01.01.08 – By Cesar Pancorvo: If I had to rank the divisions in boxing, I’d put, without a doubt, the Welterweight division as the number one division in the sport at the end of 2007 (in fact, it has been the richest division in boxing since late 2006, and expect it to be the best for some time, and to be remembered in the future), and in second place I’d be tempted to select the Super Featherweight division, but I’d probably end up choosing the magnificent Cruiserweight division.
The first universally recognized Champion in that division was, of course, Evander Holyfield, a fighter that in mid 1986 captured the WBA belt –after beating Dwight Muhammad Qawi in a thrilling war– and then was able to be the first man to unify that division, after beating Carlos De Leon in 1988; it was a fantastic campaign that consisted in seven fights against the best available opposition.
In 2005, The Ring Magazine gave their belt to Jean Marc Mormeck after unifying the WBA and WBC belts, in a fight where he emerged victorious against Wayne Braithwaite, but it wasn’t until 2006 when a new Undisputed Champion was crowned: O’Neil Bell, after defeating Mormeck.
The title changed hands…Mormeck, then Bell, then Mormeck again and then Haye. Meanwhile, the division, which was already pretty strong, suddenly had a talent explosion. It is now seen as a much stronger weight class than the pitiful, tasteless and deplorable heavyweight division, which I would find infinitely boring if it weren’t for the presence of Wladimir Klitschko.
The Cruiserweight division has reached its peak with boxers like David Haye, Steve Cunningham, Enzo Maccarinelli, Jean Marc Mormeck, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, O’Neil Bell, Wayne Braithwaite, Marco Huck, Darnell Wilson and, how could we forget about him, Tomasz Adamek. It is arguably in the greatest shape of its relatively young history, which isn’t brilliant or radiant like other divisions like Lightweight or Light Heavyweight. There were always gems in the Cruiserweight division, like Juan Carlos Gomez, Vasily Jirov, James Toney, but never so many first-class fighters. In the 1980s, it was also in great shape, especially because of a young Holyfield. The others were Dwight Muhammad Qawi, already in his thirties, Carlos De Leon, Ricky Parkey, Ossie Ocassio, etc. Here are the annual Ring ratings for 1986 and also for the 27th December 2007:
Champion: Carlos De Leon
1.Evander Holyfield
2.Ricky Parkey
3.Dwight Muhammad Qawi
4.Bert Cooper
5.Henry Tillman
6.Lee Roy Murphy
7.John Odhiambho
8.Bernard Benton
9.Alfonso Ratliff
10.Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
Champion: David Haye
1.Steve Cunningham
2.Jean Marc Mormeck
3.O’Neil Bell
4.Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
5.Enzo Maccarinelli
6.Firat Arslan
7.Marco Huck
8.Vadim Tokarev
9.Darnell Wilson
10.Johnathon Banks
David Haye, the Champion, has to do much more to demonstrate that he deserves to be in the pantheon of Cruiserweight all time greats, and after beating Mormeck he has done the first step. He was, apparently, excited by the idea of moving up to the Heavyweight division and then decided to stay at Cruiserweight and fight Enzo Maccarinelli. Everyone must applaud that decision. Haye-Maccarinelli should be a great fight. If he wins, Haye has one more fight in that division…against Steve Cunningham. It will be interesting to see how things will unfold, in 2008, in this splendid division.