Unfashionable Neighbours?

Whilst Jean Marc Mormeck and Wayne Braithwaite were attempting to unify titles, British starlet David Haye was having thoughts of a duke out with European champion Alexander Gurov. Long-reigning WBO title holder Johnny Nelson is looking to put the finishing touches to a career that’s had plenty of ups and downs with a domestic dust up with rising Welsh star Enzo Maccarranelli, and Carl Thompson and Sebastian Rothmann (as ever) will fight anyone. Add to that the showdown for the vacant IBF title between O’Neil Bell and Dale Brown and you’ve got the recipe for a cruiserweight division that’s……..well…….exciting. The cruiserweight division has always been seen as the heavyweight’s poor relation, I mean let’s be honest here, all the top cruiserweights would take a shot at a heavyweight title (and who would blame them), and some will openly admit its part of the plan, but all in good time gentlemen. First off, let’s have an undisputed champion. When Mormeck picked up Braithwaite’s WBA strap, he put together two parts of a three piece jigsaw (Mormeck already being the WBC champion), if he could get it on with the winner of Bell versus Brown we would have the first undisputed champion since Evander Holyfield just over seventeen years ago.

Mormeck, Brown and Bell are all over the age of thirty, as are Thompson, Nelson and Rothmann, but let’s not panic. Whilst Nelson and Thompson are certainly in the twilight of their careers, Mormeck is a unified champion, Bell has come through two eliminators for his chance, and at thirty-three, Brown will be looking to make the most of this second tilt at a title. So, it’s not like a void will need to be filled, especially with the emergence of the new breed of cruiserweight. Braithwaite at twenty-nine is already in the big picture, some think he should be a light heavyweight, but that’s a different discussion. Steve Cunningham at twenty-eight, coming off good wins over Rothmann and Guillermo Jones is making steady progress. David Haye drilled Aussie hard man Glenn Kelly on his last outing as part of his rehabilitation after self destructing against Carl Thompson, and Enzo Maccarinelli marches on towards a crack at Johnny Nelson, so the division is in good hands for a good few years to come.

Is all this enough for the cruiserweight division to shift its tag of “unfashionable neighbour?” Probably not, but then again us boxing fans are a fickle bunch; we are the first to complain when things aren’t to our liking, but at the same time we aren’t too quick to see that things might just be as good as they have been for the best part of twenty years.