Other than Evander Holyfield who do you rate as number 1 Cruiserweight all time?

After Holyfield there is a bit time drop off. I would go with Haye.

There is a top talent at cruiserweight on the way up, who I think at the very least will rate in the top 5 of all time if he stays in the division. Oleksandr Usyk

 

I don't think Haye should be #2. While the division has never been particularly loaded with standouts for elite positions, there are a few who could arguably be ahead of him. He wasn't a title holder for long in that class and there were a few opponents he could have beaten before stepping up. Considerations should be made for his loss to a 40 year old Carl Thompson on the grounds that Haye was a prospect with only 10 pro fights.. But having that loss still doesn't help him either.

 

what do you think of it at the moment?....lot of closely matched boxers and good matches that can be made

 

I would use the word competitive at the moment, which seems to be as good as it gets.

 

I admittedly haven't watched much of this division but a guy I've always liked is Jirov. Yes he lost a tough battle against Toney but he was also coming off an injury and wasn't at his best. Later on he ended the career of Mesi who was undefeated.

 

I don't know if I'd put him that high but De Leon was very good. Prior to his loss to Holyfield (8th round KO) he was outpointed once and stopped twice.

He was stopped in the 2nd round by ST Gordon (losing the WBC CW World title) but he regained the title by clearly outpointing Gordon over 12 rounds.

He was outpointed by Alfonzo Ratliff by SD (losing the WBC CW World title) but later regained the title by beating Bernard Benton by MD.

After losing the title to Holyfield he regained the vacant WBC belt by beating Sammy Reeson KO9. He drew with Johnny Nelson then lost the title to M. Duran, LDQ11.

He also beat Marvin Camel W15 and KO8, L. Spinks KO6, Yaqui Lopez KO4, Anthony Davis W12, Bash Ali W12, Angelo Rottoli KO5, and others.

 

Carlos DeLeon definitely seemed like the best cruiserweight for a while - before Holyfield came along. But that was a long time ago.

I believe David Haye, Tomasz Adamek, Marco Huck, Steve Cunningham and Jean Marc Mormeck would've all beaten Carlos DeLeon head-to-head at cruiserweight.

DeLeon probably beats James Toney and Juan Carlos Gomez at the weight. But that's not a given, either.

So it's difficult to rate DeLeon #2.

I'd take Haye #2 and Adamek #3 (even though he wasn't at the weight very long).

If you were throwing all these names in a hat, and matching them up at cruiserweight, I think Haye beats everyone except Holyfield.

 

Haye

 

The criticism was he was a scared heavyweight and hard to negotiate with! That and lame excuses.

But at cruiser Haye was much more decisive in the ring.

 

I don't understand it actually.
Haye's resume at cruiserweight is weak.
The win over Mormeck, and what else ?
He unified against Macchiarelli, who wasn't much good. He didn't fight Cunningham.
He even got stopped by Carl Thompson a couple of years earlier, and was decked a couple of times in fights, so it's not like he was invincible.

I think fighters like Gomez and Deleon are clearly more accomplished.
Dwight Qawi even.