Fighting at lower weights: If you can fight tall and have good hand and leg speed you could be great. The added leverage and reach from your height would be a strong point. But you will be fighting fast opponents and can run low on gas if you're not careful. If you want to fight at this weight get used to pivoting away from opponents who duck under your jab and get used to fighting off your opponent's firing line. Train with small weights in explosive movements for high reps and work on long cardio sessions.
Fighting at a Cruiserweight: (I think you mean Heavyweight 190-200lbs in the amateur system) If you don't have the stamina or speed for middleweights then staying where you are might be more comfortable. Fighting at this weight can be tricky because you can have a range of shorter, stronger fighters and taller fighters who are just on a strict diet. To fight here you really need to have some solid skills and for fighting both taller and shorter fighters, you really need a full toolbox. Likewise your physical training will be more interval sprints and weight circuits. You will need to have a lot of energy very fast but for short bursts.
Hope that helps
I'm an advocate of the old school boxing mentality when it comes to weights. Historically the greatest fighters have always been those that fought near their walking around weight, e.g: Sugar Ray Leonard, Ray Robinson, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Bob Foster, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler etc.
So my advice would be to see how low you can go without sacrificing power, but also ensuring that you can walk around at that weight. A lot of fighters drain themselves to make weight and it can turn against you and make you groggy e.g. Brandon Rios, Antonio Margarito, De La Hoya (vs Pacquiao). So find an optimal weight which you think you can maintain in the long term and use that as your fighting weight.
Also don't worry about being short because Joe Frazier was very short for a heavyweight and he used inside relentless pressure fighting to make it work in his favor. So you can always adjust your technique and strategy according to the division, but you should be very comfortable at fighting at your walking weight. Train hard all year round, keep in shape, eat healthy and you should be fine competing at that weight. Finding your optimal weight may take some expirementation, however you should have some sparring partners to test your speed and power at varying weights and then decide your optimal fighting weight. Good luck my friend.
I would do middleweight because usually in sports like this being the heavier on helps but not too heavy because the lighter people can be quicker on you feet. Now this is kinda based off of wrestling but I think it will help in boxing
Middleweight where you'll have the advantage. Alot of boxers go lower to avoid fighting someone bigger than them.
Right now I'm 180 lbs I used to weigh 240 but recently lost over 40 lbs from boxing. I really want to start competing, I'm a very hard puncher. I used to play football in college and that is why I was so big at one point. I'm 20 years old and have gotten attached to boxing, however idk what class I should choose. I stand at 5'11 1/2 inches, like I said very strong, can lift heavy weight for my size. How ever its either I compete in the Light heavyweight division or the Middleweight division. 178 or 165 as an amateur. The lower I go, will it be an advantage given I have a lot of strength being a middleweight? Or should I just stick to where I'm at and do light heavyweight? I feel like I can bully around guys in the middleweight class just because of my strength. But then again in the lightheavyweight division I would be stronger yet shorter compared to the other fighters who stand over 6 ft. What does anyone suggest? Please help 5 stars for best answer!
