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?Catchweight?: Good or Bad for Boxing? By Ralph Rimpell PhilBoxing.com Fri, 03 Jul 2015  Over Four weeks ago WBC middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto, successfully demolished Daniel Geale in 4 rounds to retain his title. In a post fight interview, HBO analyst Max Kellerman asked Cotto if he was a true middleweight. Cotto responded by telling Kellerman he weighed 153lbs for the bout. Cotto then asked Kellerman if he thought he was a middleweight. Kellerman responded, ?No?. The middleweight limit is 160lbs. Cotto and Geale fought at a contracted ?catchweight? of 157lbs. Boxing observers said Geale looked gaunt. By fight night Geale had rehydrated to a reported 182lbs! Cotto made quick work of the weakened Geale who did not put up much of a fight. Now all of sudden boxing personalities such as Jim Lampley are not in favor of ?catchweights?. What is a ?catchweight?? A ?catchweight? is an agreed upon weight that two boxers agree to fight at. Generally it will be a bigger or larger fighter agreeing to fight at a lower weight class or weight so a smaller fighter will agree to the match. In theory it helps both fighters. By agreeing to fight at a lower weight or division, the fighter may weaken himself thus giving the smaller fighter a greater chance to defeat the bigger fighter. The bigger fighter may earn more money in on night then he or she has earned in their entire career or would have made working a ?9-5? job with a pension plan. The bigger fighter also puts their self at risk because they are not allowing their self the best chance to win. All weight classes in boxing have a weight limit except for the heavyweight division, which is unlimited. ?Catchweights? have always existed. Take for instance a fighter, when not in training, who weighs 198lbs but fights at the middle weight division limit of 160lbs. This fighter may spar with cruiserweights (weight limit 190lbs) and heavyweight fighters in the gym. He hires a good nutritionist and drops 38lbs during training camp and 24hrs before a fight weighs at the division limit of 160lbs. By fight night he rehydrates and legally come into the ring at 185 pounds. What do you call that? This writer calls it a REVERSE CATCHWEIGHT. It?s definitely not cheating. The rule is that the fighter must make weight (be at the division limit) 24hrs before the fight when officially weighed. There is no rule on how much the fighter must weigh on fight night, as of the writing of this article. The fighter then has his or her own ?catchweight?. He or she knows how to have an advantage over their opponent. The fighter really shouldn?t be fighting at 160lbs or even at 168lbs limit (supermiddleweight), but rather at 175lbs limit (lightheavweight). But if they did that, they he would be fighting opponents who have likely dropped the same amount of weight and are just as strong. The fighter then can?t fool the public with a devastating knockout of an opponent who is really 2-3 times smaller than he or she is. Remember when the late Arturo Gatti fought Joey Gamache in a Jr. Welterweight bout (140lbs) back in 2000? After the weigh in, Gatti rehydrated to 160lbs and knocked Joey Gamache into next week! Joey suffered a concussion and he sued the NYSAC (New York State Athletic Commission) for allowing Gatti to enter the ring at 160lbs. Remember Edison Miranda with the glass chin? He was beating the hell out of 160lbs fighters. But when he moved up to 168lbs and 175lbs, he couldn?t crack an egg shell! Fighters manipulating their weight like this have been taking place since weight classes were formed. We also see it in other sports such as UFC, amateur wrestling, etc. Before Floyd Mayweather Jr became a star, he fought De La Hoya at 154lbs without any hesitation, because that was his ?coming out party? to the mainstream. But when he fought Canelo Alvarez they fought at a ?catchweight? of 153lbs or else Canelo likely would not have gotten the fight. Gennady Golovkin has recently challenged Mayweather again. Mayweather has responded by saying he would beat Golovkin. Golovkin has said he would fight anybody between 154lbs and 168lbs. Mayweather is a reigning 147lbs and 154lbs champion. A Mayweather-Golovkin at a ?catchweight? fight below 154lbs would tell you a lot about Mayweather. What boxing match backfired against the fighter who insisted on a ?Catchweight?? Adrien Broner fought Shawn Porter in a crossroads fight last week on national free TV. Broner, a lock for the boxing hall of fame, because at such an early stage in his career is already a former three division champ. Porter is also a former champion. The interesting thing about this match is Porter, the bigger man, used to compete at 154lbs before dropping down to win a world title at 147lbs. Broner took the fight against Porter insisting that the fight be at a ?catchweight? of 144lbs. That should tell boxing fans a lot about Broner for all his brash talking about how good he is. The advantage Broner was looking for didn?t materialize because Porter outworked Broner and won a unanimous decision which will likely be voted ?Upset of the year?. Believe it or not, ?Catchweights? overall helps the sport of boxing. There are recent fights that would not have been made if there wasn?t a ?catchweight? stipulation in the contract. Hard core fight fans can remember excellent fights such as Andre Ward-Chad Dawson, James Toney-Prince Charles Williams, and Pacquiao-Cotto to name a few more. These were exciting fights that took place at ?catchweights?. Are ?catchweights? dangerous? Absolutely! The sport of boxing is dangerous and this practice makes it even more dangerous. That is why a fighter should be well compensated for putting his or herself in that position. Boxing personalities like Jim Lampley, the good boxing commentator that he is, need to address REVERSE CATCHWEIGHTS first before he again tries to make a case against ?catchweight?. Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.  |
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