The Cruiserweight Division: The Best-Kept Secret in Boxing.

After Vassiliy Jirov and James Toney treated us to the fight of the year in 2003, the cruiserweight division since then has remained quiet. This is due partly to the abundance of fighters moving up north to fight at heavyweight. Also, some fighters in the process of moving up in weight skip the cruiserweight division completely (e.g. Roy Jones, Jr.). But still, something doesn’t even out. You have several talented fighters in this division, but yet it’s overlooked. In my opinion there is no excuse, however the “powers that be” in boxing beg to differ. So, what’s the problem, you ask? I’ll tell you what it is. Politics going on behind the scenes is what’s making the cruiserweight division remain unknown. The promoters are not making the fights that the boxing public wants to see. Keep in mind that the cruiserweight division lays in between the light heavyweight division and the heavyweight division. The promoters know it and they take advantage of it to the maximum. So with that in mind, marketing the cruiserweight division doesn’t prove to be as lucrative as the light heavyweight or heavyweight division. Think about it, Australian light heavyweight Paul Briggs has gotten more coverage for his upcoming fight with Tomasz Adamek than American IBF cruiserweight champion Kelvin Davis. What makes this peculiar is that Briggs has yet to fight in the United States.

Just think about it with Roy Jones, Jr. out of the picture, well at least for now. Although Glen Johnson reigns supreme, I still feel the light heavyweight division is still up for grabs. The two men that knocked Roy into retirement, (Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson) squared off and fought once already. And guess what, they will mix it up one more time later on this year. For those of you that don’t know, certain events had to take place in order for the Tarver-Johnson fight to come to fruition. In order for both fighters to fight each other, Tarver was stripped of his WBC championship belt and Johnson was stripped of his IBF championship belt. Isn’t that interesting?

Now let’s move up north to the heavyweight division. No matter how terrible and how desperate they may be for a star, we all know Mr. Don King always has an ace up his sleeve. Think about it, he put together one of the worst pay-per-view events ever, (Night of The Heavyweights) and you know what, we all bought it, knowing we were going to receive a “damaged product.” The clinch fest of John Ruiz versus Andrew Golota goes into the “classic category.” Now if these games can go on elsewhere, you mean to tell me the champions in the cruiserweight division can’t fight each other. Let’s be serious.

The Kelvin Davis-O’Neil Bell fight is on-is-off-is-on and off again. Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite and Jean-Marc Mormeck is slated for April 2, however, they changed the date of this fight three times, first it was in October of last year, but Mormeck got injured. No replacement opponent was found for “Big Truck.” Then the fight was supposed to take place in January, then in February, and now in April. I don’t know if I should believe what I read or hear. If you were me, would you?

I am going to go out on a limb and make a suggestion to the boxing committee; the “idea” of a “tournament” is very applicable in this context. I mean you guys have done it before. You did it in the middleweight division and you do it in the heavyweight division. Now let’s try it out in the cruiserweight division it might work. But before I go into the technicalities of the tournament, I would love to give you a quick overview of who the champions are and the top prospects to look out for. Jean-Marc Mormeck, hailing from France represents the W.B.A. as the best the sanctioning body has to offer. Personally, I have never seen him fight, but his size and record speaks in volumes. Mormeck sports a record of thirty-wins and two losses, with twenty-one KO’s. The American fight fans deserve tosee more of him.

Your W.B.C. champion hails from Brooklyn, New York by way of Georgetown, Guyana. Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite is a very strong southpaw that has dynamite in his hands. He sports a record of twenty-one wins against no losses with seventeen of those wins via the KO. “Big Truck” is a crowd favorite here in New York. He has tons of heart and has good skills. It would be a treat to see more of “Big Truck” in 2005. In the International Boxing Federation, “Concrete” Kelvin Davis represents them as their champion. In my opinion, he would benefit the most from this tournament. For two reasons: Firstly, he hasn’t fought since winning the I.B.F. title in May of last year. He beat Ezra Sellers in a not too impressive manner. He has a point to prove. Secondly, for financial reasons, he recently filed for bankruptcy, and thus needs the money.

Although I have mentioned the three major sanctioning bodies, as of late you have to start acknowledging the W.B.O. as a legitimate and recognized sanctioning body. Johnny Nelson is the W.B.O. champion. Again, I don’t know anything about him. He is from England and is thirty-eight years old. He sports a record of forty-four wins and twelve losses. His record is a definite red flag, and his age is suspect, but Bernard Hopkins is forty and Glen Johnson has nine losses. The public deserves to see him anyway.

Canadian Dale Brown is definitely someone to look out for in the future. He is coming off an impressive victory over Shelby Gross a couple of weeks ago on ESPN. His only losses came to Braithwaite, Mormeck, and Jirov, all world champions. Now the best prospect in the cruiserweight division is Enzo Maccarinelli. The twenty-four year old Welshman has been knocking guys out cold since losing his fourth professional fight. He sports a record of 20-1. There is plenty of talent to be utilized to bring back the credibility the cruiserweight division once had.

So here is my proposal for the tournament: On different dates in the same venue, have these fights as the main event of each fight card. Have Wayne Braithwaite go ahead and fight Jean-Marc Mormeck first. Then have Kelvin Davis fight O’Neil Bell. The winners of both fights would eventually have to fight each other. W.B.O. champion can fight Enzo Maccarinelli and the winner fights Dale Brown or vice versa. Ultimately leading up to one final showdown between two men for all four belts to crown one champion and to unify the division.

The tournament can take place in Detroit, Michigan. With the Pistons not likely to repeat and the Detroit Redwings out of commission as a result of the NHL lockout, bringing boxing back to Detroit, something that will give the fans something to cheer about. Not to mention, it’s James Toney’s hometown. A former great cruiserweight, who coincidentally gave us the last great cruiserweight fight.

So with the plethora of talented fighters in the cruiserweight division, the possibilities of making great fights are endless. So it’s about the time this division gets the exposure it deserves. The secret has been exposed, no more excuses.

Thanks for taking the time and checking out my column. I appreciate the support. Until next time, “Stay Up.”

Jason Gonzalez can be reached at bklynqueenzmpire@aol.com