THE HISTORY OF THE DAY BEFORE BOXING WEIGH IN
Having been around the block a few times, I can recall the firstnon-heavyweight, day before the fight, weigh in. The date was July 28, 1988, with Caesars Palace in Las Vegas being thevenue. It was a Houston BoxingAssn. show with IBF middleweight king Frank Tate, a 1984Olympic Gold Medallist, who was unbeaten in 23 outings, with 13 stops! He was defending the diadem he had won in October 1987 in a vacant boutwith Michael Olaijade. Forthe second time Tate had ballooned to somewhere around 200 lbs., after besting thenover the hill Tony Sibson in February, and a non-title go with SanderlineWilliams in May.
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SUPER CHUCK MADE THE FIRST EXCEPTION
Between May 21 and July 28, Tate had ample time to train and keep his weightdown, but come July 25 there was talk going around that Frank, who was 163versus Williams, wasnt going to be able to make the 160 lb. limit. Although both, manager Bob Spagnola and HBA executive HuffinStan Hoffman, denied Tates woes before the media, they let the late ChuckMinker, then the Executive Director of the Nevada Commission, knowFrank was doing seemingly inhuman things to his body, to make the weight.
NUNN, SECOND TO NOBODY AS A PRO!
Although Tate was world class, Olympic pedigree, etc., a lot of people knewthat top rated contender Michael Second To Nunn, hadnt lost buta couple of rounds while establishing a sterling record of 30 & zip! Although the left-handed Nunn wasnt a knockout puncher, he was said tohave been jobbed out of the Olympics, and I could see that he intimidatedTate. I realized that Frank always had problems with weight, buthis failing to be anywhere near optimum as the fight neared I think had to dowith the fact that deep down inside, Frank as good as he was, knew he wasntgoing to beat Nunn!
MINKER & HOTEL MAKE THE ANNOUCEMENT
On Friday morning, a day prior to the Tate-Nunn bout, word spread throughoutthe pressroom that Chuck Minker had changed the weigh in from Saturday morning,to Friday afternoon. When I pressedhim on it, he told me that Tates people, and this included an MD, waspressing hard for the day before weighing. At the same time, said Chuck, nobody in Nunns camp, led by Dan andJoe Goossen, opposed the early scaling.
MENTOR MINKER SET BAD PRECEDENT
The day-before weighing, although it wasnt the norm for a while, today isthe rule, and not the exception. Pennsylvanias Greg Sirb, who heads the Commissionthere, does same day weighing. Sirbput the formula applied by the NCAA, when it came to amateur wrestlingweigh-ins, to professional boxing. TheNCAA study came out against day-before scaling. It found that replacing fluids for wrestlers didntwork, as wrestlers were sometimes one, two, or more weight classes below wherethey should really be grappling. Inother words, day before weigh ins put some fighters in greater peril than theywould normally be exposed to if they were not fighting a bigger man!
GATTI AND COTTO ARE PRIME EXAMPLES
of why same day weigh-ins are wrong! Arturo Gatti, while stepping on the scale at 140, has weighedclose to 160 lbs. on several occasions when he was finally in the ring. Miguel Cotto is probably winning fights, at least his last againstRicardo Torres of Colombia; because of the bulk advantage he has inthe ring. Like Gatti, a jr.welterweight at 140, Cotto is nearly 20 lbs. heavier come fight time.
UNSEEN DAMAGE PRESENT BOXING FANS
When a guy takes a pounding from a man several weight classes bigger thanhim, it leaves an indelible and permanent mark that is not apparent to the nakedeye. You the fan see just the endresult. But a jr. welterweightfighting a middleweight, or a flyweight against a jr. lightweight, is akin togiving one guy a set of brass knuckles. Unnecessary punishment from a bigger man leaves the smallerathlete even more prone to permanent injury, and or death.
BOXING OFFICIALS WONT FIX BROKEN WHEEL!
In every other sport, and or athletic endeavor, if something is obviouslywrong, the governing groups look to correct the malady. Not in boxing! The day before weighing has created an unfair playing fieldfor some. In time, it will lead toa serious in the ring injury, and or death. Californias Armando Garcia and Nevadas chieftain, MarcRatner, need to apply same day weighing before they unknowingly sanction amatch that gets somebody killed. Neitherman nor jurisdiction, or anybody else in his or her right mind, would sanction ajr. welterweight against a middleweight. So,why then is this happening, and at an alarming rate?
Pedro Fernandez
Note: Mr. Fernandez, he is an award-winning writer, radio talk show host, andfour-time Golden Gloves champion. Hecan be reached with your comments [email protected]