Boxing Match Decisions as Influenced by the Practitioner Body Weight

In 99 of the top 100 male professional boxers enrolled in the present study, weight division midpoints are linked by 1) an average strength correlation with the number of non-knockout wins; 2) weak correlations with the number of all wins pooled together, the number of knockout wins as well as with the number of draws; and 3) strong correlations with the number of all losses pooled together, the number of knockout losses, as well as the number of non-knockout losses. Wins arithmetic mean values are lower than those of losses but higher than those of draws. Being weight division midpoints the independent variable, losses are linked with it with correlations stronger than those that link it with wins. Thus, 1) variables other than body weight could influence more the wins than the losses and 2) improving body weight could contribute less to increasing wins numbers than to decreasing losses numbers. As competition draws near, the selector must make sure that values shown by the weight as well as other variables (physical or non-physical) about each boxer are not far from values that could allow an ideal pugilistic performance. As average weight of boxers may vary with the passing time, the validity of conclusions drawn from the present study should be examined yearly within sight of possible necessary modifications.