Seems kind of odd that we go from 175 all the way up to 200 lbs no? any reason in particular why there is not another divison in between?
its the heavyweights man...MFers keep getting bigger
back in the day heavies were sub 200 like Dempsey, Patterson, with occassional guys at the 210-220 range like Jim Jeffries, and tweeners at 200-210 like Louis
in the 60s and 70s it became common to see guys 220 and 6'3"...these gys dwarfed the champs of the past who were 5'10"-6'
now these dudes are literally the size of nba small forwards and power forwards
I dont see the need for another weight class though 175-200 is a big gap but most lightheavies are waaaaay taller and bigger than the past these guys are over 6 foot and walk around 210
I can think of tons of heavyweights over the last decade who could have boiled down to the CW limit without killing themselves: Povetkin, Chagaev, Ibragimov, Jennings, Glazkov, Szpilka, even fatsos like Charr and Arreola. Solis and Andy Ruiz would probably be around the CW limit if they ever shed the fat as well. Unless you're built like a tank (Sam Peter, Carlos Takam) or are over six three and not a bean pole there's no reason you should be weighing in above 220 if you put the work in.
When you look at it even closer, you'd be surprised at just who could make cruiserweight. Lennox Lewis at like 26 was weighing in the 220's. You would imagine he could boil down to 205 if he wanted and done it with ease in his early 20's. Wladamir Klitschko was kinda the same, Vitali use to be a stick - check out his old kick boxing videos. Honestly it would take a real freak of nature to not be able to make 205 lbs. someone like Nikolai Valuev or that 7 ft chinnese guy only really come to mind and maybe Tyson Fury.
they could perhaps put cruiser back at 190, give heavyweight an upper limit of 225, and make everything above that "super heavy"
i definitely think a few of the "junior" and "super" division need to go too
What do you mean by Cruiser is a bit empty? Cruiserweight's a pretty deep division. Just the majority of their top fighters are unknown to American and British fans.
^^^
this, the Cruiserweight division is full of killers.
Cruiserweight was originally 190 pounds and was created for guys who couldn't quite make 175 but didn't want to fight rock hard 220 pounders. At 190 it made sense. When they raised it up to 200 pounds and banned same day weigh ins it no longer made sense. Now you have cruiserweights who weigh in at 200 pounds and then weigh 220 pounds on fight night. These so called cruiserweights are full sized heavyweights just as big as Sonny Liston, Mike Tyson and the young George Foreman. Any good cruiserweight always moves up to heavyweight anyway. They aren't really moving up because they already were heavyweights. If they wanted to improve things they would drop the limit back down to 190 pounds. Any boxer who can't make 190 32 hours before the fight is a heavyweight bigger than most of the past heavyweight champs.
True. It always annoys me when people talk about "blown up cruiserweights" as though these are small men. Most cruiserweights are huge and simply stop cutting weight when they move up to heavy. When Huck fought Povetkin he weighed in at around 210-215 yet looked exactly the same as he did at Cruiserweight. Haye weighed in at around that for his first few heavyweight fights as well.
To put that in perspective, Joe Louis' career best weight was 200lbs. Frazier was 205, Evander was 205, Earnie Shavers (so-called biggest puncher ever) was 210. Foreman was around 217 and was considered a giant.
If a man weighing 100 lbs fought a man weighing 200 lbs he would be fighting someone 2 times his size. Whereas a man weighing 200 lbs fighting a man weighing 300 lbs would fighting someone 1.5 times his size. As you get heavier the weight becomes less relevant and that's the reason for the 'massive' gap.
If anything boxing needs LESS divisions. I know there's a lot of heavyweights nowadays but if half of them put in the proper training they would easily be able to get down to cruiserweight. You've have to be f**king huge to not be able to get below 205 lbs.
I can think of tons of heavyweights over the last decade who could have boiled down to the CW limit without killing themselves: Povetkin, Chagaev, Ibragimov, Jennings, Glazkov, Szpilka, even fatsos like Charr and Arreola. Solis and Andy Ruiz would probably be around the CW limit if they ever shed the fat as well. Unless you're built like a tank (Sam Peter, Carlos Takam) or are over six three and not a bean pole there's no reason you should be weighing in above 220 if you put the work in.
they should scrap some of the lower weight classes, it's already a complete joke with all the catchweight BS.
Agreed. We need fewer weight classes, not more.
Also there isnt a big push to make another division because cruiser has been a bit empty as it is and thats with a 25 pound range. If they split it in two and make a cruiser jr and regular cruiser, it will be even worse.
The bigger fights are at light heavy and heavy, splitting cruiser into 2 would make it worse.
What do you mean by Cruiser is a bit empty? Cruiserweight's a pretty deep division. Just the majority of their top fighters are unknown to American and British fans.
Cruiserweight was originally 190 pounds and was created for guys who couldn't quite make 175 but didn't want to fight rock hard 220 pounders. At 190 it made sense. When they raised it up to 200 pounds and banned same day weigh ins it no longer made sense. Now you have cruiserweights who weigh in at 200 pounds and then weigh 220 pounds on fight night. These so called cruiserweights are full sized heavyweights just as big as Sonny Liston, Mike Tyson and the young George Foreman. Any good cruiserweight always moves up to heavyweight anyway. They aren't really moving up because they already were heavyweights. If they wanted to improve things they would drop the limit back down to 190 pounds. Any boxer who can't make 190 32 hours before the fight is a heavyweight bigger than most of the past heavyweight champs.
Very sensible post! Wanted to give green K, but I can't. Apparently I need to award someone else due to nsb rules...
If a man weighing 100 lbs fought a man weighing 200 lbs he would be fighting someone 2 times his size. Whereas a man weighing 200 lbs fighting a man weighing 300 lbs would fighting someone 1.5 times his size. As you get heavier the weight becomes less relevant and that's the reason for the 'massive' gap.
If anything boxing needs LESS divisions. I know there's a lot of heavyweights nowadays but if half of them put in the proper training they would easily be able to get down to cruiserweight. You've have to be f**king huge to not be able to get below 205 lbs.
I think it's the same reason there aren't half-sizes in shoes once you get past size 12 (a subject I happen to be pissed off about right now, lol). There are fewer that fit in those ranges and the differences aren't as significant as they are when guys are smaller.
Cruiser is a tweener division. Nothing of consequence ever happens there really or rarely does. Its a place for good smaller heavies to get a strap or two before moving to heavy. Thats how Ive always looked at it anyway.
Cruiserweight was originally 190 pounds and was created for guys who couldn't quite make 175 but didn't want to fight rock hard 220 pounders. At 190 it made sense. When they raised it up to 200 pounds and banned same day weigh ins it no longer made sense. Now you have cruiserweights who weigh in at 200 pounds and then weigh 220 pounds on fight night. These so called cruiserweights are full sized heavyweights just as big as Sonny Liston, Mike Tyson and the young George Foreman. Any good cruiserweight always moves up to heavyweight anyway. They aren't really moving up because they already were heavyweights. If they wanted to improve things they would drop the limit back down to 190 pounds. Any boxer who can't make 190 32 hours before the fight is a heavyweight bigger than most of the past heavyweight champs.
Also there isnt a big push to make another division because cruiser has been a bit empty as it is and thats with a 25 pound range. If they split it in two and make a cruiser jr and regular cruiser, it will be even worse.
The bigger fights are at light heavy and heavy, splitting cruiser into 2 would make it worse.
They moved cruiser from 190 to 200, around the time Lennox/Klitchkos started dominating heavy, so smaller guys could stay at cruiser and not have to face 245 pound highly skilled men.
Seems fine by me, we dont need more divisions.
WBA and WBC have been based on latin america for a good few years and they were the only organizations back then...I think that's why they've made a billion lower weight classes......keep their local promoters/friends happy and collect more fees. I mean, there were always cathcweight fights around those middle ground limits, but these blood sucking comissions didnt need to make them all official. Anyway, my point is the weight jump isn't that big, originally 175+ was heavyweight.......it's only because the other weightclasses are so close to each other that 25 pounds seems to be too much.