The "Great" Welterweight Division That Never Was

Two years ago, on a well known boxing forum, I commented that the “great” welterweight division I kept hearing about was a complete myth, to a chorus of boos and hisses. This was the hottest division in boxing, I was told. How dare I claim it’s a humdrum of over hyped fighters. As every month passes I think my claim is becoming more and more legitimate.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a competitive division, and an exciting division. Welterweight fighters have always offered the dream combo of speed, power and skill, so this is hardly surprising. But it has never been a division full of great fighters.

My point, condensed a bit.  The division was metaphorically owned by Floyd Mayweather when I made the comment. Although he really hadn’t faced many of the current top 10, he had beaten the division’s No. 1 and 2, in succession, in his first 2 fights there, quite easily. Not only that, but not many people, in truth, could see Floyd losing to any of that division.

Don’t get me wrong, Floyd’s a true great. One of the greatest of all time. But this is a guy who pounds the pavement at 150 pounds, fights at 147,  with so many chronic injuries that he’s not allowed to even lift a dumbbell. Screech, from Saved By the Bell could spot him. And there’s not one 160+ natural welter that would cause him too many problems? Sorry friends, but that’s not a group of great fighters in mine eye.

These “great” fighters are one by one being exposed. First Cotto. This is a guy who struggled at 140. Although he was a long time world champion, he never set the world alight there. He nearly dropped a loss to Miguel Torres, and became the first ever fighter to be hurt by a Paulie Malignaggi left cross. People put that down to weight draining, which was probably a fair point. And a few wins at 147 seemed to justify the assumption.

But let’s get one thing straight, you can write the number of truly dangerous 147 opponents Miguel faced on the back of your hand. Scratch that, just hold up two fingers and that will cover it. Sugar Shane, at 36, nearly embarrassed him. So much so that Cotto turned down a career best purse to give him another shot. And then Margarito well and truly burst the bubble.

By showing that the slowest fighter since Frankenstein hung up his gloves, was way to fast for Miguel’s footwork.

Antonio Margarito is a fighter to be admired, but anyone thinking he was the future of 147 boxing needs a short sharp trip to the cuckoos nest. Anyone calling him a great fighter may as well call in the white coats right now. Margarito has always been a niche fighter. A middleweight, who walks the pavement at 190 pounds, who somehow manages to squeeze himself into a Welterweights body, long enough for him to make weight, before he piles 20 pounds back on.

The guy’s truly unbeatable put against the right opponent—someone small, light, and who is easy to hit; Miguel Cotto being the prototype. But this guy has two weaknesses:

1: fast, slick fighters

2: Big fighters

Kryptonite to Big Tony. Anyone quick, he simply can’t hit, without taking 10 back. Anyone big, he can’t bully about.  Jones, Santos, Williams, Clottey all handled him with ease. Mosely made him look stupid.

Both Cotto and Margarito have been made to look wholly average by a 36 year old Shane Mosely. Who has found a new niche out of exposing over hyped 147 fighters.  This is the same Sugar Shane who lost twice, by quite a distance to Vernon Forrest at the weight. Who was totally ineffective at 154, and was sent running back down to 147 by the spectre that he would never be able to beat Winky Wright.  He’s the undoubted number 1 at the weight, at 37?

The word great is used far too often, without thought. Margarito, Cotto, Williams Berto, and fighters of that ilk are not great fighters. Talented fighters, yes. Potentially great fighters, perhaps. But crowing them on the back of a few decent divisional wins was always going to lead to disappointment.

Even comparing it to the Welterweight division of the late 90s seems almost perverse. The top ten 147 fighters of 1998 included, De la Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Ike Quartey, Oba Carr, Pernell Whittaker, Vernon Forrest, Shane Mosely. I’d comfortably state that four of those fighters will be first ballot HOF fighters. The likes of De la Hoya, Tito and Whittaker will go down as some of the greatest 147 fighters of all time.

So please, let’s not crown people before they have proved their metal in future. A great division needs great fighters. There are no great fighters at 147 at the minute. Lots of exciting fighters. Lots of well matched fighters. The only HOFfighter is the 37 year old lightweight, who spent most of the early noughties losing.