Terence Crawford has made a career out of conquering weight classes, but his time at lightweight apparently came with a frightening price.
The boxing great has revealed that he once “almost died” while attempting to make the 135-pound lightweight limit, shedding new light on just how difficult weight cutting became during the earlier stages of his career.
Speaking on the DH12 Above the Rim podcast, Crawford discussed why moving up in weight isn’t necessarily as difficult as it might appear for certain fighters. In his experience, leaving a lower division can actually make a boxer stronger and more effective because their body is no longer being pushed through such an extreme cut.
Terence Crawford Explains Benefits Of Moving Up In Weight
Crawford pointed out that fighters frequently walk around considerably heavier than the weight at which they compete.
Because of that, moving into a higher division can reduce the amount of energy spent simply trying to reach the number on the scale. Crawford believes that can leave a fighter feeling stronger, more energized and mentally sharper.
It’s not hard, for some fighters, because nine times out of ten we already coming down from a higher weight class to make a lower weight class weight anyway.
Crawford added that cutting less weight can also have a significant impact on training camp. Instead of devoting so much effort to dropping pounds, fighters can put more focus into their nutrition, recovery and actual preparation for the fight.
If you don’t have to cut so much weight, you can get more out of training, you can get more out of eating, your nutrition, your recovery.
He acknowledged that moving up doesn’t work for everyone, since some fighters can eventually find themselves undersized against naturally bigger opponents. In his case, however, getting away from lightweight removed a particularly difficult physical burden.
