Cruiserweight...is this a dead division?

[Humean]

The best thing about the cruiserweight division is that the champions and at least half a dozen or more of the top contenders are very evenly matched and therefore you have seen a number of very competitive match-ups in recent years and hopefully far more to come. I'd say that the cruiserweight division is probably entering, or has already entered, the best period of the divisions short history.

[FrankieBruno]

Haye made it somewhat cool for me

[Citizen Koba]

the problem with cruiserweight is there is never a really truly great or outstanding fighter there (for very long) as whenever one comes along they inevitably go to heavyweight so it is left with a bunch of half decent fighters but no Hayes or Holyfields etc who inevitably leave to step up to heavy.

This ^. That said, as expounded by Dan Cov there's is actually some really decent fighters and really good potential matchups to be made right now @ 200lbs... the long hoped for (by me at least) Mchunu - Makabu matchup looks like it could be on the way in Moscow on a card that will also feature Drozd and Lebedev (though sadly in seperate bouts).

There's a number of fearsome punchers working through the ranks also in Makabu, Kudryashov, and Dorticos (and possibly Bezerra if you have any faith in Brazilian KO records) and of course the emerging talent of Usyk, who frankly looks pretty much ready to take over the division already.

There is a lack of decent US based CWs though so I wouldn't expect many high profile fights on US TV in the near future, though Jordan Shimell seems to show decent promise and was a stand out amateur at the weight - Bad Chad, too looks to be heading for CW (along with Shumenov, Bellew, Sillakh and Cleverly - common theme anyone? LOL) but it's hard to imagine him making any real impact at this point.

[The Big Dunn]

None of the top fighters are from the USA or the UK, and that's why it doesn't receive much attention. But the division is loaded with talent:

Usyk, Makabu, Mchunu, Kudryashov, Drozd, Lebedev, Huck, Hernandez, etc.

I think tunney is right on this.

[jas]

Most definitely. Hes a very fortunate world champion hiding out in Germany who has had a lot of gift decisions.
I felt Afolabi beat him and Arslan, Lebedev most certainly did.

I feel if he fought the best he'd be fringe top 10. He is the weakest champion at the weight IMO

That Italian was giving huck problems.

Huck's arsenal is limited.

He did catch a second wind in that fight though.

[soul_survivor]

There seems to never be threads,news or any talk about this division at all..

And I think that's absolutely criminal, the division isn't dead however it's not as strong as it has been in the past.

It's peak was probably the mid to late 80s and then the rebirth in the early to mid 00s.

Even now there are some good fighters and there have been some damn exciting fights. Guys like Huck, Afolabia, Lebedev, Jones have all given us fireworks and made the division interesting at times. It's a shame that the guy considered top dog (isn't really) is a guy who fights almost as many times as Ward and has a bit of a yellow streak.

[Y0@NN]

It's dead and Eddie Chambers will take over the division, easy work.
Bellew will move back down to light heavy soon enough after he found out he's even less relevant at cruiserweight.

[Y0@NN]

That Italian was giving huck problems.

Huck's arsenal is limited.

He did catch a second wind in that fight though.

He might be the most paid but there are more dangerous cruisers than Huck (or even Hernandez) in my opinion.

[Dostojevski]

It's dead and Eddie Chambers will take over the division, easy work.
Bellew will move back down to light heavy soon enough after he found out he's even less relevant at cruiserweight.

Mchunu ****d chamberss ass

[soul_survivor]

The best thing about the cruiserweight division is that the champions and at least half a dozen or more of the top contenders are very evenly matched and therefore you have seen a number of very competitive match-ups in recent years and hopefully far more to come. I'd say that the cruiserweight division is probably entering, or has already entered, the best period of the divisions short history.

I agree that the division is not dead but this is hardly true. The division has had many better years previously.