Five Great Cruiserweights the division never saw

boxing09.05.08 – By Jim Dorney: Currently, the Cruiserweight division limit is 200lbs, which was moved from 190lbs just a few years ago, in light of the fact that Heavyweights are getting so large these days, thus giving smaller fighters around the 200lbs mark a new opportunity.

This article works on the previous 190lbs Cruiserweight limit, and presents five fighters who, in my humble opinion, could have been some of the greatest fighters the division would have ever seen, but fought at Heavyweight with there being no Cruiserweight option in their day. Whether they would have taken that option had it been available, forsaking the greater risks & riches that fighting at Heavyweight affords we will never know. My selection is in no particular order …

1.Ezzard Charles

Charles began his career at Light-Heavyweight, beating such luminaries as Archie Moore, Lloyd Marshall, Joey Maxim (twice) & Gus Lesnevich. At Heavyweight, Charles gets some credit amongst the sharper boxing fans, but is still not a particularly celebrated name amongst the Heavyweight champions. Consider this – he beat Jersey Joe Walcott (twice), Rex Layne, the murderous-punching Bob Satterfield & one certain Joe Louis at the heavier weight, as well as giving the legendary Rocky Marciano two of his toughest fights. Not bad for a man who at his heaviest tipped the scales at 204lbs, but was generally in or around the 190lbs limit as a Heavyweight.

A huge hitter in his early days, Charles was reputably never quite the same after a tragic match against Sam Baroudi in 1948 – Baroudi died due to injuries suffered in the bout. Given this, plus the fact that he generally weighed around 190lbs and stood only 6ft, a very strong argument can be made for Charles’ likely success at Cruiserweight.

2.Henry Cooper

I’m anticipating this choice might raise a few eyebrows, but for those of you for whom it does, consider this – Who was the only fighter to have Muhammad Ali in serious trouble in Ali’s prime?

Not only did Cooper have Ali on the canvass (and man, it was a HEAVY knockdown), but by rights he should probably have stopped Ali – We all know the story of Angelo Dundee’s creative use of the split gloves, I’m sure.

Naysayers to Cooper’s inclusion in this elite set will probably point to his 14 losses. I’d counter with the following arguments. Firstly, several of those (including the two losses to Ali) were cut stoppages – Cooper’s tendency to cut let him down frequently. Secondly, Cooper fought tough opposition throughout his career, and was frequently outweighed by well over 20lbs. He was a huge puncher, and beat a lot of good big men generally only weighing in between 180-190lbs, including Zora Folley, Brian London, Roy Harris, Karl Mildenberger & Joe Erskine.

3.Rocky Marciano

This choice is a no-brainer. The quote I like best about Marciano is ‘You had to kill him’. That, it seemed, was the only was only way of beating him. Marciano was battered & bruised in many of his fights, most notably in his Heavyweight title victory against Jersey Joe Walcott, but you could never count him out whilst there was still time left on the clock. Put simply, the guy could PUNCH.

Marciano is a celebrated Heavyweight champion nowadays, and famously the only Heavyweight champion to retire undefeated at 49-0 (although whether he was actually defeated is disputed by some, who point to an early bout in which Marciano used a pseudonym & lost), but during his career the quality his opposition was questioned. In fairness to ‘The Rock’, this can’t really be seen as his fault, but it’s felt there was a dearth of talent amongst the big men of the time. Nevertheless, Marciano fought & beat Ezzard Charles (twice, both thrilling encounters), Joe Louis (ending his career), Jersey Joe Walcott (twice), Rex Layne & Harry ‘Kid’ Matthews. According to www.boxrec.com, the heaviest Marciano ever weighed in at was 192.5lbs, so it’s a fair presumption that making Cruiserweight would have been no problem for the great man…

4.Bob Fitzsimmons

Fitzsimmons was the first man ever to win world titles at Heavyweight, Light-Heavyweight & Middleweight. Pretty impressive. The feat is all the more impressive when you consider that there was only the one belt for each division at the time, not the alphabet nonsense fans have to ensure today. Fitzsimmons actually won the Heavyweight title at the lightest weight in history against James J. Corbett scaling only 167lbs, which, remarkably, is the Super-Middleweight limit. Imagine Joe Calzaghe knocking out Wladimir Klitschko with a body punch in the 14th round! Methinks that’s a record that’s pretty safe…

Fitz fought at a career heaviest of around 175lbs, but beat men (by knockout, I might add) who weight the best part of 100lbs more (Ed Dunkhorst being a good example). Basically, the man didn’t care how much his opponents weighed, a fact supported by the rumour that he coined the phrase ‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall.’

Despite his low weight, I reckon there’s a good chance Fitzsimmons would have wreaked pure havoc at 190lbs, no matter how much less then that he came in at himself. The man was a true legend, and a fearless warrior.

5.Sam Langford

Langford is generally credited as the best man never to win a world title. I don’t believe I’d dispute that one.

Similarly to the others on my list, Langford fought most of his career at Heavyweight because that’s where the most money was, plus he was good enough to play with the big boys.

Langford’s problem was that he was just too good. No one wanted to risk their world titles against him, and that’s possibly the greatest proof of how good he really was. Legend has it that Sam began fighting as light as Featherweight, and proceeded to fight at a heaviest of 202lbs, although he was usually around 185-190lbs, perfect for Cruiserweight. Only standing 5ft 8, he nonetheless had very long arms, and a phenomenal arsenal of punches.

Langford beat Heavyweights such as Joe Jeanette, Sam McVey, Fireman Jim Flynn, & Gunboat Smith amongst others, all of whom were considered to be top Heavyweights. He also gave Jack Johnson such a tough time that when Johnson became champion he never offered Langford a rematch. Nuff said!

As always, I welcome your comments.