BoxRec

Cruiserweight is one of the most stacked divisions in boxing not shallow and light heavy is strong too and has the best prospects in boxing

thumbs down all around.

especially if steven Cunningham can drop the champ HARD at 210 pounds.

This isn't the most popular opinion but I think the top 2 divisions could both comfortably be chopped in half
Cruiser - 188, super cruiser - 200
Heavy - 130, Superheavy - unlimited

Light heavy weight at 175lbs up to cruiser at 200 is a huge jump, when you consider 168 - 175 is only 7lbs.

As for heavy weight, I'd love a weight class for the big guys around 6'2"/6'3" who struggle with the giants, then a division for the guys at 6'5" or so and above.
I think a division where someone as good as Povetkin can rule would be a good thing. but as it stands he probably can't deal with some of the top heavies because they are just too tall, heavy and have too ling a reach for him to compete

Leave the Klitschkos and Furys to fight each other and don't give them the option of short opponents they can bully and lean on. Most of these guys come in well over 240lbs and then some. there literally is no point of anyone weighing anywhere in the region of 15st.

I agree that the 25lb jump from light heavy to cruiser is too much. That said, I don't think we need more divisions. I'd rather see cruiserweight put back to 190lb.

I would be in favor of a 190-pound Dannyweight limit, 210-pound Small Heavyweight limit, and an unlimited Super Heavyweight division. I would not try to dice these big fighters up into too many granular divisions, since the talent pool would get super thin. But I hate fighters getting stuck in an awkward limbo where they're too big to make 175, but too small to not be disadvantaged against 6' 4" cruiserweights who weigh 210+ on fight night. If several boxing divisions only have a 3-pound margin between them, then it's ridiculous that there be a 25-pound gap between divisions elsewhere.

Before Cruiserweight was increased to what it is today, Australian National Boxing Federation introduced Super Cruiser 209.4lbs limit, leaving Cruiser at 190.
It proved to be a miserable failure & was eventually ditched

i agree with jez about cruiser going back down to 190, but they raised cruiser because
the heavies are getting bigger. if heavies that can move and bomb keep getting bigger
i could see a shaq sized guy that can punch and move like the young ali in the next 10
years. at some point we can't expect normal heavies to be able to compete with these
giant elites anymore, and will need a super heavy division of 225 or so. they need to
feed the starving street teens competing in those bottom divisions, though. nobody
should be dieting and drying out to make 108lbs. amateurs went from 12 to 10
divisions a while back and that seemed reasonable even though welter not being
147 still seems weird to me to this day.

i assume the 3.667% is an average of the difference between all the classes, when
it looks like the 3% differences are at the bottom and toward the top it is shifting
toward 5%. that pattern would make next after 175 around 184lbs, then cruiser at 193,
then put in super heavy around 225 in a few years when normal heavies just can't
hang with the giants anymore, and maybe lose a couple of the lighter divisions and
tighten those up so we aren't adding more titles.

RandomUsername wrote:So yeah, I don't think that losing any of the lighter divisions or tightening them up is necessary.

i could swear when i was a kid there was a mosquito weight division in the amateurs at the jr level,
but when we are talking about professional men, at some point you have to ask if you are watching
a world's tallest midget contest.

A natural 13 - 13.5 stone man has no division to box in. The gap between light heavy and cruiser is silly. Think how man natural 13 stone people there are. It means a lot of people give up or box in a division where they cant really compete. Very few normal fights are at 185 pounds.

Boxing doesn't need MORE, it needs LESS weight divisions.

Flyweight, Bantamweight, Featherweigt, Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Cruiserweight, Heavyweight - this is all we need.

no more weight classes but move LHW to 180.

with 168 being around there is no Need for a class just 7 Pounds heavier. the increments should get higher if the weight goes up (because otherwise the percentage gets smaller)

currently it is:

154
+6 (3.7%)
160
+8 (4.7%)
168
+7 (4%)
175
+25 (12.5%)
200

make it
160
+8 (4.7%)
168
+12 (6.6%)
180
+20 (10%)
200

I know 175 has a big Tradition but with 168 being around now it makes no sense to make the jump from MW to SMW bigger than SMW to LHW. this is especially because cruiser now is at 200 instead of 190 (makes sense because of all the big HW - many call for a SHW Division but practically all those 211 Pounds HWs could easily make 200) so that the jump from LHW to cruiser is huge and few have done it successfully (adamek is one of the few LHWs who became a dominant cruiser).

NO

There needs to be less weight classes at the lower end of the spectrum and at least 1 more at the top end.

At this point in time there's virtually no place in the sport for men who are around 6'2 & weigh 210. In days gone by they would have been Heavyweight's but the current champion is 6ft 9, with a 216cm reach, and n average weight (from last 4 fights) of 261lb.

To put that into perspective;

Muhammad Ali: 6ft 3, 198cm reach, weighed about 206 in his prime.

Joe Frazier: 5ft 11.5, 185cm reach, weighed about 203lb in his prime.

George Foreman: 6ft 3.5, 199cm reach, weighed 220 in his prime.

Rocky Marciano: 5ft 10.5, 173cm reach, weighed 184lb* in his prime. (Fury's heaviest is 90lb greater).


Those are just some of the widely accepted greatest heavyweights of all time, who if they were around today, would be negotiating some massive, massive physical disadvantages against crap champions like Fury who have merely learned to utilise their size but trail miles behind on skill. When we look at greatness over the years, people ask the question how Sugar Ray Robinson would fair against the Welterweights or LMW's of today, like Pacquiao, Mayweather, Hearns, Canelo. Nobody asks how Robinson would do against Kovalev or Marco Huck, even though the size difference is on a par with the great Heavyweigths of the past and today's super HWs.

imo;

Raise supermiddle 2lb to 170
Make Light Heavyweight 185
Cruiser up to 214

Ricky_ wrote:There needs to be less weight classes at the lower end of the spectrum and at least 1 more at the top end.

At this point in time there's virtually no place in the sport for men who are around 6'2 & weigh 210. In days gone by they would have been Heavyweight's but the current champion is 6ft 9, with a 216cm reach, and n average weight (from last 4 fights) of 261lb.

To put that into perspective;

Muhammad Ali: 6ft 3, 198cm reach, weighed about 206 in his prime.

Joe Frazier: 5ft 11.5, 185cm reach, weighed about 203lb in his prime.

George Foreman: 6ft 3.5, 199cm reach, weighed 220 in his prime.

Rocky Marciano: 5ft 10.5, 173cm reach, weighed 184lb* in his prime. (Fury's heaviest is 90lb greater).


Those are just some of the widely accepted greatest heavyweights of all time, who if they were around today, would be negotiating some massive, massive physical disadvantages against crap champions like Fury who have merely learned to utilise their size but trail miles behind on skill. When we look at greatness over the years, people ask the question how Sugar Ray Robinson would fair against the Welterweights or LMW's of today, like Pacquiao, Mayweather, Hearns, Canelo. Nobody asks how Robinson would do against Kovalev or Marco Huck, even though the size difference is on a par with the great Heavyweigths of the past and today's super HWs.

imo;

Raise supermiddle 2lb to 170
Make Light Heavyweight 185
Cruiser up to 214

Good post

I do agree that there needs to be a consolidation of some lower weight divisions.Hell if you skip a meal or take a dump you just lost 2 weight divisions

Hard to believe that Big George Foreman in the early 70's was considered a monster in size.
Today we would say that a fighter of his size is too small to compete with the Fury's and Klitschko's of the world.
Man have times have changed.I think the sport needs to change with it.Your proposal of weight divisions is close to what it should be.If we moved the cruiser division to 214-215 you could see a bunch of heavyweights suddenly getting in shape to make that division.

Ricky_ wrote:There needs to be less weight classes at the lower end of the spectrum and at least 1 more at the top end.

At this point in time there's virtually no place in the sport for men who are around 6'2 & weigh 210. In days gone by they would have been Heavyweight's but the current champion is 6ft 9, with a 216cm reach, and n average weight (from last 4 fights) of 261lb.

To put that into perspective;

Muhammad Ali: 6ft 3, 198cm reach, weighed about 206 in his prime.

Joe Frazier: 5ft 11.5, 185cm reach, weighed about 203lb in his prime.

George Foreman: 6ft 3.5, 199cm reach, weighed 220 in his prime.

Rocky Marciano: 5ft 10.5, 173cm reach, weighed 184lb* in his prime. (Fury's heaviest is 90lb greater).


Those are just some of the widely accepted greatest heavyweights of all time, who if they were around today, would be negotiating some massive, massive physical disadvantages against crap champions like Fury who have merely learned to utilise their size but trail miles behind on skill. When we look at greatness over the years, people ask the question how Sugar Ray Robinson would fair against the Welterweights or LMW's of today, like Pacquiao, Mayweather, Hearns, Canelo. Nobody asks how Robinson would do against Kovalev or Marco Huck, even though the size difference is on a par with the great Heavyweigths of the past and today's super HWs.

imo;

Raise supermiddle 2lb to 170
Make Light Heavyweight 185
Cruiser up to 214

a few guys in a thread here not long ago told me sonny liston would destroy prime lennox lewis and bowe, lol.

I agree that there should be less of a gap between light heavy and crusier I can make 190 but no way I can make 175 and there isn't enough money at crusier so it is easier to way about 220 and fight heavy I fought when crusier was at 190 then they moved it to 200 I feel they should do 190 crusierweight and 200 super cruiserweight and just drop one of the lower weight classes were it is 7 pounds in between each weight class but it probably will never happen and all commissions are different also just Saturday I was at fights and a guy weighed 180 and the other guy was 200 and they didn't let them fight,but reality is there in the same weight class commission said they had to be with in 10 pounds but again that is the commission not knowing the weight classes

Liston was a wrecking machine. Can't say i'd give more than a bingo-punch chance against Lewis though, who i'd rate as probably the best HW ever.

The great hw's vs today's giants make an interesting debate. Joe Frazier for instance would take someone like Wlad out with his LH but getting there to land it given the colossal size/weight/reach difference is another story.

Ricky_ wrote:There needs to be less weight classes at the lower end of the spectrum and at least 1 more at the top end.

At this point in time there's virtually no place in the sport for men who are around 6'2 & weigh 210. In days gone by they would have been Heavyweight's but the current champion is 6ft 9, with a 216cm reach, and n average weight (from last 4 fights) of 261lb.

To put that into perspective;

Muhammad Ali: 6ft 3, 198cm reach, weighed about 206 in his prime.

Joe Frazier: 5ft 11.5, 185cm reach, weighed about 203lb in his prime.

George Foreman: 6ft 3.5, 199cm reach, weighed 220 in his prime.

Rocky Marciano: 5ft 10.5, 173cm reach, weighed 184lb* in his prime. (Fury's heaviest is 90lb greater).


Those are just some of the widely accepted greatest heavyweights of all time, who if they were around today, would be negotiating some massive, massive physical disadvantages against crap champions like Fury who have merely learned to utilise their size but trail miles behind on skill. When we look at greatness over the years, people ask the question how Sugar Ray Robinson would fair against the Welterweights or LMW's of today, like Pacquiao, Mayweather, Hearns, Canelo. Nobody asks how Robinson would do against Kovalev or Marco Huck, even though the size difference is on a par with the great Heavyweigths of the past and today's super HWs.

imo;

Raise supermiddle 2lb to 170
Make Light Heavyweight 185
Cruiser up to 214

actually almost all guys weighing in at 210 could make 200 at fighting date. There are middleweight fighters who drain up at 15 Pounds. that means a HW that weighs 210 could easily make 200 especially because most HWs still have some excess fat.

so asuming we have a HW weighing in at 215 he could go to maybe 207 by shedding all Body fat and then 200 by draining some weight. there is a reason why CW was raised to 200, it is not the big HWs fault that the 210 guys don't want to go to CW because there is less Money.

Yes back then the HW Champions weighed 210 but that was a time when the next lowest Division was 175. now there is a Division for those just over 200 guys and that Division is the cruiserweight.

nobody wants to see super big guys like valuev, but those guys don't dominate anyway in most cases the best guys are now 225-255 (klitschko, Joshua, wilder, fury, parker, povetkin...) and I think that is fair. above that you get too slow and if you are much below you can go to cruiser.

a 215 guy having to lose 15 Pounds to go to cruiser is not any more unfair than a 190 guy having to lose 15 Pounds to make LHW.

so basically the "real HW Limit" being at 225 is a 25 Pound jump from cruiser, just like there is a 25 Pound jump from LHW to cruiser. In Alis or Foremans day the HWs would also weigh about 20-30 Pounds more than the next lowest weight class, now they weigh 30-40 Pounds more. nothing wrong with that IMO, just because HWs would historically weigh 200-210 it doesn't have to stay like that all the time.

Ricky_ wrote:
Raise supermiddle 2lb to 170
Make Light Heavyweight 185
Cruiser up to 214

Maybe not those exact numbers but the general idea seems good.

There are 2 problems with this line of thinking:

1) The gaps between lower weight classes are ridiculously small, so basing what we consider "correct" or "normal" off of that is a bad idea.

2) The top guys who weigh 210-220 (Haye, Glazkov, Adamek, Cunningham, etc.) generally don't fight at cruiserweight not because they can't make the weight, but because heavyweight is more prestigious and lucrative for them. Add a 210 pound division and it will be completely barren.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to move cruiserweight down to 195. The guys who have problems now are guys who naturally weigh around 195-200, they're undersized for both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, but have a hell of a time making light heavy.

I think we should scrap the current weight divisions and go to TEN starting with Flyweight and going up to Heavyweight.

Something like.......

Heavyweight - 100kg+ (220lbs+)
Cruiserweight - 90kg (198)
Light Heavyweight - 82kg (180)
Middleweight - 75kg (165)
Light Middleweight - 68.5kg (151)
Welterweight - 62.5kg (137)
Lightweight - 57.5kg (126)
Featherweight - 54.5kg (120)
Bantamweight - 52kg(114)
Flyweight - 50kg (110)

These are just figures I'm thinking of right now. I'm sure the Boffins at the ONE governing body could do a better job.

Have ONE World Champion & make a big deal of regional Champions.

North American Champion (US & Canada - I know that technically Mexico is in North America but I'm thinking demographics)
Central American & Caribbean Champion (Mexico down to Panama)
South American Champion
Western Europe Champion
Eastern Europe Champion
Western Asian Champion (India to the Med)
Eastern Asian Champion (including Aus & NZ)
African Champion

Have a night of boxing where the champions of each region meet up in four quaterfinals, then another night with semifinals and then the final on another night.

Obviously none of this could work in real life though D

The answer is "absolutely not". Cruiserweight has been one of the best divisions in boxing in recent years and light heavyweight is finally strong again after several years of non-activity and garbage title fights. Heavyweight even has a "real" champ and that guy was dropped by a career cruiserweight. We don't need more divisions.

We actually need a lot less weightclasses.
It's ridiculous that someone can gain 3 weightclasses in a week, this way everyone can become a champion.

asdfjkl wrote:We actually need a lot less weightclasses.
It's ridiculous that someone can gain 3 weightclasses in a week, this way everyone can become a champion.

I disagree. Even with existing number of weight classes, there are a lot of catch-weight fights.

And possibly, we should have a super heavy weight class so that smaller guys like Povetkin don't have to roid themselves up to be able to compete with super giants like Fury, Klit, Wilder, Joshua.

ikorolev wrote:

asdfjkl wrote:We actually need a lot less weightclasses.
It's ridiculous that someone can gain 3 weightclasses in a week, this way everyone can become a champion.

I disagree. Even with existing number of weight classes, there are a lot of catch-weight fights.

And possibly, we should have a super heavy weight class so that smaller guys like Povetkin don't have to roid themselves up to be able to compete with super giants like Fury, Klit, Wilder, Joshua.

Povetkin never needed to roid himself up, he won all the gold medals without problems.
Only Americans need such stuff to burn the KFC, Mac and burger kings out of their bodys to keep up with normal people.