Cruiser weights that failed at heavyweight?

[gregregegg]

I find Cruiser weights often thrive at heavyweight, but I probably only pay attention when elites move up...

I was wondering if anyone knows of any cruisers that really underperformed when moving to heavyweight?(in the 200+lb era).

[margaret thatcher]

al cole, had some somewhat notable results but mostly brought in to lose and was essentially a decent journeyman

[gregregegg]

al cole, had some somewhat notable results but mostly brought in to lose and was essentially a decent journeyman

Yea that's a pretty good one, 190lb era, and looks way worse because he kept fighting past prime but still definately didn't do as well at heavyweight.

Just a side note, good win at 44 years old over joey able.

[margaret thatcher]

jirov too, stepped up and lost straight away to mesi and moorer back to back

[gregregegg]

Yea true,

I was thinking of how useless Bridger is, then thinking of roziki who seemed to have as much trouble at 200lb vs an average opponent as he did vs Rivas. And roz is a small cruiser. Made me think, a fit 200 man is normally faster, more coordinated and better cardio, and so there good against heavys.

Then I was trying to think of cruisers that had fought heavyweight and all I could think off recently was usyk, Haye, hunter, Briadis, gassieve, and I was thinking non of them had trouble with the big boys .. seems to counter the "you have to be giant to be a heavyweight" argument.

Obviously fury is a freak, but I think there's always a place for the 6"3 220lb heavyweight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

BJ Flores

Got a ‘world’ title shot straight away and blew it. He wasn’t even good enough at CW actually

[Enlightened-One]

There was a three-year period, between 1992 and 1995, where Johnny Nelson kept losing to guys whenever he fought above the old 190lbs cruiserweight limit (i.e. Adilson Rodrigues [twice], Henry Akinwande, Corrie Sanders and Franco Wanyama), with four of those losses against opposition that usually weighed in excess of 225lbs.

That’s quite significant, when you consider the fact that Johnny subsequently enjoyed a 21-bout unbeaten streak during the final decade of his career, which also spanned fourteen WBO world cruiserweight title bouts.

[Ruthless-RKO]

There was a three-year period, between 1992 and 1995, where Johnny Nelson kept losing to guys whenever he fought above the old 190lbs cruiserweight limit (i.e. Adilson Rodrigues [twice], Henry Akinwande, Corrie Sanders and Franco Wanyama), with four of those losses against opposition that usually weighed in excess of 225lbs.

I thought the majority if his early fights were at HW then he moved down to CW and won his world title.

[Enlightened-One]

There was a three-year period, between 1992 and 1995, where Johnny Nelson kept losing to guys whenever he fought above the old 190lbs cruiserweight limit (i.e. Adilson Rodrigues [twice], Henry Akinwande, Corrie Sanders and Franco Wanyama), with four of those losses against opposition that usually weighed in excess of 225lbs.

I thought the majority if his early fights were at HW then he moved down to CW and won his world title.

Eight of the bouts that Jonny Nelson failed to win was when he weighed less than 190lbs (between 1986 until 1992), spanning the first six years of his career.

It wasn’t until late 1992 when he decided to commence his miserably failed three-year spell predominantly competing as a heavyweight.

Johnny subsequently enjoyed a 21-bout unbeaten streak during the final decade of his career (from early 1996 onwards), which also spanned fourteen WBO world cruiserweight title bouts, after making a permanent return to the cruiserweight division.

Johnny’s had a weird career, because he lost many fights during the first couple of years after his pro debut (1986 until 1988) and then he enjoyed a decent winning streak from 1988 until 1991.

He then suffered another terribly dire run of form between 1992 until 1995, immediately prior to remaining unbeaten for the final decade of his career (from 1996 onwards).

[Cent0089]

This question make me think, how many heavies can cut down to cruiser. I think at least half of them. And lot of them can cut even to light heavy

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Mormeck
Darnell wilson

[Enlightened-One]

Ossie Ocasio engaged in six WBA world cruiserweight title bouts between 1982 until 1987, where the old weight limit was 190lbs, and only suffered only two defeats (one of them came against Evander Holyfield).

All the other twelve fights he failed to win was when he was matched against legitimate top-ten world-rated heavyweights (i.e. Larry Holmes, Michael Dokes, Lennox Lewis, Ray Mercer, Carl Williams, Bruce Seldon, Tyrell Biggs, and Pierre Coetzer).

[gilgamesh]

Most of 'em do.

J.C. Gomez, Mormeck, Jirov, Qawi never really did much at Heavyweight.

You see a lot more guys fail when moving up to Heavyweight than succeed at it I know that, but almost any Cruiserweight of note at some point will take a crack at it because the money is just too big to pass up. I'm sure these guys got paid more to fight for the Heavyweight title and lose than they did to successfully compete in a Cruiserweight title fights 5 times.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Adamek

[adislav123]

This question make me think, how many heavies can cut down to cruiser. I think at least half of them. And lot of them can cut even to light heavy

175?


who?


if u take 'cut' literally you maybe right. on the other hand I guess it's pretty hard to fight with just one leg.

[tiny_acres]

This question make me think, how many heavies can cut down to cruiser. I think at least half of them. And lot of them can cut even to light heavy

175?


who?


if u take 'cut' literally you maybe right. on the other hand I guess it's pretty hard to fight with just one leg.

[JamesPhilips]

Dwight Muhammad Qawi. Got battered by big George

[fanman]

Most of 'em do.

J.C. Gomez, Mormeck, Jirov, Qawi never really did much at Heavyweight.

You see a lot more guys fail when moving up to Heavyweight than succeed at it I know that, but almost any Cruiserweight of note at some point will take a crack at it because the money is just too big to pass up. I'm sure these guys got paid more to fight for the Heavyweight title and lose than they did to successfully compete in a Cruiserweight title fights 5 times.

Exactly, its a rare exception that don't fail: holyfield, haye, usyk, all undisputed at cruiser

Moorer did well coming up from light heavy though, michael spinks too

[1015891]

Most of 'em do.

J.C. Gomez, Mormeck, Jirov, Qawi never really did much at Heavyweight.

You see a lot more guys fail when moving up to Heavyweight than succeed at it I know that, but almost any Cruiserweight of note at some point will take a crack at it because the money is just too big to pass up. I'm sure these guys got paid more to fight for the Heavyweight title and lose than they did to successfully compete in a Cruiserweight title fights 5 times.

I dont know if id say these guys failed at heavy. They didnt suddenly go wayyy better, and they didnt become immune to aging, but i really dont think the heavyweight leap hurt them. (plus most of these were 190 era).

-Gomez got knocked in a round by diaz, but outside of that did well at heavyweight, with his only other losses being vitali or well past prime.

-mormeck Got KO'd by ner prime vlad at 40, and lost close in his last fight at 42. wouldent say thats a weightlass issue.

-Jirov Lost the only good guy he fought at cruiser, and lost against the 2 good guys he fought heavy...

-Qawi was more a light heavy that failed at cruiser (a gap which i actualy think is harder).

Id say these guys didnt improve, or decline when jumping from cruiser to heavy.

[margaret thatcher]

jirov definitely failed , lost back to back as soon as he moved up, including to a well faded moorer, and after those loses only beat club fighters basically. never anywhere near a shot

mormeck and gomez - i'd agree they didnt straight up fail though. they didnt reach the same level as cruiser, but they contended and fought for titles, presumably well paid since both fought klits (mormeck made over 1m usd vs wlad, not sure about gomez). both made it into the top 15-20 range as heavies. not great but not too bad either.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Mormeck got a huge gift against oquendo

[margaret thatcher]

so did chris byrd

[oogiebe]

so did chris byrd

Don't diss Byrd. Wasn't another poster boasting of his stoppage of Vitali????

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Shoot timur imbrag and mandalone fought him close

[margaret thatcher]

yes, alpy also had chris ahead on the cards vs vitali