By Jake Donovan

Ah, the cruiserweights. Long regarded as boxing's bastard division and, prior to 2005, for good reason. Once upon a time, the term cruiserweight unofficially meant "pit stop from light heavyweight to heavyweight," with the division's first undisputed champion and future Hall of Famer Evander Holyfield setting the trend in 1988.

His success in the heavyweight division throughout the 1990's gave cause for his successors (for the lack of a better term) to hold out for heavyweight dollars rather than face one another. From A(naclet Wamba) to (Juan Carlos Gome)Z, settling any debate as to who was the premiere cruiserweight of the 1990's without so much as a single head-to-head matchup ultimately proved to be an exercise in futility.

Then came the 21st Century. With the efforts of Don King's promotional efforts and Showtime's willingness to invest in cruiserweight unification, 2005 saw the division's first unification match in 17 years, when Jean-Marc Mormeck outpointed Wayne Braithwaite in Worcestor, MA to lay unofficial claim as the division's linear champion.

Some felt that total unification was necessary. So back came Mormeck, along with King and Showtime, this time with a new entrant, O'Neil Bell, who held the third and final piece to the cruiserweight puzzle. Mormeck was heavily favored to become the first man in 18 years to leave the ring with three cruiserweight titles, but it was Bell who overcame a rough start to rally back and literally defy the odds, dropping and eventually stopping Mormeck in the 10th round of a thriller in New York City.

Only it turned out Bell and Mormeck, weren't the ideal candidates to carry the cruiserweight torch. Both were the division's premiere fighters, no question, but neither offered much in the way of staying busy throughout the calendar year. Mormeck had entered their first fight having only fought five times in four years, while Bell, to date has only fought seven times since early 2003.

Bell's inactivity was further accentuated when his March 2007 rematch with Mormeck marked his first ring appearance since winning the crown 14 months prior. Like Mormeck in their first fight, Bell would fail to leave the ring with the cruiserweight crown, dropping a unanimous decision in a scorcher of a bout in France.

It was another eight months before Mormeck would resurface, leaving many to ponder if the division would suffer the same fate as it did during Mormeck's first tour of duty.

Then came a Hayemaker. Not a wild punch thrown from left field, but a vicious puncher from London, England by the name of David Haye, a rare breed who fights often and fights balls-to-the-wall each time out. Such courage was exuded in his title-winning effort against Mormeck last November in the very same arena that saw the title change hands eight months prior. Haye climbed off of the canvas in the 4th round, regained control of the fight in the 6th before knocking out Mormeck in the 7th after a series of uppercuts and right hands literally beat the fight out of the Frenchman.

For a moment, it appeared as if the cruiserweight division would sing the same old song. Haye immediately cited an increasing difficulty in making the 200 lb. limit and that perhaps heavyweight would be a better fit. He wore the weight well in his prior fight, blasting out Pole heavyweight Tomasz Bonin in less than a round.

Fortunately, for those who long for the cruiserweight division to be better remembered for its punches than as a punch line, Haye decided to not only stick around, but return to the ring four months later. His March 8 opponent is hardly of the cookie-cutter variety; he squares off against another big countryman in Wales' Enzo Maccarrinelli next month in an all-UK showdown that will air via tape-delay on Showtime.

If history is any indication, then Enzo Calzaghe, who trains Maccarinelli, may find himself with his second linear world champion, his son and undefeated super middleweight king Joe Calzaghe being the other. Throughout the division's 30-year history, only four men have laid claim to the linear cruiserweight crown: Holyfield, Mormeck, Bell and Haye. The next successful linear title defense will be the first, which bodes well for Maccarinelli, long on talent, but short on respect, which he hopes to change come March 8.

Given his skill-set and punching power, his chances are not unfathomable. Haye is as exciting as he is flawed, with his chin and stamina (both perhaps attributed to difficulties melting down to the cruiserweight limit) serving as liabilities for the chiseled Brit.

For prospective opponent, that's the good news.

The bad news? You have to go through a hell of a lot of incoming to test either area. All but one of Haye's 21 pro fights ended inside the distance, with none of his 19 knockout victims making it past the 9th round. Haye can take you out with one shot and either hand, or he can go boxer-puncher mode, landing a series of well-placed punches throughout the course of a bout before wearing you down and taking you out.

Regardless of the winner in their superfight, there will be a lot of interested observers. For starters, the winner of this weekend's cruiserweight clash in Dover, Delaware between resurging contender Darnell "Ding-A-Ling" Wilson and former amateur standout BJ Flores (Friday, ESPN2, 9PM ET/6PM PT). 

Fans may be less familiar with Flores, as this weekend will mark his first nationally televised bout. In a rare twist, his career has gone against the grain of your average cruiserweight; he began as a heavyweight before dropping down.

A highly touted amateur groomed for a spot on the 2004 Olympic squad, Flores surprised many by instead turning pro a year earlier. The timing was perfect; Flores signed with Main Events at a time when the New Jersey-based promoters had struck a deal with NBC and Telemundo to bring boxing back to basic network television. His first two pro fights, a mere two weeks apart were on the non-televised portions of the Budweiser Boxing Series, and stayed active throughout the year, fighting three more times.

The activity rate remained consistent, but Flores was hardly gaining consideration as the heavyweight of the future. By his own admission, he was better suited for the cruiserweight division, which led to his not seeing eye-to-eye with his promoter before the two amicably split in early 2006.

Since then, not much has happened for Flores. Five fights against pedestrian opposition, and even at that he's managed to already be introduced to the canvas in the closest he's received to televised coverage, when he was forced to a knee in the 9th round against Chris Thomas in a bout aired by MaxBoxing.com webcast.

In Wilson, Flores faces by far his biggest test to date. The same isn't quite true in reverse for the hard-hitting Wilson, who has faced former champions, title challengers and top prospects throughout his career. In recent years, he's even managed to beat a few, including the four-fight winning streak he brings into this weekend's bout.

His last fought garnered the most attention, when he gave new meaning to the acronym K.T.F.O., nearly decapitating Emmanuel Nwodo in the 11th round of their ESPN2-televised cruiserweight donnybrook last summer. The left hook heard 'round the world, or at least any country with access to the Friday Night Fight series, produced what was nearly universally regarded as 2007's Knockout of the Year.

It was the last of four straight upsets Wilson managed to pull off, all in a span of nine months, having previously knocked out, in reverse order, Kelvin Davis, Dale Brown and Daniel Judah.

Less than two years ago, the Beltway-based bomber was submerged in a four-fight losing streak and regarded as little more than a gatekeeper. A win Friday puts him in contention for his first world title shot.

No stranger to the title picture is O'Neil Bell, who resurfaces this spring for the first time since the loss to Mormeck last March. His most likely opponent will be former light heavyweight Tomasz Adamek, who joined the cruiserweight fray last June with an impressive showing against Luis Pineda in his homeland of Poland.

When the two actually square off is contingent upon the winner of their IBF-ordered purse bid, scheduled for February 14. Promoters for both sides confirm that negotiations have taken place, and anticipate a successful bid resulting in a fight date sometime in the spring.

While the winner won't be next in line for the linear cruiserweight championship, they'll receive the opportunity to pick up a bargaining chip, in the form of the alphabet title presently in the possession of promising Philly player Steve "USS" Cunningham.

As classy as they come outside the ring, Cunningham can box with the best of them from bell to bell. Money is rarely an issue, nor is geography, with Cunningham traveling to Europe for each of his past three bouts. His European vacation resulted in a 2-1 run, with the lone loss coming by way of highly controversial split decision in Poland against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk.

Cunningham righted that wrong six months later, traveling back to Poland but this time leaving no doubt as to who was the better fighter, even if one of the three judges tried his damnest to suggest otherwise. A majority decision gave the Philly boxer his first alphabet title and instant respect.

Perhaps not enough, though, as oddsmakers had Cunningham somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-1 to concede his title to then-unbeaten Marco Huck last December, in the challenger's homeland of Germany. Cunningham ignored the odds and the critics, fending off a late Huck rally to stop the challenger in the 12th and final round.

Suffice to say, there's plenty of action already brewing at cruiserweight in the next few weeks, with more to come throughout the year. And for the first time in a long time, it comes at a time when the division boasts what the heavyweights lack – a leader.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. His feature column runs every Tuesday, and his Prospect of the Week series runs every Thursday. Jake is also BoxingScene's official Telefutura correspondent.

Please feel free to submit any comments or questions to Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.