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Suddenly, the cruiserweight division looks red hot.
One result can do that to a division, and so it was for the 200-pounders when Marco Huck and Ola Afolabi turned in a Fight of the Year candidate in Germany last weekend, producing a stunning 12-round draw. As soon as the final bell rang the pack had to be reshuffled to accommodate first of all Afolabi, an unexpected hero and newly anointed top man behind his outstanding display, but also Marco Huck, who had seemed bound for the heavyweights but who may now find that he is bound instead to his WBO cruiserweight title.
Perhaps of all the divisions cruiserweight was most in need of and least likely to receive such a boost. Boxing’s least favorite stepchild, the cruiserweight division has the most difficult history to unpick, its identity undermined by the British habit of referring to the light heavyweights under that name as late as the 1970s and by the original weight limit being pegged at 190 lbs. and only later being moved to the current roof of 200 lbs. It can hardly be a surprise that the first ever title fight made under the cruiserweight banner ended in a draw, fought between the unheralded Mate Parlov and Marvin Camel in December of 1979. The division comes with all the negatives associated with huge size, the relative slowness of hand and foot, the terrible drag on stamina such a huge frame imposes on a fighter, the inherent nervousness seen between fighters who understand each can end the fight with a single blow and the inevitable drain on talent from the big bucks on offer in the weight division above—a but it has never enjoyed the associated glamour that the heavyweights enjoy. Big, but not the biggest, cruiserweight is and was and will continue to be a division without a true identity.
But these are high times. Cruiserweight may be the best division in boxing right now. It is stuffed with talent, punchers and prospects. Whether or not these men will get to settle the argument concerning which of them is best or unify a hopelessly fractured title is a question as open for debate as the question of which results the fights themselves would produce, but that is not a question we are going to explore here. What we’re going to do here is admire the talent on offer, working our way through my personal choice for the division’s top five; who they are, what they can do, how they might do against one another and then sneak a peek at the men hovering just below them.
Suddenly, the cruiserweight division looks red hot.
One result can do that to a division, and so it was for the 200-pounders when Marco Huck and Ola Afolabi turned in a Fight of the Year candidate in Germany last weekend, producing a stunning 12-round draw. As soon as the final bell rang the pack had to be reshuffled to accommodate first of all Afolabi, an unexpected hero and newly anointed top man behind his outstanding display, but also Marco Huck, who had seemed bound for the heavyweights but who may now find that he is bound instead to his WBO cruiserweight title.
Perhaps of all the divisions cruiserweight was most in need of and least likely to receive such a boost. Boxing’s least favorite stepchild, the cruiserweight division has the most difficult history to unpick, its identity undermined by the British habit of referring to the light heavyweights under that name as late as the 1970s and by the original weight limit being pegged at 190 lbs. and only later being moved to the current roof of 200 lbs. It can hardly be a surprise that the first ever title fight made under the cruiserweight banner ended in a draw, fought between the unheralded Mate Parlov and Marvin Camel in December of 1979. The division comes with all the negatives associated with huge size, the relative slowness of hand and foot, the terrible drag on stamina such a huge frame imposes on a fighter, the inherent nervousness seen between fighters who understand each can end the fight with a single blow and the inevitable drain on talent from the big bucks on offer in the weight division above—a but it has never enjoyed the associated glamour that the heavyweights enjoy. Big, but not the biggest, cruiserweight is and was and will continue to be a division without a true identity.
But these are high times. Cruiserweight may be the best division in boxing right now. It is stuffed with talent, punchers and prospects. Whether or not these men will get to settle the argument concerning which of them is best or unify a hopelessly fractured title is a question as open for debate as the question of which results the fights themselves would produce, but that is not a question we are going to explore here. What we’re going to do here is admire the talent on offer, working our way through my personal choice for the division’s top five; who they are, what they can do, how they might do against one another and then sneak a peek at the men hovering just below them.
don't know what happened...I heard they were gonna do one as well....I hope they make it happen...Sauerland controls dam near the whole division so it should be really EASY to put together
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