We know plenty of fighters who have never been as good again after they have left their best and most natural weight division behind them. But what about the other way around. List down examples where a fighter has peaked lower or higher than his actual physical appearance would suggest. I'll start: Kelly Pavlik:clearly too big for middleweight (killed himself by going there) but also more effective there than at 168 which his body seems to carry better Shane Mosley: Welterweight-framed fighter who shone at lightweight. Manny Pacquiao: Seems like a bulked up feather or superfeather but looks better than ever at light-welter.
let's wait a couple of minutes before calling pac better than ever at 140. He had a whole fight at this weight
True that. I made this assumption based on how good he looked at lightweight and above 140lbs. I think that division suits him probably the best
Zab Judah - Should have done what 99% of all the other boxers do and sweated down to a lower weight than he walks around at. Zab could have campaigned at lw for several years and anyone who thinks he couldn't should take a look at how the bigger Shane Molsey did it for years. Had Zab fought at 130 or 135 he would have dominated and built up a much better career for himself. Instead he fought at 140 and suffered his first big loss against Tszyu who probably was higher than a welter weight himself that night. Then he goes up to 147 has a minute of success against a recently moved up 140lber named Spinks. After that it's all down hill as Judah is routinely beaten up and KO'd against bigger stronger guys who don't respect his power half the time. He didn't even weigh high enough to make 147 when he fought Clottey! Look I'm not saying we missed an all time great because he fought in the wrong weight class. Judah maybe would have failed against the top fighters even at 135 or lower because he lacks focus and dedication. Still though, it's only a maybe. His talent alone couldn't get him very far at 140 & 147 but how would it have faired below those weights? Had Judah just stuck an IV in his arm and pimped the weight system like all the other fighters do, I'm certain his career would have been a lot more successful than it has been.
Micheal Moorer? Gerald McClellan? Vernon Forrest? Chris Byrd? Trinidad? Erik Morales? Floyd Mayweather?
So you think Forrest wasn't an unnaturally large welterweight? You might be right. He fought there a long time and even at age 37 he was still fighting at 154. Trinidad I'm not sure about. I think he killed himself for a long time to make 147. For years he talked about moving up to 154. I think at least two years of his reign at 147 can be attributed to his desire to make a fight with ODH.
Tito definitely looked better during his welterweight days but I don't think that had anything to do with his weight. As a welter he was a much more patient boxer who often systematically broke his opponent down with his power. By the time he went to 154 his patience seemed to have taken a back seat to a more power hungry aggressive style.
