Isn't De la Hoya a big guy to have started out as a Super Featherweight?

Question

just wondering

Answer 1

Yeah he knew he wasent a natural super feather weight he just wanted a world title at that weight. As soon as he won it he moved up to lightweight which was a better weight class for him.

Answer 2

Yeah boxing wise it seems like alot of divisions, but Super Feather is 130, and Middleweight is only 160, so its only 30 pounds difference.  Look at a guy like Julio Cesar Garcia who in the span of 5 years has gone from Featherweight 126 to having trouble making the Light middleweight limit of 154.  Similar to Julio Cesar Chavez jr.   Guillermo Jones started as a Welterweight and moved all the way up to be a heavyweight (beating Wayne Braithwaite at cruiserweight on the way).

Guys naturally put on some weight as they get older, so that accounts for some.  Also consider that fighters usually fight at weights lower than they can comfortably make sometimes.  So the actual rise in weight isnt a big deal.

Alot depends on your frame, and how it developes as you put on pounds.

Answer 3

You noticed.  Yeah, Oscar started real light, by design.  Even then the kid was wise beyond his years, and was designing a hall of fame career even then.  He knew that in order to take his career where he wanted to go, he would have to be a multiple weight champion, and starved intentionally to make the lower weights.  It worked to perfection, and Oscar has become the premier fighter of his era.

Answer 4

De La Hoya was very skinny as a teenager. When he won the golden gloves at the age of 16, his weight was 125 lbs. But he was too big to to start as a super featherweight. Like all the answers say, he probably wanted to get a title.

Answer 5

He's not the only one to win in a number of different weight classes.  

I think Evander Holyfield won in 4 or 5 weight classes.  Then again, Evander has been linked to HGH.

In another sport a really skinny teenager bulked up quite a bit and became home run king... that guy too was linked to HGH.

All boxers of ODLH caliber are tested for roids before or after most fights, sometimes before and after, but I know of no way to detect HGH.

I am not suggesting that the Golden Boy used drugs, I am just saying there is a very plausible explaination.

Answer 6

It Was Normal As He Aged He Gained Weight.  Not Anything Out Of The Ordinary.  Happens To Majority Of Boxers