What If There's Only Eight Boxing Divisions? How Would Pacquiao etal Fared
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 18 Apr 2021
Pacquiao (L) and Donaire (R) will still win many division titles in an 8-division setup.
A letter writer to Ring Magazine editor in chief Douglass Fischer's twice a week Mailbag column created quite a stir when he asked if the dominant world champions we have today would have been such and in more than one divisions had there been only eight weight classes in boxing?
And had the old rules on official weigh-in and the duration of championship bouts, i.e.15 rounds been still in force.
It was quite a poser as there is no denying that many of our current champions and fighters in general are benefitting from the current set up where there are a total of 17 weight classes to fight on and the current day before the fight weight in allows many to come to the fight virtually one or two weight classes above the division they are supposed to fight on. The reduction of world championship bouts from 15 rounds to 12 also allows many to just cruise to victory after piling up points advantage in the earlier rounds of the fight.
The former original boxing weight divisions are flyweight for fighters weighing not more than 112 lbs., bantamweight (118), featherweight (126), lightweight (135), welterweight (147), middleweight (160), light heavyweight (175) and heavyweight (above 175).
The absence of the junior of super weight classes would have surely affected many of our former or current world champions though the presence of the current four world sanctioning bodies would have not impacted their chances that much.
But how the likes of Donnie Nietes and Jerwin Ancajas and Johnriel Casimero would have fared respectively in the flyweight and bantamweight classes with the likes of Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Naoya Inoue compressing themselves to 112 or 118 lbs? Shades of what is actually the situation today except that Estrada, Gonzalez, Rigondeaux and Inoue would have a different fighting motivation since it would be very difficult to harbor and implement ambitions to win more than one world championship across weight classes. They would be hard pressed to stay as champion and competitive in the division they would be fighting on.
However, as for the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, given their talent and skill and their physical progression: both are tall for their original starting weight class, flyweight, there is little to doubt their ability to become world champions in more than one division.
Pacquiao started as a flyweight and went on to win world championships in unprecedented eight weight classes, from 112 through 154 lbs. except for the super flyweight and bantamweight.
Under this scenario, Pacquiao aside from the flyweight could conceivably have also won world titles at bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight assuming he faces the same opposition he actually had and that archrival Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was always a step ahead, would temporarily retire as he did in 2007 and that they would only meet in 2015 at welterweights.
That means Pacquiao would still be multi division world champion not in eight but five weight classes, 112 to 147 which would have been extra ordinary under the eight weight division setup. Five of eight, wow!
As for Donaire, he also started as flyweight, winning his first world championship by knocking out dreaded Armenian tough guy Vic Darchinyan. It is also conceivable for Nonito Jr. to also win a title in bantamweight as his transition seemed effortless and that he was much too much for his opposition at 118.
However, his fitness at featherweight had been an issue. He suffered two of his most decisive losses at 126- to Nicholas Walters and Carl Frampton. So he could have also probably won a title at featherweight but his reign won't last.
Nonito Jr would probably rule the bantamweight but with the probability of Rigondeaux also fighting in the division and winning one of the titles there, their eventual meeting would be not only possible but inevitable. And there's the factor of an emerging Inoue. Nonetheless, with Nonito not having any weight issue, the result of his fight against Rigo may have been different. The same though cannot be said of his fight with Inoue as he was already at least five years removed from his strongest prime.
Going back to Pacquiao, with Floyd eventually retiring for good, Manny will not have difficulties at welterweight as his opponents including Jeff Horn, Terrence Crawford, Shawn Porter, Errol Spence, Keith Thurman would not enjoy the advantage of being virtual middleweights at fight time given the day of fight weigh in.
And with Canelo Alvarez hard pressed to meeting the 160 lbs limit, who knows, Manny may also manhandle him at middleweight the way Pacquiao mauled Antonio Margarito.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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