Is it fair to say that Cruiserweight has largely been seen as a nothing division?

He'd be in the top 5 cruisers in the world tomorrow if he moved up.

He's just too skinny to be a HW, that's his problem, so cuts to 175.

Just looking into it a bit more.... Holmes was the first IBF HW champion, about 18 months after it was first formed.

Not sure why the WBC didn't sanction the fight with Marvis Frazier, nor why he had a year off before beating Bonecrusher for the title.

I was reading a section of Four Kings last night, it was Bob Lee (who was later banned after the Lewis/Holyfield I farce and other things) who couldn't gain control of the WBA so started up on his own.

A bit of a joke really, could you imagine Michel Platini losing to Blatter in an election and then starting up a rival organisation, and getting Spain on board as your first member?

[Given that Hagler was probably P4P #1 at the time]

 

Very good points and nice analogy.

As for Holmes-Marvis, I don't know either. Frazier has some good wins and a lot of amateur credentials going into that fight.

 

Yeah but if he can make LHW, why would he fight at cruiser? Unless he planned to take advantage of the higher weight class by packing on nearly 2 stone of lean muscle, he'd gain no advantage. Unless he just wanted an excuse to take it easy and come in out of shape. That 25 lb gap between divisions is a big bridge to cross. It's the percentage equivalent of a welterweight going up to super middleweight.

In reality, doesn't he clean up the Light Heavy division domestically, considering Cleverly is "world" champion, and he matched him.

 

spot on, big stevie is looking crackin

 

Yeah but the struggle of making weight was evident to see in rounds 10,11,12

 

i think he could use the british cruiserweights to ease his way into the divison beating people like leon williams mcphilbin and then he could move onto john lewis dickinson and stephen simmons,i think bellew could win a world title at cruiserweight without doubt i think he should move up.

 

One of the worst divisions without question. Take the top 10 Cruiserweights ever and compare it to the top 10 Super Middleweights ever. And SMW is a younger division too.

 

Good post, agreed :good

Even if you include those who fought between 176-200 as 'heavyweights'....a lot of them took on/beat genuine Heavys so deserve not to be mentioned alongside cruisers.

 

Well I don't like to think in those terms, because I just judge the fighters for who they are in the ring and what they are capable of. So for me personally the answer is no, but the answer is yes overall. It's like how the light heavy division used to be back in the old days, basically a launch pad to the heavyweight division.

As I say though, for me this is a load of nonsense, fighters have no control over what their natural size is, we should just judge them regardless of their divison.

 

he wouldnt beat cunningham i agree with that but he could win a version of the world titleatsch

 

Keyboard warrior.

 

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hey its dftaylor

 

It's seen as "the poor man's heavyweight" due to the fact that Americans and Brits don't like to accept that - generally speaking - European and Eastern-European heavyweights are just too big for their American and British counterparts. It's not as if the likes of the Klitschkos are "just big" - they're decent fighters too. Combine that with their size and the likes of Eddie Chambers, David Haye etc stand no chance really.

Many of the good - even great - heavyweights of past decades would more likely be competing at light heavyweight or cruiserweight in this day and age. And today's cruiserweights would have been heavyweights in past eras. It's a pity that Americans tend to ignore the cruiserweights as if they didn't then more of their heavyweights - guys like Chambers and Kevin Johnson, and defectors like Odlanier Solís - would be capable of competing at the highest level of the cruiserweight division. Throw in Steve Cunningham, and Adamek and you'd have a very entertaining American-based cruiserweight scene.

Still, **** the Yanks. Let them keep pretending that the likes of Seth Mitchell are actually going to rule the heavyweight scene in a few years.

 

It's not that the Yanks aren't good any more (although they aren't) rather that top American athletes seem not to want to be Heavyweight boxers anymore. No one can deny the talent pool is weak in terms of American HWs and it isn't just that the Klitschkos are so good.