Making Weight: The Good, the Bad, and the Not So Pretty

Posted by Carlos Calderon on 08.21.2008

All fighters have to deal with a heavy load of mental and physical stress. What many do not know is how a fighter's weight can seriously affect his career.

All fighters have to deal with a heavy load of mental and physical stress. Not only do they have to leave their families for months at a time to prepare for big fights, but they also have to face extreme pressure and the possibility of death itself in the ring. In addition, before boxers step into the ring all of them need to make weight. Some have no problem at all while others have to cut back on eating their favorite foods, but to some maintaining their weight is as important as their career. In this article we will examine a few fighters and how making weight has affected their career.


The Good: Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs)



This section should really be called "The Great", but for the sake of the article's title we'll keep it at "the Good". Great, that's the correct word to use when describing Pacquiao's ability to maintain his weight and still be a force to be reckoned with. The Filipino fighter started his boxing career debuting at 106 lbs in 1995. He shocked every boxing fan by man-handling Marco Antonio Barrera and stopping him for the very first time in his career in their first fight in 2005 weighing in at 126 lbs. In 2005 and 2006 he went to war with Erik Morales weighing 130 lbs and winning 2 out of 3 fights in the trilogy by knockout. He broke into the lightweight division by taking David Diaz's WBC lightweight belt earlier this year. He not only completely outclassed him but also knocked him out - a fighter who isn't known for his skills has much as he is for his chin. Diaz had only been knocked out once before in his 34 fights.

How good does he carry his weight?

He carries his weight and power so well that The Ring Magazine had him listed as the third biggest punchers of today, followed by Kelly Pavlik who is listed as number 4. There is also talk of a super fight with Oscar de la Hoya at 147. A fight many people have the Pacman winning. Nonetheless for a fighter to begin his career at 106 lbs and work his way to landing a major fight with the Golden Boy at 147 lbs is a great accomplishment in itself.

The Bad: Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KO's)



Why Ricky Hatton? Ricky Hatton, who calls himself "Fatman" for his seriously unhealthy eating habits between fights, debuted into the pro ranks at 140 lbs in 1997. He has only recently been having problems cutting weight. He has gone up in weight class twice his whole career. He went up to the welterweight division to see how he stacked up against natural welterweights. What were the results of the test? There was a very close split decision win over Luis Collazo (points being: 115-112, 115-112, and 114-113) - A fight that many people, including myself, had him losing. Luckily, Hatton's team picked the perfect guy for the task. Luis Collazo has a record of 28-3 with only 13 KOs. Fifteen of those fights were fought at Middleweight. Hatton himself, when being interviewed after the Collazo, said he could feel the difference when moving up in weight class.

How bad does he carry his weight?

Apart from the fight with Collazo the only other time that the "Fatman" has gone up in weight has been against Floyd Mayweather J.r. Resulting with a TKO loss in the 10th round by a fighter whose on the list of being one of the purest boxers in the game among Ivan Calderon and Christian Mijares.I think it would be safe to assume Hatton will stay campaigning at junior welterweight.

The Not So Pretty: Diego Corrales (40-5, 33 KO's) and Jose Luis Castillo (56-9, 48 KO's)



Diego "Chico" Corrales, who stood at 5'11, spent almost all his career at super featherweight moving up to lightweight four times. He had missed weight in 2006 for the Joel Casamayor fight, being five pounds over in the initial weigh-in. He was given 2 hours to lose the 5 pounds, but came back 1 pound lighter (139 lbs). After struggling with the weight he decided to go up in weight to challenge Joshua Clottey at 149 lbs in 2007. Diego Corrales wasn't able to carry on his speed or power, which he was known for having at lightweight, and lost by unanimous decision.

Jose Luis Castillo started his career at featherweight moving up to junior welterweight against soft opposition in 2003 and 2004. In 2005 the problems started showing when he missed weight for the 2nd fight with Diego Corrales. He was fined $120,000 for missing weight and went on to win the fight via a 10th round TKO. Nine months later he missed weight again, weighing in at 139 lbs, and looked as though he was about to pass out. The fight never happened. He was suspended for 6 months and fined $250,000. Forced to move up, after missing weight again, he fought Ricky Hatton and lost via KO in the 4th round. He moved up once more to welterweight and lost to relatively unknown Sebastian Lujan via unanimous decision in what will probably be his final bout.