Have Weight Limitations Taken The Luster off Biggest Weight Class?
By Kyle Klingman, W.I.N. Staff Writer
he days of a true heavyweight wrestling champion are gone. When the NCAA dropped the unlimited weight class in favor of a 275-pound limit over 18 years ago, the heavyweight class has never been the same since.
The change marked the start of a lighter era in heavyweight wrestling. The age of 400-pound giants like Chris Taylor, Tab Thacker and Mitch Shelton awing crowds with their size are over. Under today’s rules these three wrestlers never could have considered going out for wrestling.
Currently, the heaviest a wrestler can weigh is 285 pounds in college (10 pounds were added in 1998 when one hour weigh-ins were implemented) and a trim 264 pounds in international competition. This may be too light for some and just right for others.
“I li
ke the weight class because I’m not a big heavyweight,” said Tolly Thompson, a 2005 world bronze medalist at 264 pounds. “I don’t weigh 330 pounds. I’m actually not a true heavyweight. I weigh 260 pounds and that’s with full feed and doing whatever I want. Bruce Baumgartner and Tom Erickson were true heavyweights. It’s a weight class now. I’m just fortunate to be a part of it. I’d struggle if it was unlimited. It’d be hard to wrestle a big fat guy who wouldn’t move or wrestle.” Even though the potential size of heavyweights has shrunk and there often isn’t much offense in this weight class, there is a mystique surrounding the largest competitors in any contest.
When someone is crowned champion at heavyweight there is a feeling that, if it came down to it, this is the guy who you would want on your side in a dark alley. Whether it’s true or not doesn’t really matter.
The most prestigious title in boxing is the heavyweight championship of the world, not the featherweight title. Strong man competitions display feats of power and strength by massive weight lifters, not middleweights. People want to see the biggest, strongest, and fastest athlete humanly (and sometimes chemically) possible, especially in a combat setting.
And wrestling is no different. Mention the name Joe James at a wrestling function and heads are bound to turn. When the former Oklahoma State star took to the mat fans were more concerned about his muscles than his technical wrestling skills. Winning an NCAA title in 1964 at heavyweight is merely an afterthought; it was his physique they remember.
When Brock Lesnar burst onto the scene at the 1999 National Duals, he was the talk of the nation for quite some time.
“Did you see how big that new heavyweight from Minnesota was?” people asked the next day at work. “And, oh yeah, he went 4-0 with four pins.”
People want to see the biggest and best athletes go head-to-head. But are the biggest and best wrestlers competing at the NCAA tournament every year?
Nobody will know how today’s heavyweight wrestlers would fare against some of the 300-plus pound athletes who are banned by a weight limitation. So it’s unfair to compare today’s 285-pound class against the unlimited class that existed prior to 1987.
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