A second sanctioning body has joined the movement to provide boxing with an eighteenth weight division.

The WBA is the latest to come around the concept of a ‘tweener division for oversized cruiserweights who aren’t quite big enough to compete with the true heavyweights. A unanimous vote was reached to form the ‘Super Cruiserweight’ division, which will carry a weight range of 201-224 pounds.

“The World Boxing Association (WBA) Executive Committee approved the creation of the super cruiserweight division in a vote called by the president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza,” the organization announced Wednesday. “This new division will be between 200 and 224 pounds, while it will be located between the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions.

“The pioneer organization made several analyses during the last months before thinking about the request and in the end it was submitted to a vote, in which it was approved by the unanimous vote of the executive committee. The creation of this new weight will mainly help to avoid bouts in which the fighters enter the ring with excessive weight differences, as tends to happen at heavyweight occasionally, where there can be differences of 20 pounds or more.”

The move mirrors that of the WBC, who formed the ‘Bridgerweight’ division in 2020. The division—whose weight range is 191-224 pounds—is named after Bridger Walker, who was six years old at the time he risked his life to save his younger sister from a vicious dog attack.

It was a well-intended concept by the WBC, who pitched the idea of recruiting undersized heavyweights such as Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder, among others. Neither took the bait, as the Mexico City-headquartered group was left with Oscar Rivas as its inaugural champion after his win over Ryan Rozicki in their October 2021 thriller.

The reign did not feature a single successful title defense, as injuries and other cancelations beyond Rivas’ control limited his ability to return to the ring.

Poland’s Lukasz Rozanski claimed the vacant belt with a first-round knockout of Alen Babic in their April 22 battle of unbeaten bridgerweights. He has yet to make a successful defense, which has left the WBC with just two sanctioned fights in the division’s three-year history.

The WBA will likely run in to similar problems, although its vote mirrors a recent decision made by the Australian National Boxing Federation during its annual meeting on November 18.

“Fighters considered ” small heavyweights” will have the option to move down to super cruiserweight and seek opportunities against more balanced weight opponents, in the quest to make the sport increasingly fairer,” noted the WBA. “The WBA ranking committee has already begun working on the creation of the rankings for this weight and the first divisional match-ups will be announced soon. 

“The WBA will continue to work on making boxing a fairer sport that provides opportunities and fairness to all involved, especially the boxers.”

Ironically, the decision contradicts the WBA’s ongoing title reduction campaign which recently saw its number of secondary titlists reduced to four. Devin Haney announced that he was severing ties with the lightweight division, which removed his ‘Super’ title from existence. Gervonta Davis is now the division’s lone recognized WBA titlist.

The Top 15 rankings for the newly formed weight class will likely roll out during the WBA’s annual convention this coming December 11-15 in Orlando, Florida.

To date, the IBF and WBO have not yet declared any plans to follow suit. 

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox