Thursday 18 June 2015 16:20, UK
Glenn McCrory believes the increasingly fashionable catchweight contest sets a dangerous precedent for boxing.
The English made this sport and the Queensberry Rules laid down some guidelines so let's stick to them.
This weekend, we've got Andre Ward v Paul Smith and Adrien Broner v Shawn Porter at catchweight and we've just seen saw Miguel Cotto beat Daniel Geale a catchweight.
The key thing about this issue is the boxers and their handlers now get to tell the governing bodies what to do. If you've got the power then you can do whatever you want.
I just think it's unfair and even dangerous. It's unfair because you might be with a powerful promoter, they can make the rules up as they want to suit their fighter. The governing bodies have enough versions of titles to be able to stick to their guns so I just don't understand it.
It's not right. It's wrong. All of the increased number of titles available are just down to money and boxing has to take a very serious look at what's happened to football because we don't want to go down the FIFA road. We can't just be putting people up the rankings just because they're promoted: we can't be making fights at weights to suit one fighter and not the other.
Look at what happened to Geale. It was just absurdly wrong. The kid had a right to fight for a world title at his proper weight. The champion Cotto was desperate to win in order to set up the fight with Saul Alvarez so they made Geale boil down. It was a disgrace that Cotto was allowed to defend a middleweight belt at a catchweight three pounds below the limit. It made Geale suffer.
Obviously, these fighters agree to the weight and there's no arguing with that. Smith has agreed to fight Ward at an agreed weight but why does he have to give Ward, the best super-middleweight in the world bar-none, another advantage by letting him weigh what he wants? It's just not right.
The problem with the governing bodies at the moment is that it's an attitude of 'make it up as you go along.' On one hand, they'll do 'next-day weigh-ins' to make sure someone hasn't put on too much weight but then they'll make fights at catch-weights. It just makes no sense.
I speak as I find because I love boxing. I love this sport. I never got any favours from anyone on my way to becoming world champion and in a way that allows me to say it as I see it. I speak from my heart as an ordinary fighter and I'm trying to speak up for the ordinary fighters out there now.
When will the governing bodies and the other powers that be just stand up and say: 'No. Let's just do this properly. Let's be fair'?
It's kind of like horse racing in that you give certain competitors a handicap and more weight to carry and so forth. The difference is that it's okay in horse racing because they run around a track but it's not okay in boxing. This is a dangerous sport.
It's the story of life in a way. You can go through this in elections, in football and in everything else.
The Marquis of Queensberry and the National Sporting Club made some fair rules. This is our sport. The English made this sport and we laid down some guidelines so let's stick to them.
Watch Andre Ward v Paul Smith and Adrien Broner v Shawn Porter live on Sky Sports 1, from 1.30am, Sunday, June 21.
