
It is a function of when we are right now. Twenty-five years ago would have been too early for several of these tournaments--for there were not enough contestants yet. We are now at a natural time to begin. This Intermediate Division format of mythical tournament will only become better as the number of potential contestants grows over the decades, and is even propelled and hurried along by the proliferation of alphabet orgs.
In these divisions forevermore there is no earlier period lost in the mists of time and barely accessible by eye if at all. An intermediate division's complete history is available in the mythical tournament and its evaluations with no (or little) loss of clarity in viewing the earlier practitioners at work.
No intermediate division is older than 63 years (junior welter) or younger than 42 years (S. fly), as of this date, though I did not calculate down to the month. No permanently established intermediate division preceded the age of television.
That statement has to be explained. Dates have to be justified, and a few exceptions noted. Several of the intermediate divisions got off to a false start or two before television, and then petered out and were discontinued, only to start up again in the age of television permanently. I do not count the false starts when calculating age. The division which had the longest run before petering out pre-television was super featherweight, which officially was competed in from 1921 to 1933. Those twelve years will be missed. Battling Nelson was said to be an unofficial champ of the non-existent division as far back as 1914.
Fortunately, other than that minor blemish, the pre-television runs of the other intermediate divisions were mostly trivial and short lived. At least one of them (junior flyweight) is said to be a ****** bride that never had crowned even an unofficial champion prior to the age of television.
The cruiserweight division, the second youngest division, re-sized itself once during the age of television, from 190 lbs. in 1979 to 200 lbs. in 2003.
* * * * *
Astonishingly, in the second youngest division of cruiserweight there have already been 89 different champions (minus repeats) of all the various orgs. Plenty to make selections from for a tournament. The youngest division of super flyweight has had at least twice that many champions so far in its brief history. Plenty to make an excellent tournament.
Division | Established | Current Age |
cruiser | 1979 | 43 |
S. middle | 1967 | 55 |
J. middle | 1962 | 60 |
J. welter | 1959 | 63 |
S. feather | 1960 | 62 |
S. bantam | 1976 | 46 |
S. fly | 1980 | 42 |
J. fly | 1975 | 47 |
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