What happens when a fighter misses weight? Boxing rehydration clauses, catchweights explained amid Lara concern

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Mauricio Lara and Leigh Wood
Mark Robinson/ Matchroom Boxing

Saturday's eagerly anticipated rematch between Mauricio Lara and Leigh Wood has been thrown into jeopardy after WBA featherweight champion Lara weighed in almost four pounds over the 126-pound limit at 129.8 pounds. Wood came in at 125.9.

Mexico's Lara surrenders his title on the scales and only Wood can leave the ring as champion. However, a lot must be considered before Team Wood even agrees to take the fight. The 25-year-old Lara scored a seventh-round stoppage over Wood in February and he's a feared knockout artist even when he's made weight properly. He now has a massive advantage.

And given that the fighters have over 24 hours to rehydrate, that advantage is likely to multiply.

Lara was told by the BBBoC that he could weigh in no lighter than 128.5 after failing a check weight this week. This is to protect the fighter from the possible and potentially lethal side effects of dehydration on fight night.

There are horror stories of fighters training in saunas, avoiding carbs and salts, cutting 20-30 pounds in a matter of days, and fainting after making weight. The human body is composed mainly of water, so a fighter can take crazy liberties in order to reach their division limit.

It's a complex process and it can be very dangerous. The Sporting News explains some of the rules and processes that are in place when it comes to making weight in modern-day boxing.

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What happens when a fighter misses weight?

For the most part, the fight will still go ahead.

Why? Because by the time of the weigh-in, it's conceivable that hundreds of thousands of dollars will have been spent and nobody wants to take a direct hit financially. Also, the fighters will have endured a physically gruelling training camp and made huge sacrifices during preparation. Nobody wants to go through all of that for nothing.

Some of the high-profile matchups that have still gone ahead despite one fighter missing weight by a significant margin include Oscar Valdez vs. Scott Quigg (Quigg missed weight by two-and-a-half pounds), Luis Nery vs. Shinsuke Yamanaka 2 (Nery missed weight by three pounds), and Joseph Diaz vs. Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (Diaz missed weight by three-and-a-half pounds).

One example of a big fight falling through on the scales was Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo 3. When Castillo came in a full four-and-a-half pounds over the lightweight limit at 139.5, Corrales refused to go ahead with the fight. Having fallen foul of a knockout loss to an overweight Castillo in their second encounter, Corrales, who'd won the first, refused to make the same mistake twice.

Sugar Ray Leonard nails Donny Lalonde with a right
Photo by Manny Millan/ Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

What is a catchweight?

When two fighters campaign in different weight classes, it has become popular for them to meet at a designated poundage in order to get the deal over the line. This is a catchweight.

In 1933, Barney Ross and Tony Canzoneri, unanimously lauded by boxing historians as two of the best lightweights ever, faced off twice in three months. With both men weighing in inside the lightweight limit, both Canzoneri's lightweight and junior welterweight crowns were at stake. Ross won both fights via decision.

In November 1988, Sugar Ray Leonard challenged Donny Lalonde for the latter's WBC light heavyweight crown. Utilizing his star power, Leonard also convinced the WBC to put their inaugural super middleweight crown on the line and requested that the defending champ make 168 pounds. Despite losing the fight by knockout, Lalonde has always maintained that making the lighter weight did not play a factor.

However, despite these two examples stretching back decades, the term "catchweight" didn't become part of the boxing vernacular until the 21st century. Some of the fighters who have used the process to their benefit include Floyd Mayweather (vs. Canelo Alvarez at 152 pounds), Manny Pacquiao (vs. Antonio Margarito at 150 pounds) and Canelo himself (take your pick of 155-pound matchups).

The catchweight idea has also been known to backfire. Ask Oscar De La Hoya if making the welterweight limit for the first time in seven years was a good idea when he faced the significantly smaller Manny Pacquiao in December 2008.

A more recent example of a catchweight contest was the 136-pound megafight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, which had no world title at stake. Davis prevailed via seventh-round knockout.

MORE: The Sporting News' pound-for-pound rankings 

What is a rehydration clause?

Another way for a fighter to get an advantage is to request a rehydration clause, setting a limit on how much weight the fighters can put back on between the weigh-in and the fight itself. This is a tactic often reserved for boxing's biggest divas.

When Miguel Cotto and Canelo faced off in a 155-pound catchweight bout in 2015, then-WBC middleweight champ Cotto insisted on a second weigh-in to make sure that the Mexican star didn’t balloon up on fight night.

Canelo won that fight on a decision and then insisted on rehydration clauses of his own when he faced Rocky Fielding and Sergey Kovalev in subsequent bouts.

The most recent example of a rehydration clause was the Davis vs. Garcia bout. With both fighters required to make 136 pounds, Team Davis insisted that neither man could put on more than 10 pounds, a number Garcia would undoubtedly have exceeded if he'd been given the choice.

MORE: The best five-year span in boxing history

What is a same-day weigh-in?

The simple answer is a thing of the past.

When Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns squared off in arguably the finest welterweight championship fight of all time in September 1981, both men made the 147-pound limit on the morning of the fight. While a light meal would have pushed them up slightly, both men would enter the ring perhaps a touch over welterweight.

Nowadays, with the benefit of weighing in the day before, a fighter can pile on anything from 15 to 20 pounds during a 36-hour period. Undisputed lightweight champ Devin Haney probably enters the ring around the super welterweight limit. Errol Spence, the unified welterweight king, will be above middleweight when the opening bell rings.

Neither fighter is doing anything wrong; they're just making the rules work for them. This is why rehydration clauses are often included in contracts.

To maintain a level playing field, the IBF insists that fighters cannot exceed a 10-pound rise on the morning of a championship fight. This rule does not apply in unification bouts because it was being abused.

In their 2017 clash, Gennadiy Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs weighed inside the 160-pound limit for their IBF and WBA middleweight championship fight. While 'GGG' obeyed the rehydration clause, his opponent ignored it and came in way above the allotted 10-pound threshold.

Though Jacobs couldn't win the IBF title, this gave him an obvious size advantage and he would still have been recognised as WBA king had he prevailed. As it turned out, Golovkin beat Jacobs by decision.

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Tom Gray is a deputy editor covering Combat Sports at The Sporting News.