that`s part of it.....they do dry out......if it`s very hard to make weight,i`ve heard some get in the sauna,run or even throw up.....
they used to weigh in the morning of the fight...but this was changed years ago because it was felt that the stress of making weight left fighters at risk of serious injury if they didn`t have a full day and night to rehydrate.....
the flip side of that is you have guys drying out to fight at an unreal weight.....then gaining up to 15,even 20 pounds in 30 hours....sometimes the quickly added weight and the strain of drying out to lose so much weight can actually make you lose some muscle or solid tissue.. and are you are still drained for the fight.... the added weight doesn`t matter....
but in other cases,guys do tolerate the drying out process and you might get a guy walking into the ring a full 15 or more pounds heavier than his opponent....and if they are in the lighter weight classes,the weight differential is proportional and can prove dangerous....here`s an excellent aticle on the subject...the gamache/gatti jr welter bout in which gatti walked into the ring as a full fledged middleweight...
"""""In the featured bout of the evening, Arturo Gatti knocked Joey Gamache literally senseless in a bout that raised some serious questions about the weigh-in process.
As long as there have been weight limits, there have been fighters struggling to make weight. Needing to lose weight quickly, fighters are often reduced to sweating off pounds in a steam room or running an extra mile before stepping on the scale to make weight. Arturo Gatti has made such weight fluctuations an artform. Dehydrating himself by severely limiting his liquid intake and spending time in the sauna, Gatti is able to weigh 141 on Friday and the enter the ring at 160 on Saturday. It's a double edged sword, as Gatti has trampled certain opponents by being the much larger man and lost a few fights by the exacerbated swelling and late round fatigue that plagues fighters who have dried out to make weight.
But this evening, the sword seemed to have only one sharp side, and Gamache paid the price. Outweighed by 15 pounds, Gamache simply could not take the punches Gatti threw. After two minutes of Gatti's rarely seen jab, Gamache caught a straight right hand to the face as he was leaning left that turned him around and sent him down, so that his knees and face supported a perfect A-frame. As Benji Estevez began his count, Gamache stayed in this awkward position, half-out of the ring, for several seconds.
Rising on wobbly legs, Gamache beat the count. With a minute remaining, Gatti came at Gamache for the finish. Gamache threw three quick left hooks, two of which landed flush, hoping to hold Gatti off. As Gatti shook off the return fire, he launched a beautiful double left hook of his own. The first smacked against Gamache's ribs and the second clipped the front of his face, sending him down to the canvas again. Lying on his back, Gamache had the wide eyed look of someone who didn't even know what hit them. But still he rose.
Gatti again rushed in for attack, and again Gamache unleashed desperation left hooks that landed flush on Gatti's head. Now it was bombs away. Both men threw repeated left hooks at each other and both landed, but when Gatti's punches landed they carried the force of his extra weight, and Gamache was again stunned to the ropes as Gatti landed square on target. Gatti wildly charged, hoping to take advantage of the three knockdown rule, which was in effect. His frenzy resulted in a swing-miss-slip that bought Gamache some time. As the final bell rang, and Estevez waved his arms out to end the round, a late Gatti hook slammed into the front of Gamache's face and wobbled him again. Gamache slumped forward slightly, and Estevez's outstretched arms may have prevented him from going down again. Gamache, however, was too stunned to protest, and so he simply returned to the wrong corner for the one minute break.
The fight would not last much longer. After exchanging a few jabs in the second stanza, Gatti tagged Gamache with a left hook that reeled him back several steps. As Gamache caught his footing, Gatti reached back and threw a side armed right that snapped Gamache's head. Gamache was hurt and raised his gloves to his face. Then things got really bad.
Gatti threw and landed a textbook combination. All three punches landed about as well as they could. First Gatti threw a right uppercut that Gamache saw coming. He flinched his head, catching the punch flush on the left side of his jaw. Gamache was gone as soon as the punch landed. He was knocked out on his feet, but the combination was already in progress. Gatti's left hook followed immediately after the uppercut and caught Gamache right in the nose. Gamache's head wobbled in place like one of those baseball novelty statues and he began falling backwards to the canvas. All part of the same movement, Gatti's right hand came next, slamming into the limp Gamache's left ear as he was headed to the floor. As Gamache fell back, slamming his head on the canvas, he was gone. No count necessary.
Gamache was immediately surrounded by his cornermen, boxing officials, and a doctor...all of whom simply let him lie in place on the canvas. For several minutes, Gamache tried in vain to regain his senses, and three times attempted to sit up only to collapse back to the canvas. As Gatti's celebrating turned to quiet concern, Gamache struggled to come to, looking bleary and completely unaware of his surroundings. As the cameras focused on his plight to sit up, there appeared to be no physician recommending anything. No one was examining his eyes with a flashlight, no one moved for oxygen or a stretcher. They simply huddled over Gamache watching along with the viewers to see if he would pull through. Eventually he sat up, then was lifted to a stool, and luckily was on his feet and alert a few minutes later...but there were some tense moments prior to Gamache's recovery.
Aside from the weight disparity and the brutal finish, Gatti (31-4/26) looked pretty good. Although he weighed in at 160, his physique did not resemble that of a man who took off poundage because he had failed to train. In fact, Gatti was as buffed and cut as he's ever been. Furthermore, he set up his power with a stiff jab and some renewed head movement, except in the two sections when he got caught looking for the finish. It remains to be seen if Gatti can continue fighting that style over a sustained fight, but if he can then what does it mean for the division? Surely Kostya Tszyu is as big a puncher as there is at 140, but can even his power compare to Gatti's middleweight size? Certainly a matchup between these two power-punching, defense-lacking pugilists would be exciting while it lasted.
But Gatti's place in the 140 hierarchy comes second to questions about his place in the division at all. Fighters in the modern era are given 24 hours to rehydrate after weigh-in, a practice endorsed by doctors who seek to protect dehydrated fighters from taking blows to the head while dried out. But in light of this victory, and Gatti's previous bout in which he hospitalized another outsized opponent, perhaps some protection needs to be given to the fighter who doesn't dry out as well. Gatti-Gamache was not a horrible mismatch of skill levels, but was an abhorrent mismatch in weight. Gamache left the ring on his feet, but how long before someone doesn't"""""..
.....Chris Bushnell
btw...there were some shenanigans at this particular weigh in...many said gatti never really made weight..but his promoter was running the show....and it almost turned into a tragedy
the darker side of boxing....like the ref in the raheem/juarez bout saturday night.....
hope this helps.....g.l.
