I thought I would make this thread because I often see people saying things like this guy moved up 3 or 4 weight classes when to me it appears that he outgrew those weight classes. I think there are fighters that actually jump up weight classes for challenges but there aren't as many as people think, most times when a fighter moves up it was because the strain of making weight was beginning to affect his performances in the ring. Also it is much easier to go through divisions at lower weights, you can't say stuff like Broner moved up 4 times so why can't Golovkin when it's evident that Broner is simply outgrowing divisions... how many times has Broner lost a belt on the scales?.... Would you say Danny Garcia moved up to 147?? I wouldn't.
Other examples:
Floyd Mayweather: I'm a fan of his but the narrative of him moving up 4 divisions is false in my opinion, he pretty much outgrew all of them except for his move to 154 as that is what I would call a jump up as he could still make 147. A strong piece of evidence is him not honouring the CW with Marquez..... despite his low rehydration weight gain it is clear that he could not get below 146 comfortably and chose to pay Marquez the penalty. Just because you only pack on a couple of pounds doesn't mean you can cut extra weight.
Manny Pacquaio: Less certain about when he did jump up but I believe up until he got to 135 he had been outgrowing divisions but he did make the move up to 147 to face De la Hoya and this was clearly evidenced by the fact he dropped down to 140 for his next fight against Hatton. So you could say he moved up like 2 or 3 divisions.
Hopkins: Now he actually made the move up to LHW... a 2 weightclass jump, he was always a big middleweight but he always made weight without trouble so you can't say he outgrew the weightclass but it would be worth noting that he only made this move after he was dethroned by Jermain Taylor. Would he have done this if he hadn't lost to taylor? .... your guess is as good as mine.
Brook: A large welterweight by any standard but its obvious he is making a 2 weightclass jump here. Golovkin fan boys will try to tell you this guy is a natural middleweight but any one who isn't a cheerleader knows Brook is moving up and not outgrowing his division. He recently talked up a future Spence fight and still holds the IBF title and is yet to vacate it so right now as far as I'm concerned he is still a welterweight.
In Golovkin's case, I don't think very many fighters would move up in his position to be fair. He is average sized for his weight class and holds multiple titles there, of course if he wants to achieve greatness he can move up in the future but people are using bad examples to justify him moving up... I've seen a guy say Canelo moved up (like really??) so why can't GGG. Canelo never moved up anywhere, the guy is outgrowing divisions.... God knows why he's still at 154. I'm no Golovkin fan but I believe in fair criticism regardless of whether you like a fighter or not, very few fighters do what some of you are asking him to do and those that do often do so because of money. There really aren't really any money fights at 168 unless he fights DeGale in the UK.
Just my two cents/pence on the whole moving up thing, if you guys have other examples of fighters who actually moved up and didn't outgrow their divisions I'd like to hear them.
Other examples:
Floyd Mayweather: I'm a fan of his but the narrative of him moving up 4 divisions is false in my opinion, he pretty much outgrew all of them except for his move to 154 as that is what I would call a jump up as he could still make 147. A strong piece of evidence is him not honouring the CW with Marquez..... despite his low rehydration weight gain it is clear that he could not get below 146 comfortably and chose to pay Marquez the penalty. Just because you only pack on a couple of pounds doesn't mean you can cut extra weight.
Manny Pacquaio: Less certain about when he did jump up but I believe up until he got to 135 he had been outgrowing divisions but he did make the move up to 147 to face De la Hoya and this was clearly evidenced by the fact he dropped down to 140 for his next fight against Hatton. So you could say he moved up like 2 or 3 divisions.
Hopkins: Now he actually made the move up to LHW... a 2 weightclass jump, he was always a big middleweight but he always made weight without trouble so you can't say he outgrew the weightclass but it would be worth noting that he only made this move after he was dethroned by Jermain Taylor. Would he have done this if he hadn't lost to taylor? .... your guess is as good as mine.
Brook: A large welterweight by any standard but its obvious he is making a 2 weightclass jump here. Golovkin fan boys will try to tell you this guy is a natural middleweight but any one who isn't a cheerleader knows Brook is moving up and not outgrowing his division. He recently talked up a future Spence fight and still holds the IBF title and is yet to vacate it so right now as far as I'm concerned he is still a welterweight.
In Golovkin's case, I don't think very many fighters would move up in his position to be fair. He is average sized for his weight class and holds multiple titles there, of course if he wants to achieve greatness he can move up in the future but people are using bad examples to justify him moving up... I've seen a guy say Canelo moved up (like really??) so why can't GGG. Canelo never moved up anywhere, the guy is outgrowing divisions.... God knows why he's still at 154. I'm no Golovkin fan but I believe in fair criticism regardless of whether you like a fighter or not, very few fighters do what some of you are asking him to do and those that do often do so because of money. There really aren't really any money fights at 168 unless he fights DeGale in the UK.
Just my two cents/pence on the whole moving up thing, if you guys have other examples of fighters who actually moved up and didn't outgrow their divisions I'd like to hear them.
Comment