequisite to fight.
The middleweight limit is 160 lbs, universally.
A term used in boxing and mixed martial arts, a catch-weight (or catchweight) is the contractually-negotiated weight limit for a fight that does not fall in line with the division’s traditional limit.
Typically, the A-side fighter (in the aforementioned case, Cotto) will use his leverage to negotiate a catch-weight if his team believes it will give him an advantage, especially if he is the naturally smaller combatant.
But like many, if not most, fight fans, Lampley spoke out against the concept itself without totally condemning the individuals who have seemingly benefited from it.
?We?ll close now by circling back to Cotto vs. Geale. The big subplot going in was weight, as Cotto intelligently used his enormous bargaining power to force Geale into a catch-weights. 157 pounds instead of the middleweight limit of 160,” stated the boxing hall of famer.
Keep in mind, when most fighters (non-heavyweights) on this level weigh-in prior to the fight, they are in excellent shape, practically starved and already weight drained or close. Most reading this could probably shed three pounds in 24 to 96 hrs but that’s certainly not the case for a fighter who has reached maximum shedding. ?The effect was visible at the weigh-in, where the Aussie veteran [Geale] looked haggard and gaunt.”
“It was visible in the ring, where the comically larger Geale?s few landed punches were nothing more than a light drizzle for Cotto. No raincoat, no umbrella necessary.”
And to no one’s surprise, Cotto tipped the scales south of 154 lbs, far below the middleweight limit and negotiated catch-weight.
?We?ve got no problem with Cotto doing what was once effectively done to him by Manny Pacquiao and his current trainer, Freddie Roach,” Lampley added. “We understand there is a long and accepted history for catch-weights, and over time they?ve helped superstars like Henry Armstrong and Bernard Hopkins and Manny Pacquiao to make their marks on history.”
?But there comes a time when you have to reconsider your relationship to the audience. Boxing, with its 68 recognized titles in 17 different weight classes, its absurd semantic ploys like ?interim champion? and ?super champion?, its revolutionary globalism, is confusing enough already for the consumer.”
“More than enough.”
?If governing bodies want to strike a small blow for sanity, this one is available: no catch-weights in real championship fights.” “Draw a line and promise fans that if a fighter is going to defend the middleweight championship, he will be willing to fight an opponent who weighs 160 on the scale.”
When a fighter like Geale must enter the ring extra light, he is forced to make the catchweight a primary focus in the weeks leading up to the bout. As a result, it can disrupt the flow of his normal training regimen and shift the focus from his opponent. In the end, catch-weights give a bigger fighter with less leverage than his opponent something else to worry about during training.
… And the A-side fighter’s team imposes the stipulation because they can get away with it.
