25.03.06 – By Troy Ondrizek: Tonight three separate men Eliseo Castillo, Felix Cora Jr., and David Haye declared they are ready to make some noise and turn some heads in the incredibly deep and talented cruiserweight division. I have stated on several occasions that this division is something special. These men are big enough to deliver brain-thumping knockouts like the heavyweight division, but unlike the bigger boys, cruiserweights can ring up the punch count and not get tired, and are able to continue to entertain throughout the fight. In an early candidate for FOTY, Jean Marc Mormeck and O’Neill Bell gave us an amazing unification fight, in which fans were subjected to non-stop action, as the fighters were subjected to each other’s fist upside their head. Bell found a way to walk through the onslaught brought on by the bruising Frenchmen in Mormeck, to gain a stunning stoppage of his formidable foe. With just rumors of fights in talks, the division went on a relative hibernation since landmark unification bout of Bell-Mormeck back on January 7th, but tonight Eliseo Castillo, Felix Cora Jr., and David Haye helped the division flex some literal muscle and gain some notoriety..
Eliseo Castillo is a former heavyweight best known for being the last man to defeat the slick and talented Michael Moorer, and then subsequently taking a beating at the hands of the much bigger Wladimir Klitschko. Castillo is another very skilled fighter reigning from the land of Castro. At 6’2”, Castillo has great size and reach for a cruiserweight, but he uses his ring-savvy to control the action. After his heavyweight career was starting to stall, Castillo met up with South Florida businessman turned manager Scott Hirsch, and Hirsch was able to convince Eliseo to fight at his more natural weight. As with Hirsch’s other fighters, Castillo has already fought twice in past month since being signed by WCBMI, Hirsch’s managerial company. Tonight, down in heat of Miami, Eliseo put on a boxing clinic against the overmatched Willie Herring. In front of a home crowd Castillo controlled the pace and dictated all twelve rounds of their fight, thus capturing a wide unanimous decision victory for some lesser alphabet trinkets. Expect this to only be a stepping stone for Castillo, as he now throws his name into the proverbial hat as a cruiserweight contender.
A more familiar name in the cruiserweight division comes in the form of Felix Cora Jr. Cora Jr. has steadily been climbing the rankings by using his counter-punching skills and his crafty southpaw stance to defeat everybody that decided to step in the ring with him. The twenty-six year old kid from Texas has gorged himself on the division’s journeymen, in the meantime capturing the NABF title. Tonight Cora stepped up in competition and fought Darnell “Ding-a-ling man” Wilson. Just as his name states, Wilson will undoubtedly ring your bell if he connects with any of his punches. As a treat for us fight fans, this bout was on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights. Cora felt Wilson’s power and instead of withering away, Cora stood his ground and traded and counter-punched the much stronger Wilson to a unanimous decision victory. As exciting as this fight was, Cora was originally scheduled to face Dale Brown in an IBF eliminator bout. Brown arguably was robbed against current cruiserweight king O’Neil Bell, and this would’ve been a great statement victory for Cora or Brown. Felix Cora will be in a marquee match before year’s end, and expect to see him for some time.
David “Hayemaker” Haye is built like an Olympic Adonis. He is a stout 6’3” and uses deceivingly great conditioning to keep under 200lbs with his solid size. This David is the Goliath that the division needs to fear. Haye has a professional record of 16-1-0 with 16 KO’s. In fact Haye has yet to hear what the judges have ever thought of him, for in his only loss he was stopped by a much more seasoned Carl Thompson eighteen months ago. Haye was pushed too fast too soon for that fight, and has come on with a vengeance since that bout. Haye is the youngest and most accomplished of the three men mentioned here, he has British fight fans delusional about him. His punishing style and willingness to fight anybody has endeared him to the most loyal fight fans the globe over. Haye stepped in with undefeated challenger Lasse Johansen. Johansen padded his record against weak Danish opposition, but more like Mikkel Kessler and unlike Thomas Damgaard, Johansen seemed to be a game Dane in the ring; for he took Haye the farthest he has ever gone; eight rounds. Haye in typical fashion battered the older Johansen with combinations and nice body shots in the first couple rounds, than seemed to take rounds 5, 6, and 7 off to rest. In round eight Haye came back and brought the fight to Johansen and earned an alright stoppage. Haye has the skills and looks the part of a champion, but he has poor endurance, as shown in tonight’s fight; and Haye loves to party, that will be his downfall if it happens. If Haye, and right now that’s a big if, pulls everything together he can dominate this division.
All three men have something to prove, and something to give to the cruiserweight division. They are three distinct fighters who are in the mix with several other men for the chance at becoming a cruiserweight champion. They are proof positive of the not resurgence, but for the first time ever, emergence of the cruiserweight division. Now the division can throw out names such as O’Neil Bell, Jean Marc Mormeck, Guillermo Jones, Steve Cunningham, Wayne Braithwaite, Dale Brown, Carl Thompson, Johnny Nelson, Virgil Hill, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Sebastian Rothman, Enzo Maccarinelli, Grigory Drozd, and now Eliseo Castillo, Felix Cora Jr., and David Haye; as world class contenders. These fighters are truly world class, for they reign from every corner of the world besides Antarctica. I personally can’t wait until these fighters step into the ring to square off in eliminators to get a chance at world titles. Fight fans just might not know what to do seeing all these potential great fights. Look for a Fight Of The Year out of this division in the nest couple of years. For if you can’t enjoy this caliber of boxing, than you need to follow a different sport.