Super Cruisers? Yes
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 02.27.2007 05:57 PM
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JAY HAS HIS SAY
Charles Jay
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SUPER CRUISERWEIGHTS? ABSOLUTELY
February 21, 2007
B.J. Flores fights for the International Boxing Association's super cruiserweight title on March 3 when he takes on Patrick Nwamu in Boise, Idaho.
Which may beg a question from some of you - does the boxing world need yet another weight division?
The answer is - yes, I would say so.
And its home is more appropriate near the top of the weight ladder than the bottom.
A while ago I wrote a very well-received story that appeared on the Fox sports website. It surrounded Nicolay Valuev, a heavyweight if there ever was one. The premise of the piece, to an extent, was to highlight Valuev's immense size and raised the question as to whether he was a freak show; an anomaly among the heavyweights of world-class status through the years who were of much smaller stature.
As a sidebar to the article I sought out some of the other "giants" in boxing history, including guys like Jim Cully, a 7'4" Irishman, and the South African, Ewart Potgieter, who stood 7'2". But while there were probably quite a few fighters who were giants for their time, there weren't many of them who were giants compared to some of the guys who are around now.
At one point in the story, I contemplated what might happen if more people like Valuev became mainstays in the heavyweight division. After all, Valuev was about seven feet tall and 320-plus pounds; did this gentleman really belong in the same weight division as someone who just barely couldn't bring himself to making the cruiserweight limit?
I really don't see how.
Remember - Valuev isn't the only fighter who brings a lot of size into the ring who has made a major mark in recent years. You've got the Klitschko brothers, who are 6'7" and 6'8", and the six foot, seven-inch Riddick Bowe. These fighters were just as big as Jess Willard or Primo Carnera (roughly speaking), yet possessed much more in the way of athleticism, quickness and agility. That doesn't mean they're "supermen" or necessarily super athletes. What it DOES mean is that they are symbolic of the evolution of the athlete - which is to say, it's just a natural thing.
So before all you "traditionalists" start crying foul, it may be instructive to sit down, hush up, and listen to reason.
Please remember that establishing new divisions has always been a part of boxing. Way back, the light heavyweights didn't even exist. And even as you may look upon the junior divisions with askance, one needs to undertake nothing more than a cursory examination to discover that the junior middleweight (154) division has been with us since 1962; the junior welterweight division (140 pounds) has been since 1923. Junior featherweights (122 pounds) have been in boxing since 1922, and the junior lightweight division (130 pounds) first appeared way back in 1921.
Some of this has been a reaction to the aforementioned evolution of the athlete; some of it has been a product of the concern for fighter safety. And to insert something in between the cruiserweights and what we recognize as the heavyweights would seem a logical step along those lines.
I would challenge anyone to make a compelling argument that there is more of a need for a 115-pound division - three pounds up from the flyweights - than a division to distinguish between a guy who may weigh 210 pounds and one who tips the scales at 260. That's a 50-pound difference against a three-pound difference, which of course is no comparison, no matter how much pretzel logic you may use in talking about "relative disparity."
A couple of the sanctioning bodies saw the sense in some of this when they moved the cruiserweight limit to 200 pounds a couple of years ago. Another "insertion" wouldn't be too far out of line.
I wouldn't want to raise the cruiserweight limit again, because there is a 25-pound span (175-200) there already. But going to 210 or even 220 pounds would be reflective of where we are in this sport right now, and where we're going in the future. We have to change with the times. Indeed, we NEED to.
In football, there were 210-pound linebackers and 250-pound offensive tackles not too long ago. Obviously, today that would never do. Boxing can be framed within a similar standard. the top performers these days, for the most part, are up above the 220 mark. Sure, there are some exceptions - Roy Jones and Michael Spinks come to mind in the last twenty years - but you can't make the rule on the basis of the exceptions. Jones won his title (WBA version) in 2003 while scaling 193 pounds. Contrast that with Valuev's championship victory (ironically over the same fighter - John Ruiz) for which he weighed 324 pounds. That's a difference of 131 pounds in the same division for the same title! But that in no way makes the statement that the two fighters actually BELONGED in the same division. Jones would probably have given up his belt rather than have to face Valuev, if that situation had arisen.
The new division would be just about right for anywhere between 210-220 pounds. Some might call that the "junior heavyweights." In the International Boxing Association (IBA), they have it set at 210 pounds and call it a "super cruiserweight." That reminds me about when one ring announcer (I think it was Ed Derian) used to call a guy at 154 pounds a "junior middleweight or super welterweight, whichever you prefer."
By whatever designation, B.J. Flores is a guy who is perfect for the division. He began as a "light" heavyweight, if you know what I mean, then surveyed the landscape and decided he wanted to first make his mark as a cruiser. He certainly has the flexibility to fight at that weight if he wants to, but he may be just right as a super cruiserweight (almost all his fights have fit into that window). Because he can utilize hand speed that would be effective against guys moving down to the weight class, and power that can work against people who are moving up to it, this sounds like a good fit.
And he'll have a chance to carve out his niche in a division that he can pretty much call his own. And I'm not kidding about this - as I mentioned, this is the direction we're going right now.
I think we're going to see a real good fight when Flores ventures out to potato country to take a title away from the guy who is actually the current IBA super cruiserweight champion, Patrick Nwamu. This will be the most important fight in the new weight class, and I'm sure they'll do it proud.
There is also the added attraction of Flores, who already holds the super cruiser belts of the NBA and WBF, being such a clean cut, personable, marketable fighter, who knows how to communicate with the press and public. He'll be able to call out all the other super cruiserweights with some panache.
There might not be many out there who can hear him right now, but just give it some time.
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