Light Heavyweight to Cruiserweight

Yep bulk first then muscle!

 

no,but i think there should be a 17 1/2 stone/250lb division

 

fat and muscle are 2 different things!!

Joshua put on 8lb of lean muscle in a couple of months

 

It does seem like there's a big jump. Holyfield aside, no cruiserweight that I'm aware of has been able to step up and been massively strong at heavyweight.

Introduce a heavy-cruiser division at around 220 or 230. Or a super-heavy at 240+. I know folks don't like all these belts but honestly, what difference would one more weight category make.

Haye, Wilder and a few others could make some really interesting fights at 220.

 

4lbs of muscle a month? Impossible.

 

Interesting topic here guys, nice to see some people up for a reshuffle of the divisions, I too think they are a bit short down the bottom and long up the top. Here is he example I used in a reply to a Dwyer70905 youtube vid:
'People would consider a step from 140lb up to 160lb a bit of a stretch (say Khan to decide to take on Martinez) since that would have to see him (Khan) gain about 9% of his body weight (roughly). However, Bellew plans a greater feat by gaining nearly 13% body weight to make a claim for a strap at Cruiser. But this is just one division above and would be seen as a lesser achievement.'

Total disparity between divisions IMO and Bellew (purely for example) is in a current 'no-man's-land' of boxing.

 

Call it Junior Heavyweight/Cruiserweight/Super Cruiserweight. Change the weights to anything between 190 and 250, but it will not matter.

The most money will generally be made in the heaviest division. So if a 200lbs fighter has the option of a fight at 200lbs and making £20,000 or fighting a 260lber and making £200,000 his 'team' is probably going for the money, not the division...

 

It's not the jump from cruiser to heavy we are talking about.
Heavy must always be called heavy and will always be where the biggest rewards/most recognition will be, but the large jump from light heavy to cruiser does leave a lot of boxers struggling.
Ad******g the weight limits of the existing divisions seems like the best option, but also almost impossible, what happens when the champions refuse to move weight? Strip them all? Also if the difference between divisions is going to be adjusted all the way up to reduce the gap between cruiser and light heavy then there will be situations where say the light welter champion agrees to move up to keep his title but the holder of what was the light middle title wishes to continue to be recognised as champion in the new division as his weight has stayed constant.

 

RE LJJ,

I wouldn't have thought champs refusing to go up in weight would be a problem, we're only talking a few pounds as a limit and most will walk around at over the limit anyway so a RISE in the weight boundaries shouldn't be a problem. For Broner however, jumping 2 divisions and not weighing near the limit, he may find himself out of his depth.
As for people vacating or not, I think everyone would fall in line if the sanctioning bodies acted in unison.........although I do realise what a silly suggestion that is!

 

Fighters will generally go for the money. The Cruiserweight division was put in place in the late 70s, supposedly to help small Heavyweights. But over time it has become with the odd exception, the division of the big/lazy Light Heavyweight.

If you look at the history of the division; any Cruiserweight with talent/potential star quality has moved up to Heavyweight. Some (Moorer/Spinks/Jones) moved straight up to Heavyweight from 175lbs avoiding the so called ******* division entirely.

Be it two divisions at say 190 and 210, or one division at 190-210, fighters will go where the big fight is, and that is normally at Heavyweight. Thus it seems pointless changing the status quo.

 

It is only a big jump relative to the other divisions. In my opinion, the light/jr divisions should be scrapped and there should be a super-heavy for 230 lb+. That would be 11 total divisions and current size mismatches at heavyweight would be greatly reduced.

With regards to Tony, a jump like this is never going to be ideal. The most muscle you can gain in a year is only something like 8 lbs unless you are on some kind of PED so he has to get the size with fat initially and slowly recomp his body over time. Tony never looks like he has much muscle mass at any weight though.

 

Well, yes and no. What I was suggesting was not an increase of a few pounds per division, it was spreading out the divisions more equally so that the 25lb jump didn't exist, therefore moving from the bottom up the difference between the existing divisions and the new divisions would gradually increase. The jump for some would be quite large.

 

CW is simply for those HW who can boil down to 200; it is not a division you move up to unless you absolutely have to (which rarely happens).

I think there should be a division between LHW and CW. Light-Cruiserweight will do and the weight should be smack bang in between the two, i.e 175 - 187.

This would have the least impact on other divisions and would give fighters more opportunities at winning a world title.

 

RE LJ,
of course you're right and I agree. My point has been slightly missed, I believe your suggestion is right and I would go along with it.
The 'spreading out' of the divisions as you put it (i.e. making the transitions between the divisions a more consistent % of weight) would results in a rise of weight boundaries for those divisions up until Cruiser. Cruiser and heavy I guess would stay the same but I'm not against the idea of shuffling those around a bit....maybe a heavier HW division or some such.

Regardless, I agree that the lower divisions need to amalgamate to a degree and some of these belts need to be dissolved.:good