What a weight cut actually looks like
Not the version on Instagram. The version where you sit in a car park at 2am because the sauna is closed.
Backstage, one hour out
People see the weigh-in photo and assume the hard part is the last day. The last day is the easy part, because by then there is nothing left to decide.
Ten days out
Sodium comes down first, then carbohydrate. Water goes up, not down — eight litres a day at the start of the week, which sounds mad until you understand that the body only lets go of water it thinks it has plenty of.
Two days out
Water drops off a cliff. This is where it stops being training and starts being something you just have to sit inside. You do not sleep well. You are cold in Thailand, which should not be possible.
The point
The point of doing it properly is not making weight — anyone can make weight badly. The point is being able to fight five rounds the next evening. A cut that costs you the fourth round has not worked, no matter what the scale said.
