As a young boy and later as an aspiring journalist, I visited baseball stadiums, boxing gyms, athletic clubs, soccer fields, and many other sporting venues where I met and spoke with baseball legends Stan The Man Musial, and Minnie Miñoso, Boxing great Cassius Clay, The Real GOAT, daredevil Evel Knievel, and another great athlete, Soccer Superstar PELE.
In professional boxing, a weight class is a measurement weight range for athletes. The lower limit is equal to the upper weight limit of the class below it.
The top class, with no upper limit, is called heavyweight in professional boxing. A boxing match is usually scheduled for a fixed weight class, and each boxer's weight must not exceed the upper limit. Although professional boxers may fight above their weight class, an amateur boxer's weight must not fall below the lower limit.
This story reminds us that a fighter can become a great boxer by sparing in different weight classes. The trend for professionals is to move up to a higher class as they age. Winning titles at multiple weight classes to become multiple champions is considered a major achievement. In amateur boxing, bouts are much shorter and much more frequent, and boxers fight at their natural weight.
Tony Mamarelli was only a lightweight in terms of the pounds he caries, but he was said to be a rink by delivering a real pounding on the boxing ring. Tony proudly went toe to toe with the greatest at the 5th street gym on South Miami Beach and lived to tell the story. Mammarelli was so popular that on the night before Harold Lederman's wedding in 1963, he and his bride-to-be reportedly went to the fights at Madison Square Garden. They saw Gaspar Ortega beat an Italian kid from The Bronx named Billy Bello in the main event, he then recounted. "Our honeymoon was in Miami, and we went to the fights there, too. Tony Mammarelli won in the main event at that one.” according to Harold, the late Ambassador of Boxing.
One boxer is said to be better "pound for pound" than another if he is considered superior with due regard for their difference in weight. Theoretical comparisons of the merits of boxers in different weight classes are a popular topic for boxing fans, with a similar speculative appeal to comparing sports figures from different eras; in both cases, the competitors could never face each other in reality.
