By Gerardo Granados: Fellow Boxingnews24 writer Mr. Gav Duthie wrote an interesting article about two promising cruiserweight prospects and after I read the article it made me wonder why “Despite increasing the Cruiser limit from 190lb-200lbs in recent years in a category that theoretically should possess the perfect blend between size, speed and power it has never really succeeded in comparison to its marketing potential” (quote from Gav Duthie article).
The reader might have asked the same the same question since the division was created back in March 1980 – Marvin Camel WBC, February 1982 – Ossie Ocasio WBA, February 1983 – Marvin Camel IBF and March 1990 – Boone Pultz respectively; and it’s been “35 years” already without the proper development of a “weight division” in which the names of hall of fame member Evander Holyfield, nominee Dariusz Michalczewski and recently David Haye were not enough to bring sufficient attention to a weight division that in the past could have had listed the names of boxing greats such as Bob Fitzsimmons, Jack Dempsey, John L Sullivan, Jack Johnson, Max Schmelling, Joe Louis, Max Baer, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Floyd Patterson just to mention a few. So how come there has not been an increase of interest to watch tall athletic build skilled fighters who can not only fight with speed and mobility but also with the power to end the bout with one punch?
Have the boxing promoters put on a significant effort to promote the category or have they left it vacant due that fight fans pay little attention to the cruiserweight fighters? How many fights of the year nominees and winners of that award have come out of the cruiserweight division?
I can’t recall many major events headed by the cruiser champions and most of the time it’s the lower weight classes that bring a fan friendly style that please the crowd but the cruisers could as well be as interesting if promoters and TV networks invested time and money trying to develop that division.
A friend of mine thinks that the division hasn’t fully developed because due the size of the combatants you leave a hole in the boxers who belong to certain nationality out because by tradition the lower divisions have been dominated by some nationalities and the bigger weight divisions reduces the number of nationalities involved, not as the welters that harbors the best fighters of many nationalities. I believe it is a valid point there but not the only one.
If the major TV networks that promote and profit from pro boxing had interest, then the division might even end up eclipsing the heavyweight division due the natural attributes that a cruiserweight fighter can have. Can you imagine a heavyweight who campaigns at 208 pounds putting on work and sacrifice to make the cruiserweight division? That same fighter would rehydrate back up to 208 and he would end up ready to go to war for the full twelve rounds.
I have no doubt that to watch two skilled big lions with mobility and speed is a great spectacle worth to pay watching. Maybe is up to us fight fans to pay attention to the category to help it grow. Perhaps if the ones who control pro boxing understand that it is a weight category that can bring huge earnings then the cruiserweight division would end up getting big purses to persuade fighters to campaign at it. And undoubtedly the most important thing is that the cruiserweight fighters must please fight fans and offer them epic battles in order to make the division the most entertaining of all.
I think is possible, but do the readers think that the Cruiserweight Division can be as interesting as the Welterweight Division?
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