10.01.08 The Cruiserweights

By Mark Staniforth, PA Sport

It all began 29 years ago when a journeyman from Montana fought an uninspiring draw against a champion Croatian amateur in Split, and its critics might argue it has all been downhill from there.

No other division in boxing has attracted so much scorn as the cruiserweights, a weight category established at the end of the 1970s in order to combat the physical evolution of its heavyweight champions.

Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano and, on occasions, Joe Louis all fought below the future cruiserweight limit during their distinguished reigns as holders of the richest prize in sport.

But as the heavyweight champions grew in weight and height in the new post-war era, so boxing's governing bodies saw an opening for a new weight category, and with it another healthy sanctioning fee.

Seen as a home for second-rate big men or a convenient stopping-off point for those like Evander Holyfield harbouring bigger ambitions, the division has seldom secured its place in the spotlight.

So it is unusual to find that it is a cruiserweight contest which is currently attracting the attention of the British sporting public, and being described as the biggest all-British world title contest in decades.

When current number one David Haye puts his WBC and WBA titles on the line against WBO king Enzo Maccarinelli in London on March 8, the eyes of the boxing world will be upon them.

The fight, pitting the big-punching, glass-chinned Haye against the equally explosive but rather more untested Welshman, is one of those fights which can almost not fail to be a classic.

Haye might be boiling down one final time before pursuing heavyweight success. But this is a fight capable of reigniting a division which for so long has laboured, sometimes unfairly, in the shadows.

Forget Camel, who beat Parlov in a rematch before losing his title to Carlos De Leon. In its relatively short existence the division has boasted fine champions such as Holyfield, Virgil Hill, Bobby Czyz and James Toney.

Holyfield is without doubt the division's greatest champion, and he gave it arguably its greatest fight when he took the WBA crown from the experienced Dwight Muhammad Qawi in Atlanta in 1986.

Holyfield had won all 11 of his previous fights but some thought he was taking an unnecessary risk in facing Qawi, whose only previous loss in a big-time career had come against Michael Spinks.

But after 15 rounds of gruelling and always entertaining, the intensity of which is measured by the fact that Holyfield lost an amazing seven pounds in body fluids, the younger man claimed a disputed split decision win.

It was the win which launched Holyfield on the path to stardom. After three more fights at cruiserweight, during which he unified the titles by beating De Leon, he would move up to the heavyweight division.

Subsequent title reigns have been fleeting and seldom exemplary. Czyz briefly lit up the division before being stripped for inactivity, while Hill's successful move up from light-heavy in 2000 briefly courted attention.

Toney won a classic against Vassily Jirov in 2003 but once again the division suffered the inevitable consequence of losing its big-money star to the lure of a world heavyweight title challenge.

It will also lose Haye if the Bermondsey man beats Maccarinelli. Haye has struggled with the weight and indicated his desire to move up as soon as possible after climbing off the floor to win the titles from Jean-Marc Mormeck.

Haye is taking a calculated risk. He knows his time in the division is numbered, but he is admirably anxious to engage in the fights the public want to see - and at the moment they do not come any bigger than Maccarinelli.

Indeed, it could be argued that his clash with the Welshman dwarfs the prospect of Haye challenging any one of the other reigning world heavyweight champions, with the possible exception of Vladimir Klitschko.

"Everybody was asking me when I was going to fight Enzo, even after I beat Mormeck," said Haye."I decided to get it on. It's the fight everyone wants to see. I could have fought anybody but we went after this one."

Haye KO's Gurov



Maccarinelli is much less of a heavyweight prospect, which raises the prospect of the cruiserweight division finally adopting its own high-profile champion if the Welshman is successful in two months' time.

"It just happens that the two best cruiserweights in the world are from Britain," said Maccarinelli.

"It's not often that you get a fight like this where both guys are putting it all on the line.

One thing is for certain. With the fight going out in the early hours to accommodate the demands of American television, we can finally say that, however fleetingly, the cruiserweight division will be the winner.

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