This past Saturday night Brando Rios fought to a questionable win against a very game Richard Abril. While the fight was debatable what wasn’t was the fact that Rios failed to make weight for the second consecutive time.
Rios is not the first fighter to fail to make weight or the first to do it more than once- however his failure is a reflection of what has become a common occurrence in boxing these days.
It also furthers the ever growing problem that depending on which sanctioning body, state or country the fighters are in all have different rules in place on how to handle the weight issue. These are among other factors that make a simple issue as making the contacted weight pretty murky.
While it would seem that when a fighter fails to make weight the fighter is allowed a certain amount of extra time to make weight, otherwise the fight comes down to whether or not the other fighter is willing to make an exception to go through with the fight.
Typically these fighters are fighting for small purses and have already put in a good amount of time with little or no pay during training and the fight is payday. The overweight fighter has put their opponent in position to either go on with the fight with certain exceptions or cancel the fight. Missing out on a payday is not ideal for anyone and it’s especially difficult for fighter.
In the case of the Rios-Abril fight, Rios was getting 4 times what Abril was earning, $495,000-$95,000 before taxes and paying expenses. The Nevada athletic commission penalized Rios ten percent of his purse with half of that going to Abril and the other going to the NSAC ($22,500) Rios also conceded an undisclosed amount to Abril to make sure the fight was to go on as stated for Saturday night. While getting more money for the fight because the opponent has failed to make weight and the two sides come to an agreement is nice, it still does not fix the real issue. Fighters actually making weight.
Typically most fights have certain restrictions and agreements in the fight contract however it seems as though the contracts and the agreements do little to deter habitual offenders of failing to make the contracted weight. While ten percent is a decent amount it does seem to be more of a slap on the wrist than anything. There is also a fine line of penalizing a fighter too much that he chooses to not fight and perhaps even make up an excuse of exhaustion or something along those lines.
While there is a number of options and possibilities on what commissions and states should do, I believe the first step would be to penalize the fighters trainer, manager and promotional company as well. While the blame needs to be the fighters, he also puts certain individuals in certain positions on his team specifically the trainer, manager and promoter specifically should also be fined. It’s the managers job to maintain his fighters day to day obligations, this should include being on weight along with the trainer. A promoter should be involved as they are paying good money to make sure that their fighter is acting like a professional and is on weight among other things.
It’s also should be take into account that a fighter that comes into a fight and has been known to take extra time to make the weight should be considered a liability and just like people who have certain driving issues such as speeding tickets or DUI’s and are penalized by insurance companies, fighters should be held in a similar positions.
As for Rios, it would be wise for every fighter from here in out who faces him to make sure there are certain provisions should Rios fail to make weight. However, sadly it wouldn’t be that simple as Rios and his team or any fighter can and will most likely find a more than willing opponent who won’t ask for such demands.
That is why it’s important that a fighter and his team are all held responsible. Hopefully in the end it will make managers more involved with the trainers, promoters and whomever else is on the “team” and vice verse to make sure that their fighter is acting like the professional prize fighter we as fans expect from a fighter.
Otherwise boxing will still allow fighters like Jose Luis Castillo or Brandon Rios make a mockery actually making weight.
I agree suspensions should be handed out to the individuals who fail to make weight for title fights especially.
Its not fair for the boxers and trainers that sacrificed and conditioned to make weight, its a liability for sure! It takes a lot out of an athlete to make weight while training, ” FOUL”! Hit’em all in the pocket!
Fighters that don’t make weight need to be suspended. Get them where it hurts. Paying a fine is simply not getting it done.
He should have moved up in weight when he failed to make the limit the first time. I don’t like this and I lost a bit of respect for Rios.
TWICE in a row!! What about the fans that anticipated that THEIR fighter, THEIR favorite, fails to make the weight and the CHAMPIONSHIP fight that they made plans, reservations, paid the over priced PPV prices…. Man, it suks!! What about the fighter that was willing to make the necessary SACRIFICES to make the contracted weight?? They usually come in just as energy sapped as ther irresponsible opponent BUT make the weight and are willing to face the challege, be as it may!! The commission MUST make then accountable!! Suspensions are in order!! Jose Luis Castillo, Joan Guzman… have gotten slapped on the wrist in the past and set a standard of LENIENCY!!
What about that nutrition guru Rios hired? Welcome to junior welterweights. He just outgrew lightweight. Everbody’s on Rios’s case, but he looked like a zombie on the scales. Make the move up and quit killing yourself trying to make 135.
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