What do you make of those? I mean divisions like CW, SMW, JMW and so on. Do you think they are bad for boxing since the talent isn´t as concentrated in the original divisions in the past? Or do you think they make sense? Imo the CW division makes perfect sense. There are just too mane 240+ pound guys around nowaday for the average 180-200 pound guys. But most of the others, especially in the smaller weightclasses don´t make any sense to me. I mean every 2 pounds a new weightclass?
The original crusierweight division was the 175lbs division. The second coming of the division in the late 70s did not make a lick of sense (too many fat 175lbers/too few small Heavies). But since the 2000's has began, the ******* off spring has become legitmate.
The CW division makes perfect sense. The others aren't terribly neccessary, but they've been known to provide comfort areas for certain boxers that don't fit too well into any of the original weight classes and have been able to carve out more successful careers fighting at the in-between weights, so I don't have a problem with them.
Yes, I think out of all the ******* divisions cruiserweight makes sense, strangely Junior light and junior welter have been with us a long time. All ******* divisions below featherweight are not needed but i'm sure there are people in some asian countries that would disagree about straw weight/minimumweight.
If a cruiserweight division makes so much sense then why has it been such a wasteland division for most of its short history? It might have made more sense just to move the lightheavyweight limit up.
I used to despise the cruiserweight division, but in truth, it has some very good matches as of late. IMO, moving the cruiserweight division up to 200 pounds was a great idea. The move allowed small heavies to drop weight and compete. Although Haye has left the divison, young Alexevv has some really pound for pound skills. I could do without the super's and jr's below lightweight.
well only in britian did they recognise a cruiserweight division and that was the light heavy. anyways on other topics i feel that there are natural humps in wieghts. the welter to middleweight is a very distinct one. anyone imagine terry norris at middlewieght? wayy too small. it's having a few issues due to it's brightest and best being beaten by the vets. thus leaving a gaping contendership hole for a year. tho there are a ton of prospects and contenders inching out the woodwork. ligth fly and super fly i think are a bit pointless. but i have no problem with poeple trying to get to the best wieght class for there body's if it's a 169 billy conn fightign for the heavyweigth championship agains tlouis then i really dont mind but dont change the divisions.
Well, imo your first point has to do with the 190 pound limit that they had for a long time. It wasn´t possible for many small hws to drop down. It got better since the limit was changed to 200 pounds. Look at the division right now, it´s one of the best out there, even so it´s very overlooked. And alone in Germany we have three top talents who could be unify belts in the future in Huck, Frenkel and Alexeev - who is imo the best prospect of all divisions right now, sadly to small to move to hw. Yep, cw became a very good division, it´s only second to ww and perhaps lw at the moment. Alexeev is a great talent, just sad that he wouldn´t be able to compete with the behemoths at hw.
The problem with Cruiser is that though it seems like a good idea in principal, whenever a good fighter appears in the division they go to Heavy because of the money.
Before 1990 or so it made little sense, but since heavyweights are getting bigger and heavier now, there is a good possibility that big lightheavies and small heavies won't even bother with the heavyweight division. It's a question of economics to me. If there are big money matchups that can take place there, it can really bloom and even be better than the heavyweight division. Unfortunately, as of now the big money is still at heavyweight. The cruisers need a few stars to get the big money talking. I don't have a problem with the junior divisions. Sometimes it does spread the talent a little thin, but for the most part they make sense, especially so as the weight difference between the divisions increases, ie> the weight difference between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.
If a ******* division has allowed a single fighter to have a successful career where he otherwise couldn't have succeeded it was worth it in my opinion. Fighters choose to go to whatever weight they're most comfortable at. It's their decision and no one elses, least of all mine to critisize. There are innumerable fighters who've benefited from the in-between divisions. Why not let fighters like Herbie Hide or David Haye establish themselves at Cruiserweight? Haye being forced to be a heavyweight with no CW first would have ended his career before it started. Hide was always taken out by the quality heavyweights he faced and he never could have made 175. What's the harm in it?
Well, CW is okay like I said but what about junior featherweight example. What´s the point in it? If all the fighters who fight there would fight at featherweight wouldn´t there be better competition?
My main problem with the divisions, particularly the super, regular, and then jr of anything is it creates more belt spam.
I dont think the cruiserweight divison makes any better sense at 200 pounds than it did at 190. In fact, with weigh-ins happening 36 hours before fights these days the CW division at 200 pounds is a joke. David Haye probably fought his last few cruiserweight fights at around 210-215 at fight time, the exact same weight he was in his heavyweight fights (yep, he looked exactly the same to me). Actually, with re-hydration it's easy for so-called cruiserweights to come to the ring as legit 215 or 220 pound heavyweights. Meanwhile, at heavyweight we're saying many of the guys weighing 230 or 235 might perform better weighing 10 or 15 pounds less ! And the guys who "cruiserweight" was supposedly originally designed for - men who get in tip-top shape at around 185-190 - are still forced to get down to light-heavy or go up against men who are 215 pounds or more ! And what's all this talk about the division is about to pick up now ? Any great fighter at that weight will bolt the division before he's hardly established himself there and go for heavyweight honours. Wait, wait, wait and see if you dont believe me. Sure, the proliferation of weight classes dilutes the talent. But great fights still happen. Anyway, eliminating the divisions isn't solving the problem. Nowadays most professional fighters and their promoters recognize 4 different sanctioning body's, meaning 4 different world titles in each class, and 4 different sets of ranked fighters (that dont always over-lap all that much), plus the credibility attached to certain fighters by certain TV companies and certain boxing publications. Numerous weight classes in actually the least of the problem. I'd probably rather have 20 weight classes with absolutely ONE champion and ONE list of contenders in each one, than have 8 weight divsions and several champions in each one.
Fair points. :good Well I think the problem with the governing bodies is just not worth discussing since everybody agrees here. Imo the best would be 10-12 weightclasses and 1 champ per weight.
