What's the point of cruiser weight if

Both those guys at those weights punched harder than any cruisers though, specifically Foreman.

 

The "day before weigh-in's" supposedly were put in as "safety purposes" for the fighters.

But you do bring up a good point that most of the various Division's records are now "skewed" due
to "bigger fight day fighters' being given credit for fighting at lower weight.

 

Maybe, because for the past few years they give us terrific fights, consistently.

 

Mainly because the average size of heavyweights has ballooned to the point where 210 guys are considered tiny. With fighters like Miller coming in these days around 300lbs it'd be considered a gross mismatch to have some literally two thirds his own bodyweight fighting on even terms against him. Whether it would or not is up for debate, but that's the reasoning.

Personally I think the rise of the SHW is a myth, or rather vastly overstated. Most HWs these days are just fat or overly bulked without being substantially any larger than HWs of old. But a huge weight disparity can still be beneficial to the heavier fighter if the referee allows them to get away with roughhousing. Wlad was only around the 240s, but would often have an unfair advantage due to refs letting him get away with murder in the clinch.

Really though, the fact is that the cruiserweight has consistently been a red hot division in the past few years, so from a fan's point of view it's absolutely justified. It essentially allows us to watch heavyweight fights with fit, in shape and skilled combatants who are all willing to fight each other with no nonsense holding up proceedings.

It's also finally starting to get some money and interest from casual fans, so the combatants are more willing to stay there (Usyk and Gassiev both got substantially more money than Wilder and Ortiz for instance), and networks are more likely to take interest.

From an entertainment POV it'd be suicide to get rid of it.

 

Foreman yes, but then he wasn't really a cruiserweight. Hoylfield, no. There are a number of CWs over the years I'd pick as harder punchers, though not better fighters obviously.

 

Couldn't you easily use the same logic to rationalize the state of the HW division through the K2 years? No one was watching HW boxing because the men who would have brought some level of excitement to the division were in the CW division sort of thing.

David might not have done great at HW but the brief period he was relevant was one of the more watched periods during the Wlad reign.

Povetkin was probably the most popular HW outside of Wlad during Wlad's reign all-in-all, Pov's a bit on the smaller side.

 

The heavyweight division is bigger overall now as humans have grown in general so the divisions need twerking. The gap from LHW to Cruiserweight is still a 25 lb gap, if we just made Cruiserweight unlimited then anyone between around 176-190 pounds would be at a severe disadvantage.

Even in recent years when we've had Cruiserweights step up to heavy they haven't had great success.

Hayes record at heavyweight is 7-3, he won an alphabet at least but he's probably the most successful heavyweight jumpers in the last thirty years.

Adamek has thus far amassed a record of 15-4 which isn't too bad but the Chambers fight was a robbery at least and his best win is probably another Cruiserweight stepping up in Cunningham (which I haven't seen but have seen disputed). He's mainly featssted on the fringes and less and lost to anyone remotely near the top 20.

Cunningham is like 5-5-1 with his last win there essentially a Cruiserweight fight.

If the gap is already hard to jump making it wider would be disastrous. Plus the Cruiserweight division is awesome, filled with quality competitive fights between a lot of good fighters who are around the same level. Throw them all in at heavyweight and most of them won't fare well so we just end up with one division that's worse than the two we have imo.

If anything the bottom.three weights are in more of need of a shuffle or combining.

 

What's the point?

The average top 10 cruiser weight is about 6'1" tall 205 pounds.

The average top 10 heavyweight is about 6'5" tall 240 pounds.

You've got a x2 jump in weight class here. I have become a fan of the cruiser weight division. The talent level is high, and the top talents meet each other producing good fights! Heavyweight boxing 40 -70 years ago, if you will. If the division ever becomes really popular, the top fighters will belt milk, but its not there yet.

 

Oh, its not a myth. Look at the top super heavyweight amateur talents for the past two Olympics. They are all 6'4-6'7" tall or higher. Look at the top ten pros. Same thing. And look at who #1 has been since 1990. Pretty much a super heavyweight...Douglas, Lewis, Klitschko, Klitschko, and Joshua. Okay, an upset or two with McCall, Rahman, or Sanders happens. Those who pulled off upsets are bigger than 90% of past champions pre 1990 and can punch.

I have not seen a top ten man 200-210 pound man ranked by Ring Magazine in years. Maybe there are 1-2 in the past 20 years.

Super heavyweight dominance when they have skills is not a fad, or a myth. It's a continuing trend. Sure you have Holyfield ( on Ped's ) wining a belt, and losing it to Moorer, but, he's 1-4 in my book vs Bowe and Lewis.

 

Great points. The original question could be reversed to 'what's the point of a heavyweight division?' when you have well-tuned and in-shape athletes competing within a properly defined weight division.