By Gav Duthie: The conveyer belt of special talent from Eastern Europe doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. There are two fantastic prospects looking to breathe life into one of boxing’s least popular divisions, cruiserweight.
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.
Eastern Europe
The Cruiserweight division in particular is flooded with quality from this region. There are four fighters in the top ten and two world champions in Grigory Drozd 39-1 (27) and Denis Lebedev 26-2 (20). However from what I have seen this year there are two fantastic prospects that in my opinion will surpass any of their achievements. These are Ukranian Oleksander Usyk 5-0 (5) and Russian Dmitry Kudryashov 16-0 (16).
Oleksander Usyk
Wladimir Klitschko signed Usyk up with his company K2 promotions as soon as he turned professional. Usyk had an outstanding amateur record of 400-10 with the highlight winning Olympic Gold in London 2012. In 2014 there was a lot of hype surrounding 6 fight pro novice Artur Beterbiev because of his knockout victory over former world champion Tavoris Cloud. Usyk has defeated Beterbiev twice. Once on route to his Olympic success and previously in the final of the 2011 world championships. Usyk was born in Crimea which has controversially been reclaimed by Russia from Ukraine. Despite this Usyk has stated he will never switch his allegiance from The Ukraine. This could make any fights with his Russian counterparts quite interesting in the future.
Usyk faces Danie Venter 19-6 (14) this Saturday night for the WBO Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title.
Dmitry Kudryashov
The Russian Hammer lived up to his name in style last month knocking out Veteran Cuban legend Juan Carlos Gomez in just 22 seconds of the first round. Kudryashov landed a punishing straight right hand which sent Gomez sprawling to the canvas where despite his best efforts could not beat the count. 62 year old American actor Mickey Rourke stole the show winning on the same event. Provodnikov also stopped former champion Jose Luis Castillo but Kudryashov’s power was very impressive. This win should have taken him i to the WBC top ten and he should be looking for title eliminator fights in 2015.
Will they put Cruiserweight on the map
Unfortunately this is unlikely. Boxing is becoming huge in Eastern Europe but the casual fan in America and the United Kingdom would likely only the likes of the Klitschko brothers. It is highly likely that with the likes of Sergiy Kovalev, Usyk, Kudryashov, Drozd, Beterbiev and Golovkin that this region will dominate boxing in the higher weight divisions so we better get used to it.
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