Why is cruiserweight so bad???

175-190 pounds is a great weight.....Lot's of well built athletes excel at this weight.....Nowadays the Boxing community and the sports community aren't really bothered about titles and are prepared to forgive the invention of classes like Straw weight etc etc...

Cruiserweight should be a great weight and yet it's always been mediocre.....

I can understand why it was sniffed at years ago but not now!!

Why is cruiserweight so bad?? There is no excuse!!!

Hate to be pedantic but it's an important point to make. Cruiserweight is now 175 - 200lbs. They changed it sometime ago. Of course in Holy's day (the best ever cruiser) it was a max of 190lbs but facts are facts!

On to the point of the article I do find it strange that more boxers haven't camped out there and made the division interesting and competitive.

If you think that a large percentage of athletes in physical disciplines such as football or rugby would be naturally around the cruiser mark, even non athletes walking the streets are naturally in that weight range then it seems very strange that a natural weight such as cruiser is not more popular.

It's probably because it's too close to the money spinning glamour division and maybe too many fans see the cruiserweights as a cop out.

It is a little perplexing because as you know Truss I am no real fan of the bulk of junior and super weight classess but of all the modern divisions cruiser makes most sense because of the sheer size of the average modern heavy. Would guess the simple answer is, as Haye has proven there is a damned sight more money in being a pretty average heavyweight than there is in being a very good cruiserweight.

I'd tend to agree with you there, Boon. LHW is a well respected strap and doesn't really give motivation for people to move up and for obvious reasons people move up to Heavy. Perhaps if Haye and Adamek had crossed paths in recent years it may have had a kick up the arse. But judging at the names we've had since '81, not likely.

in fact it's sandwiched in between 2 high profile divisions - i think it's a shame as like you said these guys are athletic and can bang.

its just there are no 'stars' in that division. but expecting people to jump from 175 to 200+ is a massive ask so it's kind of a no mans land.

and as todays heavyweights are over 250lbs its getting harder and harder for any cruisers to make an impact.

I'd agree with what everyone else has already said Truss. It is a bit weird but its not a money making division so maybe ang LHWs don't see the reason to move up and HWs don't see any reason to move down.

Another reason is the less than whelming start the cruiserweight division had. The fact you had average boxers like ST Gordon and Osie Ocassio as origional champs didn't do the division a lot of good in terms of trying to get it any respect. Since its inception it's only true star in history is barely known as a cruiserweight in the minds of the casual sports fan.

I guess someone needs to chuck money into it. Although in Europe the division is actually pretty lucrative. Think about Marco Huck.............actually don't think about Marco Huck!

Well first off, I think Jeff has hit the nail square on the head with his point regarding the difference in lovely lucre available between Cruiserweight and Heavyweight. The Heavyweight division represents history and big money fights. Cruiserweight doesn't.

Moreover, I think it's important to remember the development of the Light-Heavyweight division. People tend to forget that it actually took quite a while to become fully established and accepted - certainly longer than any of the other original weight classes for starters. Furthermore, for decades the division, rather than being viewed as a wonderful one in its own right, was more often seen as a stepping pad up to Heavyweight - the amount of pre-WWII Light-Heavyweight champions who left the division to go in search of the Heavyweight crown is notable; Root, O'Brien, Carpentier, Loughran, Lewis, Conn, Lesnevich. More or less all the 175 lb champions of great repute went after Heavyweight honours. Even Archie Moore seemed more interested in cracking the Heavyweight division than he did in defending his 175 lb honours at times - and that's not to mention the Heavyweight forays of Foster in the seventies.

Once the gap in size and weight between your typical Light-Heavy and Heavyweight began to get wider and wider, Cruiserweight conveniently appeared in 1979 to take over this ignoble role of stepping stone. The 175 lb began to garner the recognition it should always have had, while Cruiserweight took the place of 'afterthought' which Light-Heavyweight had previously occupied.

It means guys who would be solid cruisers like Adamek and Chambers can eat more, train less and get paid more for the privilege by going to Heavy.

Fairplay for the 175-200 check...........

But guys I'm old enough to remember how stinkingly low the super middle strap was thought of when it first came to the scene!!!

Chong pal park, murray sutherland etc......However with decent fighters camping there it has become a marquee division...

My guess is like the South pole it needs a big rivalry to bring it alive.....

I mean who remembers Robert Peary the greatest explorer of them all and the poineer of polar exploration....

Truss, there is the position between HW and LHW as a problem and the fact that there is 1 big name associated with it (Holyfield). He got out of dodge and moved up because he could and there's been noone else even remotely as successful or good. A top 10 in most other divisions can be a point if focal debate. A debate on cruiser top 10 is a bit of an exercise in pointlessness.

It's interesting. In the UFC the light heavy division is considered the glamour division and their weight is the same as the cruiser division.

Holy took the time to unify first....

Not disagreeing that a top 10 is pointless...but If more good fighters stayed like the sm division it could become respectable!!

It hasn't always been so at super midd

100 percent agree with you there. When do you think the turning point of SMW was? Was it Eubank, Collins, Benn, Watson? Or RJJ, Hopkins, Calzaghe? Genuinely interested in knowing. I was only growing up as the division was evolving.

Johnny Nelson is considered a Top 5 ATG cruiser by some observers.

I can't make a stronger argument than that.

i dont think its even that devoid of talent really, i think its just with the stigma of always been a poor division it doesnt get much coverage. huck vs ablofi (can spell his name) happened recently and went by fairly unnoticed, even though it was the divisions top 2 getting it on.

i think if a few heavys could drop down it could be the best division. arreroa, solis, adamek, chisora, perez and maybe even povtkin could meet the weight probably.

eddyfightfan wrote:i dont think its even that devoid of talent really, i think its just with the stigma of always been a poor division it doesnt get much coverage. huck vs ablofi (can spell his name) happened recently and went by fairly unnoticed, even though it was the divisions top 2 getting it on.

i think if a few heavys could drop down it could be the best division. arreroa, solis, adamek, chisora, perez and maybe even povtkin could meet the weight probably.

My god how bad would that leave the Heavyweights if some of those dropped down? I don't think it would be the best in terms of quality if a few of those joined it but it would be very competitive which should lead to some good fights, like Super Middleweight at the moment.

if haye was still around in that mix it would be. the quality isnt great, but the cw champ did step up and very nearly beat the hw champ (okay well the other paper champ) so the gulf isnt huge.

The gulf between Wlad and the rest is huge. Vitali is a little closer but just look at how easy Adamek was for him a good cruiser moving up. Doing well against Povetkin is very very different to competing with one of the Klitschkos.

I hate to speak ill of anyone brave enoughto step through the ropes, but is anyone else on here unlucky enough to have watched Sam Resson (might be spelt wrong) In a division that given us some truly uninspiried performers Sam stands out in my mind as perhaps the dullest fighter I have ever watched.I think he fought De leon for the title ,and it was as bad as Jonny Nelson's first two attempts, but with less skill. Truly boxings worst division, no wonder Holyfield and Haye got out as quick as possible after winning the belts