By Troy Ondrizek
Most people at 28-years-of-age are long past adolescence, or puberty for that matter. A majority of people that age have careers, a family, or are about to start either or both. Even if one is a late bloomer and haven’t met their goals at this age, they at least have a minimum understanding as to who they are as a human. If you then take 28-years in the sport world, well that is several generations of athletes. Careers have come and gone, role players have been appreciated and forgotten; sports themselves have been revolutionized in that time span. Yet the cruiserweight division is just now starting to create its own identity and is experiencing the growing pains of legitimacy.
Sure there have been times when the division looked like it was ready to leave the nest, but like a Magic the Gathering freak, the division scurried back to its days of prepubesence and would rather hide in the arms of obscurity then socialize with the grown-up divisions surrounding it.
On several occasions I have spoken on how great the division will be and how it quite possibly is one of the most exciting divisions to watch. I also have given much praise to the quality of fighters and how the division has finally gotten out of the shadow of Evander Holyfield.
I was wrong.
A division really can only grow as much as its champion and its best fighters. So O’Neill Bell was the first unified champion in 17 years; groundbreaking to be honest and his title winning bout with Jean Marc Mormeck was a classic reminiscent of Qawi/Holyfield. Then Bell showed he was a true cruiserweight and refused to stay in the spotlight. He liked the shadows, he liked them so much that instead of build off of his great victory, he chose not to fight at all; for an entire year. Luckily the next bout for Bell saw a rematch with Mormeck, in what was initially another great fight but then was marred by Mormeck running to victory as a result of the WBC’s absolutely ridiculous open scoring system. But the division was fortunate not to have Bell as its head honcho anymore.
Now I can’t put all the blame on Bell for the division staying in mediocrity; many of the top fighters simply chose not to fight each other as well. When fame and fortune and more importantly credibility starred them in the face, the entire division ran away. Now things seem to be a changing, a revolution of sorts. Young talent has squared off and provided contenders, spectacular knockouts on national TV, and a new and exciting linear champion has arisen to give this division some identity and confidence.
The credibility of a division all ends with the champion, but the longevity of such rest on the prospects and contenders. The list of legitimate contenders is long and full of names filled with consonants and amateur credentials. Fighters such as Rudolf Kraj, Alexander Alekseev, Matt Godfrey, BJ Flores, and Jonathon Banks have all been very successful amateurs in their countries and on the international scene. Even the champion David Haye was an English amateur stud.
The years of amateur fighting has parlayed into very talented fighters who make for entertaining bouts. Though the main provider of action and theatrics isn’t a man of amateur accolades, in fact he earned his keep by fighting the toughest guys available on the way up. Notice I didn’t say that he honed his craft or has perfected boxing, no, because Darnell Wilson lacks refinement in the fistic arts, but what he does with the power in both fist is a spectacle that revived the division on its own. Wilson is a brawler that loves to fight; sure he worked on his jab and spacing in the gym, but when he gets hit; dear Lord what a mistake. I bet Emmanuel Nwodo passes out each time he sees replays of that left hook. Hell, I still cringe at it. When guys come over and want to see knockouts, I give them a Ding-a-Ling Man trilogy that starts with Daniel Judah moves to Kelvin Davis and zeniths with the Nwodo bout. The level of ferocity increases with each KO and the “Oh Damn!” factor goes off the charts at the end.
Speaking of Wilson and when we get to see him again, Dino Duva has a Feb 8th date on ESPN for him and their eyes are set on plugging in BJ Flores for the opponent. BJ is an undefeated fighter who started his career out at heavyweight and moved down to show his power and skills. While BJ hasn’t fought any top-flight guys yet, his amateur championships and absolute domination of his foes makes him a difficult puzzle to solve. Duva though needs to get this fight signed because there are many quality bouts to be made out there and someone might snatch Flores up in an eliminator or other high profile affair.
In a recent interview, Flores talked of IBF titlist Steve “USS” Cunningham, who was fighting off in a distant land yet again to prove his mettle as he took on Marco “Kapt’n” Huck. In a battle of horrible nicknames, Cunningham surprised many with a 12th round TKO win over Huck. The bout was entertaining with good ebb and flow and made it a viable title fight. This is in all honesty a bit of a shocker; while Cunningham is a solid fighter, he isn’t an exciting fighter. Also Huck brings heat every chance he can and in Germany many didn’t think Cunningham could pull off a decision win. He didn’t; what he did do was give us some depth and water cooler talk. The progression of Steve as a fighter is parallel to the maturation of the division.
The titlists in the division are Firat Arslan, Steve Cunningham, and Enzo Maccarinelli, but there is only one champion; David Haye. While Cunningham is the most skilled titlist, and Enzo is the most powerful, they are just contenders to Haye who has both skill and power and a little thing we call charisma. The whole attraction of the division would disappear if Haye had moved to heavyweight as planned for his next fight, but the fact that he taking on countrymen slugger Enzo Maccarinelli in March, the division retains its luster. This fight is just a postponement of Haye’s eventual move to heavyweight, but it buys the division time to make great fights like this one and a possible Wilson/Flores, and rumors of Kraj/Godfrey. All are great fights that have created a sense of anticipation in a rather stagnant weightclass.
There aren’t as many superstars in this division as in the welterweights, the skill level isn’t that of the super-featherweights or lightweights, and the prestige is almost as bad as the minimum-weights. There is though more talented fighters than the heavyweights, more exciting fights than the light heavyweights and more depth than just about any division. The cruiserweights seem to have shed their nerdy exterior and have accepted the responsibility of growing up. It has moved out on its own and even though this life is a bit new and kind’ve scary, it’s about time it gets on with its life as a premier division in boxing.
