Donaire vs Vazquez: WV2 Weighs In Heavy, Promoter Says No Issues
by Scott Christ on Jan 28, 2012 7:00 AM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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Wilfredo Vazquez Jr weighed in heavy by the standards of the Puerto Rican boxing commission on Friday, reports BoxingScene.com's Ryan Burton, but Vazquez's manager says there are no issues with the fighter making weight. The commission has fighters weigh in one week before the official weigh-in, with their rules saying a fighter cannot weigh more than 5% over the fight's contracted weight.
Vazquez, who is facing Nonito Donaire for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title on February 4 in San Antonio on HBO, weighed in at 132.6, over the one week limit of 128.1 for that fight.
Tutico Zabala, who co-promotes Vazquez with Top Rank, said that there's no ssue with the fighter's weight, and that he had just eaten when they weighed him. After a workout and a run, Zabala says Vazquez's weight was fine.
I'm no expert on this matter, but it seemed to me that the commission in Puerto Rico has basically no say here, since the fight is in Texas. So I asked Ryan Burton, who as linked above reported the story, just to make sure I wasn't missing something glaringly obvious, as I sometimes do. He said the same thing that Zabala said: It's just a way to get a story out there, for whatever reason, and since the fight's in Texas and it's not a WBO policy, there's really nothing more to it than Vazquez was heavy for what is ultimately a pointless one-week weigh-in.
At least on the surface, anyway, it's pointless. It is an indication that maybe Vazquez is having trouble making weight. Maybe. And given that he's already a big underdog against Donaire on February 4, any minor setback in training could kill his chances of pulling the upset, however low they may be to begin with.
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These meaningless weigh-ins are silly
as they usually can’t enforce anything.
But they do show just how much serious weight cutting does go on.
If Pacquiao (who used to cut weight) and Mayweather behaved like the rest of the sport, they would be lightweights right now.
Remember when they said Brandon Rios had to be a welterweight on the morning of the fight with Murray? Does anyone actually think that’s what he was in the ring, where it matters? Why would they weigh him in the morning when it allows him another 12 hours to add fluid and water?
Similar thing happened to Anthony Rumble Johnson. He couldn’t make weight so they said he had to be 205 or less the next morning or the fight was off. He was. The before the fight vs Vitor Belfort he was 211. This is a guy who was attempting to cut down from 210 to 186 and back again.
Absurd.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the best, most consistent fighters typically don’t cut huge amounts of weight before a fight. It’s a slippery slope and it’s not all good or bad, but it can be dangerous.
It seems like that’s how they raise their young guys, especially over at Top Rank- have them cut 15+ so they have a size advantage and slowly move up the scale. Cotto, for instance, used to come into the ring at 154-158 as a 140 lber.
It’s getting crazy, and I can’t help but think it’s pointless now. There is no advantage anymore since everyone is doing it. I want to see these guys go at 100%. It would suck to work so hard in camp just to leave something on the scale.
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