I think I could have taken him...

So a couple of nights ago we hosted world champion boxer, Juan Diaz at the ballpark. He has an upcoming HBO fight and is from right here in Houston. So I'm think boxer...cool...stay out of his way. I met Evander Holyfeld one time and his open hand I think is bigger than my chest, seriously, the biggest hand I have ever seen. My boss had his camera (typical) and asked Evander "Hey can I take a picture of you fake-punching Clint in the face (ha, ha very funny)." The champ replies, "I only throw blows for money." No picture.

So this Juan Diaz character shows up (I can say that flippantly because he's not here) and I'm bigger than him. He might be 5'6" or 7" and looks like he weighs 20 pounds less than me, granted his are "in shape" pounds. I think I could have taken him...

Got me thinking about weight classes, you hear heavyweight, featherweight, bantamweight - what's a bantam. So, here we go...

First off, here is a chart of the classes (based on the Olympic standards):

Over 200+ lb Super heavyweight
178-200 lb Heavyweight
165-178 lb Light heavyweight
155-165 lb Middleweight
141-155 lb Welterweight
132 - 141 lb Light Welterweight
125 - 132 lb Lightweight
119-125 lb Featherweight
112 - 119 lb Bantamweight
106 - 112 lb Flyweight
Under 106 lb Light flyweight

I know the first thing you did was check what your weight class is...right?

So our boy Juan is in the lightweight division, but he's also known as "Baby Bull" - probably can't take him. He qualified for the Mexican Olympic team at the age of 16 but then was told he was ineligible to compete because he was too young. Enough about Juan...

So where do the terms come from - most are obvious, two aren't...

Bantamweight

A bantam is a small variety of chicken that is about 1/5 the size of a normal chicken. If you are going to be a fighter you might want to gain a few more pounds or lose a few just to stay out of the category, just isn't suiting...

Welterweight

Welter means to "Writhe, toss or wallow" "to be in turmoil" "to rise and fall or toss about in the sea" or my favorite, "a confused mass" - not sure how this applies to boxing but as a welterweight myself, I know what they were talking about.

What's interesting is that the fighting weight is determined at weigh-in, so the guys will sometimes starve themselves down and dehydrate to hit the weight class, and then pig out after the fight. Sounds like trying to fit into a dress to me...

One other funny thing I found comes from the East Side Boxing website...

It's Square, Why is it Called a Ring?
The term "ring" comes from the original practice of having a circle of spectators form a ring around the two contestants. Often a rope would be held by the crowd to designate the area the fighters would have to move around. There weren't even stools, since the fights were usually outdoors and in isolated areas, so one of the fighter's supporters, called a "second", would kneel with one knee on the ground and the other up to form a seat for the resting fighter between rounds. Also, since boxing was illegal almost everywhere in its early days, if the "proper authorities" dropped in uninvited, the spectators simply dropped the rope and ran in every direction. The police might round up a few of the slow footed, but all the promoters would be out would be the cost of a rope.

I learned something new today...I couldn't take him!