Janibek Alimkhanuly and the curious case of making weight in boxing

Written by Daniele D'Alessio

THIS week, Janibek Alimkhanuly became the latest victim of professional boxing. Extreme dehydration forced the Kazakh to pull out Andrei Mikhailovich and thus throw away the chance to have his first bout of 2024. But when you look at the landscape of fighters who are vying for a size advantage in the ring, it's surprising how rare these latecomers are.

At best, losing weight is like a magic show. On the scale, you'll see the skeleton of a boxer—one that appears to lack the nutrients and hydration levels seen in a healthy human. The body seems dry, and the person has no zest. Dark circles surround their eyes, and their faces look drawn.

However, on fight night, after filling up on fluids and calories, a change occurs. All of a sudden, this boxer looks full, his muscles are toned and he is ready to fight. And, of course, they are much bigger and heavier than they were on the scale.

But as Janibek found out, the more weight you lose, the more dangerous it is. Instead of the upper hand, your body will shut down for protection and even if you get in the ring, you won't have any strength left. A tired athlete who has put all his energy into hot water and sweatsuits.

Before moving up to 154 lbs, Vergil Ortiz was a fighter who made a name for himself by walking out of fights simply because his body could not handle the trauma of going up to 147. He pulled out of fights with Eimantas Stanionis and Michael McKinson due to a condition called rhabdomyolysis. But since he fought at light-middleweight, he seems to be healthy. There are no postponements for Fredrick Lawson or Thomas Dulorme this year.

Of course, the practice of cutting weight is common at the top level, just by looking at the size of certain boxers who compete in certain weight divisions. On Saturday night, Jaron Ennis stopped David Avanesyan in five rounds. Despite performing so well, however, it's hard to ignore how much bigger Ennis was than his opponent. Despite being a world title fighter at 147 lbs, 'Boots' wouldn't look out of place if he was at middleweight instead.

The same can be said for Devin Haney, where 'The Dream' was the undisputed lightweight champion. And when he moved up to 140 lbs to face Regis Prograis for the WBC title, he still looked huge in weight, famous for rehydrating at 165 lbs on fight night.

Then there are the likes of David Benavidez and David Morrell, both of whom are giants. However, they somehow managed to make 168 lbs in their few intervals before temporarily (or not temporarily) moving up to 175 lbs.

Not to mention, Canelo Alvarez's earlier years when he used to compete at 155 lbs. After being knocked out in the sixth round in 2016, Amir Khan in an interview with DAZN said that he thought Canelo had entered the ring above 185 lbs. We will never know the full truth, but Canelo went on to capture the world title at 175 lbs.

The highlight is that the IBF has tried to create a level playing field by forcing world title contenders to participate in a second weigh-in on the day of the fight. This makes it difficult for there to be a large weight difference between the two competitors on fight night. However, this does not correct the issue of dehydration. It actually makes it worse as boxers can't fully rehydrate.

This includes another aspect of cutting weight, which is not talked about much: the increased risk of brain damage. Without getting too scientific, fluid surrounds the brain. If you're too dehydrated from water, your brain will take more punishment with all the blows to your head.

Overall, at the highest level, be it boxing or any other sport, history shows that athletes are willing to do anything to win. Until there are weight divisions, boxers like Janibek may continue to take chances with their lives to gain a competitive advantage.