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Boxing divisions: better today or yesterday?
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Before our beloved sport evolved into "super" this and "junior" that, it was much more primal with just the following 8 weight divisions: heavyweight (unlimited); light heavyweight (175 lbs); middleweight (160 lbs); welterweight (147 lbs); lightweight (135 lbs); featherweight (126 lbs); bantamweight (118 lbs); and flyweight (112 lbs). There are 17 active divisions in professional boxing today.
Is boxing better or worse for the change? An argument could be made that from a safety perspective the modern scheme is better. It also allows more fight possibilities and championships. An argument against would be that under the modern scheme, we never would have had heavyweight champions named Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, or Jersey Joe Walcott--they would be cruiserweights today. Can anyone picture the 5'10", 190-pound Marciano stepping into the ring against 7', 310-pounds of Nikolay Valuev? Scary to imagine, but then again, Marciano was never defeated.
Old school is not necessarily a better school. One of the hottest divisions in boxing right now is the super middleweight division (168 lbs). While none of its members are listed on the pound-for-pound lists, the roster is perhaps deeper than any other. The champions are: Mikkel Kessler (WBA); Lucian Bute (IBF); Carl Froch (WBC); and Karoly Balzsay (WBO). Behind them is the man with the pound-for-pound best chin in boxing, Librado Andrade. Jermain Taylor can compete with any of them, well for at least 8 rounds, and Andre Ward appears to be a rising star. Add Arthur Abraham and Kelly Pavlik to the list and you have endless matchmaking possibilities.
The super middleweight division wasn't recognized by world sanctioning bodies until the 1980s; therefore, under the original 8, most of the super middleweights would have likely fought at light heavyweight with a few of them being able to make the middleweight limit. This means that our guys at 168 would have had to lock horns with Billy Conn, Joey Maxim, Archie Moore, Dick Tiger, and other light heavies. Tony Zale, Rocky Graziano, Jake LaMotta, Sugar Ray Robinson, Gene Fullmer, and Carmen Basilio would have been waiting for those supers who could make 160.
The original 8 versus modern 17 debate will be around forever. The reality is that the heavyweights during the original 8 era would have had problems today based on nothing more than incredible size differences. The modern 17 "supers" and "juniors" would have been on par with men from the original 8, at least with respect to physical attributes. Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Sugar Ray Leonard, and numerous others could have made a name for themselves in any boxing era. Perhaps not for being multi-divisional champions, but most likely champions just the same. Similarly, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake LaMotta, and most of the "old school" non-heavyweight fighters mentioned above would have thrived today.
Perhaps the best thing about the original system is that there wasn't anywhere to hide. It was a more disciplined system with greater depth in each weight division. Guys like Pavlik and Abraham would be forced to fight each other or add 15 pounds to enter the light heavyweight ranks. Good luck with that then or now.
The best thing about the modern system is that more weight classes equate to more fight possibilities, which has to be a good thing. It is, unless you consider the fact that none of the top super middleweights have fights scheduled between themselves or anyone else for that matter. Well, Karoly Balzsay is scheduled to fight Robert Stieglitz in August. Count that one if you must.
For better or worse, boxing will never go back to the original 8 format. Let's all hope that the sport can resist any temptation to go beyond 17 so that the "super duper middleweight" and "junior light welterweight" divisions will never become part of boxing history.
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