Cruiserweight - Post-Haye

I picked BJ Flores, he's the best out of the ones i know about. However, I don't know much about cunnigham though, other then he has a good amateur back ground. I might pick him if I knew more about him.

 

Its a pretty decent division, just without Haye no outstanding guy you can pick to e top dog. Alexeev should be on the poll however, he is defo the best prospect in that division.

Cunningham for now.

 

this is a post that ODO made recently running down european cruiserweights.

i agree with his conclusions about alexev

Cruiser weight is one of the hottest weight division at present-lots of rising shooting stars and talented young guns there.Most of them stem either from europe or are european based like the Cuban Hernandez or the Africans Mormeck and Hide.
Who can make it to the top? Who falls short of expectations? Who is a tempest in the tea-pot? Who can electrify the fight crowds? Who has flown under the radar for quite a long time? Who still has to nail his true colours to the mast?

Experienced vets:

Jean Mormeck(33-4)-strong,powerful,can punch,French-based,was put out of action by Haye in his last fight

Vadim Tokarev(24-1)-Mormeck's twin from Russia,has some impressive skalps in his collection like Cora,Daroll Wilson,Simms,and so on.

Firat Arslan(28-3)-has probably the best stamina in the business,excellent chin,feather fisted,one of the present world title holders,German based

Tomasz Adamek(33-1)-well known Polish crowd pleaser,still a rookie at cruiser weight,scheduled to face Bell,could get a title shot very soon

Alexander Gourov(40-6)-Ukranian banger who cant take a punch that well,vet who is over the hill,but has still a puncher's chance against a lot of rivals

Herbi Hide(42-4)-British based African,banger,extremely dangerous within the first few rounds,his chin surely cant be called that good though,has decent wins in a row over May and Nasyrov

Pietro Aurino(37-3)-Italian,retired?,good boxer,but there were always some doubts about his mental toughness

Vincenzo Cantatore(33-5)-wayward fighter,far past his prime,will probably soon retire for good,Italian

Vassily Jirov(37-3)-has been out of the picture for quite a long time,complete package,seems to be past his prime,Russian but American based

Valery Brudov(34-2)-French based,teak tough fighter,but slow and predictable,can punch,but can be quite easily outboxed

Enzo Maccarenelli(28-2)-was schooled by Haye in his last outing to a ring,a bit overrated,fringe contender who was almost on top of the hill due to excellent matchmaking,no match for the true european top guns

Krzystof Wlodarczyk(40-2)-Polish cruiser,Macca's twin,can punch and box a bit,but got gift decision against Karanevich,can hold his own against some top fighters,but not the kind of fighter who can hold a world title for a long time,bit overrated




Rising shooting stars:

Yoan Hernandez(14-0)-Cuban,German based,has pop in his fists,excellent boxer with a lot of natural talent,stopped Azzouzi in the very first round,Macca needed 3 rounds to take out that New Zealand based Arab no-hoper,will face one of Macca's former foes in his next fight(Wayne Braithwaite),has all the tools to be a future champ,his stamina is still a question mark though

Marco Huck(19-1)-great talent with almost no amateur experience,relies too much on his firepower,a diamond in the rough,shot at a world title was too early for him,easily outboxed by an opponent he would probably have been able to stop if he had had more experience at the pros,he is cut out for the pros,but still has to learn one or two things

Rudolf Kraj(14-0)-German based Czech silver olympic medalist,won an eliminator fight against Godfrey,complete package,but at times extremely torpid and lethargic inside a ring,has lots of amateur experience,cagey fighter who doesnt waste unessecary energy,not really that much fun to watch though

Alexander Frenkel(14-0)- German/Ukranian,young talent who can punch,still unknown whether he will be a flash in the pan or a force to be reckon with,we will see which way the cat jumps as soon as he faces a decent opponent,schooled former champ Arthur Williams in his last fight

Alexander Alexeev(14-0),one of the most dangerous puncher of all weight divisions,has a proven track record at the amateurs,has the skills to rule the roost,Solis ' old amateur rival,hasnt lost a single rounds at the pros so far

Grigory Drozd(28-1)-Russian,good puncher,fast hands and quick feets,still has to learn how to fight a tactical fight,relied too much on his firepower,lost to Arslan due to overpacing being out of puff in round 3 of their encounter,has the tools to be a champ

Enad Licina(12-1)-Bosnian,German based,against all odds he has come back defeating very good opponents like Lubos Suda,Robert Norton,and Sergej Karanevich,is scheduled to square off against Kendrick Releford in his next outing to a ring,suffered his only loss at the hands of Polish olympian Aleksy Kuziemski,good in all departments,but possess no special skills

Aleksy Kuziemski(14-0)-Pole,German based,feather fisted mover and dancer,has already collect some decent skalps(Licina,olympic silver medal winner Aripgadzhiev who lost the final to Andre Ward,gate keeper Sergej Karanevich,undefeated Czech tank Ladislav Kutil,and Brasilian toughman Venancio),race against time as he isnt the youngest fighter out there anymore


Tough cookies who wont make it to the top:

Lubos Suda(18-2)-Czech,iron chin,can punch,slow,one-dimensional,his promoter doesnt have the right connections,doesnt get any big fights,lost his last fight to Licina in a fight which could have gone either way,can claim a victory over present world title holder Arslan,has beaten Garry Goodrigde in his first K1-fight,big draw in his native soil,very likeable human being

Roman Kracik(28-1)-Czech,padded record,predictable,often plays it safe instead of going for the kill,good chin,slow

Ali Ismailov(11-1)-Azeri national,big puncher,successful amateur,his only pro loss against top gun Tokarev,very rough customer,knows some dirty tricks,extremely slow for a cruiser,can take out a fighter with a single punch,running out of time as he isnt a youngster anymore

Giocobbe Fragomeni(24-1)-Italian,brawler,crowd pleasing style,decent chin,can be outboxed,would be tailor made for a big puncher like Alexeev or Haye,10 years ago he would probably have been able to win a world title,at present he will probably not be able to win a european title due to stronger competition here in europe


Young talents-big question marks:


Pavel Kolodzey(20-0)-Pole,undefeated,untested

David Quinorro(22-0)-Spaniard,undefeated,untested

Gyorgy Hidvegi(14-1)-Hungarian,unknown fighter

Serdar Sahin(12-0)-Turk,has pop in his fists,but doesnt seem to have the skills to go very far

Jimmy Kapanov(6-0)-Russian/Georgian,German based,scheduled to face undefeated German talent Golla,hasnt set the world on fire yet

Jan Golla(3-0)-German,pop in his fists,crossroad fight with Kapanov,decent amateur

Christian Dolcanelli(11-0)-Italian,undefeated,untested




My opinion: I dont want to blow Alexeev's trumpet too strongly,but as I see it he will be the next long reigning king of the castle at cruiser weight.
Dicpline and talent are the Alpha and Omega of a career as a pro fighter.Whats more Alexeev has murderous firepower and a decent chin.
Alexeev will be the next big shot at cruiser weight.

 

Cunningham will be number 1.

 

Cunningham? He had two weak fights with one of the weaker european elite cruisers,Krzystof Wlodarczyk.
He surprisingly defeated the young talent Huck.However,Cunningham didnt really impress me in none of the aformentioned fights.
Alexeev would murder him,Hernandez would outbox him,and so would probably Drozd.
I am not even sure whether Cunningham would be able to defeat Tokarev who lost to Cunningham's last victim Huck.Styles make fights.Tokarev is a cagey vet who can take a punch.He would bully Cunningham around the ring most of the time.
No,I for my part dont think that Cunningham will be the king of the hill.
Alexeev will be the next long reigning undisputed top dog at cruiser weight.
His firepower is awesome,and so are his skills.

 

Huck is and never will be anything near World Class level.

 

Hide looked real good in his last fight, but his oponent looked anything but.
Where's the option for Bobby Gunn? That guy fought for a belt w/in the past 2 years or so right.....................

 

Notice how every American puts the American fighters at the top of the list?

Alexeev and Hernandes will rule the division.

 

Cunningham is the most complete fighter of the lot , Enzo can probably come again , Flores has skills but I haven't seen much of him.

Herbie is not to be ignored he's a total loon but he hits like a truck so no-one would be garaunteed to beat him.

There are good fights outhere the question is if they will come off or not

 

Alexeev will bring back Jirov's body punching memories and Juan Carlos Gomez's skill level... very good prospect.

Hernandez and Banks as well and there are a lot of young talents out there... I just hope that they will meet sometime...

 

I voted Cunningham.

I think that if Adamek goes past Bell in impressive fassion he can make some noise too.

Great division BTW.

 

herbie hide. although his defence is questionable hes got fast hads and footwork, has lightening reflexes, and hits hard. herbies the one to watch when haye moves up

 

None of the above!

I think Rob Calloway will win one (or more) belts at Cruiser. While I don't think he is the long term answer there, he has enough skill and ring-experience to get one soon. I think retirement is probably on the horizon though.

 

USS Cunningham will take this divison over by storm.

 

don't know about that. "storm" implies that someone will actually notice / care.

pretty uninspiring list of boxers really. the only names with star quality are mormeck and bell and they are just about done.

and lack of exposure may mean no new stars rise - at least not globally. enzo will probably re-win the vacant wbo and not risk fighting anyone good, ever now.