Hey guys! Since we had around 50 breakdowns of the HW division in the last year, I decided to make one for the CW division, because recently it's far more competitive and interesting. No doubt the spotlight goes to Gassiev and Usyk. There is only almost 1 month left till we find out who is the best in this division. Usyk or Gassiev... Gassiev or Usyk? Let me tell you something. It doesn't matter who wins, because both guys are probably moving up to the heavyweights. It will be a great war, a war of honour, to be named "THE champion". There is no doubt that these two are on the top of the division, but what about the other guys? Mairis Briedis - He looks like the guy that will probably take over, if he stays at CW of course. There are some possible fights left for him. The question is: is he going to be as motivated as against Usyk, because I feel like Briedis showed his best. It was the peak of his skills, and he was very close achieving a great victory. He can bother everyone if he keeps fighting like this. On the other hand he is 33 years old. He has some time, but he is not as young as Gassiev. I don't think Briedis will be so motivated to win a title at HW. Usyk just made him show his best. I would prefer to see him getting the vacant belts at CW, instead of moving up in weight, because when Gassiev and Usyk move up, someone must step up and fight for the belts. Briedis is the right guy for me. Krzysztof Glowacki - He has a pretty good power, but I feel that's all. Huck was clearly winning the fight, before he got dropped. It was an amazing will and spirit that Glowacki showed, but if you compare the spirit to the skills - the skills are not so great. In his last fight he got dropped by Radchenko which exposed some of his weaknesses. I think Glowacki can be a good contender for the belts and would become at some point the gatekeeper of the top10 in the division. If someone could beat him like Usyk did, it means that it's for real. He can win one of the titles but I don't think he will hold it long, because someone will outbox him soon after. Denis Lebedev - The ancient russian is slowly becoming a top10 gatekeeper too. He is getting older and slower. Unfortunately nothing lasts forever. I don't feel like he will win something major. Well it depends versus who he will fight, but guys like Glowacki and Briedis are probably stopping him at this point of time. I think Gassiev stole the last big spark from Lebedev, and he will go slowly down and retire. Some people could say that it was a close fight - yes, it was... But that was one of the fights where the youth faces the experience, and the experience seems to not work anymore. It was a close one like Klitschko - Joshua, but wasn't "that" exciting. Maksim Vlasov - What can I say about him. Firstly I was super surprised that this guy has 40+ fights at the age of 31. That is a lot of experience, although some of the opposition he faced wasn't good at all. The thing is that he moved through different weight classes. This kind of experience - facing different fighting styles is a very important one. I am still thinking Holyfield became such a good fighter because he moved up from CW to HW. I think Vlasov has a real chance for winning a title because he has enough power to trouble everyone. The real question is how skilled is he. For sure he is above the average, he proved it in his recent fight against Duradola. Vlasov probably will struggle against slick and quick fighters, because he doesn't seem so fast. Andrew Tabiti - Well in the division that the US always had someone good, Tabiti is just a need. Never rated him high, but Mayweather tries to sell him as a special fighter. I don't see anything special in him. He would win at his best a bottom spot in the top10. If he was so good as some people say, he would've joined the tournament, and would've lost in his first fight there. Beating a washed up Cunningham means nothing. Cunningham is like 50 years old already. I think that Tabiti will stay busy and keeps his 0 L record until he gets a good payday so he can cash out. Yunier Dorticos - At first I didn't like him because of the speculations around the fight with Kalenga. There were a lot of rumours that team Dorticos cheated in that fight. But after the fight with Gassiev, I saw the pain and disappointment in his eyes. It was heartbreaking - like Gassiev took the ice cream off the hands of a little kid. The fight with Gassiev was really close until the last round. In my opinion Gassiev was going to get a close decision anyways, but it kept me on the edge of my seat. I hope Dorticos won't lose his soul and comes back. He can achieve great things in the division. He is a real threat for the belts after they get vacated. He showed a devastating power that makes his fights fun to watch. Mike Perez - The thing that Perez did is awesome. Going down the CW makes him look 10 times better than in HW. Looks like the 200 lbs limit is the perfect motivation for Perez. It was kinda desperate to jump straight in to the tournament, but props for doing it! Although he lost, he did good and showed us that he has a bright future in this division. At the age of 32 he still have time to win something big. I really hope in the next two years he will get a chance to fight for one of the titles and finally win. He is a legit top10 cruiserweight if he still keeps his good shape. I would appreciate it if someone with more knowledge writes something interesting about the following guys: Michael Hunter, Constantin Bejaneru, Arsen Goulamirian, Mario Daser, Aleksei Papin, Noel Gevor and whoever you find interesting and prospecting in this division. Thanks!
