Suppose there had always been a cruiserweight division. What impact would this have had on the Heavyweight division or Boxing history in general.
It would probably have been the glamour division for most of the 20th century with the heavyweight division being seen as a rump of slow and overweight fighters. Also for most of his history the heavyweight division would have been dominated by a cruiserweight.
Very interesting thread. I would love to see someone make a list of heavyweight contenders above 200lb from each era.
Dempsey, Louis, Marciano & possibly Fraziers first world championships would have been at Cruiserweight. Interesting to see if Conn, Charles & Moore would have dominated the Cruiserweght division.
I do not think the heavyweight division would've ended up nearly as rich. It would have suffered badly, I think.
This is a funny thread, because in the 70s, a lot of "heavyweight" fighters in their prime were actually just big cruiserweights. Ali, Quarry, Frazier, Chuvalo, and many others appear to be just big cruiserweights, while Foreman and Lyle are real heavyweights. Heck, even Liston was below 200 LB at a time. A very green underdeveloped liston.
