Once upon a time boxers tried to make weight at all costs - to not make weight was seen as unprofessional and something of an embarrassment.
This is clearly no longer the case as it is now very common for boxers not to make the contracted weight. In this case Stevenson said he was going to move up next anyway which suggests he signed the contract to make 130lbs knowing that he probably wouldn't make the weight.
Stevenson decided not to weaken himself by trying to drop the extra 1.6 pounds despite being contracted to do so and given extra time to do it - the point being that Conceicao probably killed himself for weeks to make sure that he made the weight. The fact that Stevenson was very strong in the fight and dominated Conceicao certainly doesn't mean that the weight issue was irrelevant it means it could have been very relevant.
The punishment of dropping the belts and whatever portion of Stevenson's purse that was supposedly given to Conceicao didn't affect the advantage Stevenson may have gained by not dropping the extra 1.6lbs and imo this is what is wrong with the current punishments for not making weight.
Rather than financial penalties, if the opponent was given a head start by so many rounds according to how many pounds a fighter was over the weight limit then I'm sure the number of fighters not making weight would be reduced.
Whatever the solution is, the commissions and sanctioning bodies certainly need to do something to tighten up the rules and penalties for not making weight.
Once upon a time boxers tried to make weight at all costs - to not make weight was seen as unprofessional and something of an embarrassment.
This is clearly no longer the case as it is now very common for boxers not to make the contracted weight. In this case Stevenson said he was going to move up next anyway which suggests he signed the contract to make 130lbs knowing that he probably wouldn't make the weight.
Stevenson decided not to weaken himself by trying to drop the extra 1.6 pounds despite being contracted to do so and given extra time to do it - the point being that Conceicao probably killed himself for weeks to make sure that he made the weight. The fact that Stevenson was very strong in the fight and dominated Conceicao certainly doesn't mean that the weight issue was irrelevant it means it could have been very relevant.
The punishment of dropping the belts and whatever portion of Stevenson's purse that was supposedly given to Conceicao didn't affect the advantage Stevenson may have gained by not dropping the extra 1.6lbs and imo this is what is wrong with the current punishments for not making weight.
Rather than financial penalties, if the opponent was given a head start by so many rounds according to how many pounds a fighter was over the weight limit then I'm sure the number of fighters not making weight would be reduced.
Whatever the solution is, the commissions and sanctioning bodies certainly need to do something to tighten up the rules and penalties for not making weight.