By: Sean Crose
And here you were thinking there were already too many world titles out there. The World Boxing Association, once famous for it’s ubiquitous titles, has decided there’s going to be some more. Why? Because they’re creating a new weight division, of course. Introducing Super Cruiserweight. “The World Boxing Association (WBA) Executive Committee,” the organization stated online Friday, “approved the creation of the super cruiserweight division in a vote called by the president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza…this new division will be between 200 and 224 pounds, while it will be located between the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions.”
Although the division is bound to face much criticism (former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk currently holds most of the major world heavyweight titles, after all) the WBA argues it’s a mater of fighter safety. “The creation of this new weight,” the statement reads, “will mainly help to avoid bouts in which the fighters enter the ring with excessive weight differences, as tends to happen at heavyweight occasionally, where there can be differences of 20 pounds or more.” The WBA also claimed it had “made several analyses during the last months before thinking about the request, ” which was subsequently “submitted to a vote.”
The WBA states that “fighters considered ‘small heavyweights’ will have the option to move down to super cruiserweight and seek opportunities against more balanced weight opponents, in the quest to make the sport increasingly fairer.” The statement goes on to read that “the WBA ranking committee has already begun working on the creation of the rankings for this weight and the first divisional match-ups will be announced soon,” concluding with the assertion that “the WBA will continue to work on making boxing a fairer sport that provides opportunities and fairness to all involved, especially the boxers.”
While controversy is sure to ensue, the truth is that this all comes down to a matter of trust. The public has very little of it in regard to professional boxing organizations – and not without good reason. Therefore, when one such organization introduces something as major as a new weight division, the announcement is going to be met with raised eyebrows. With that being said, legendary heavyweight champions of old such as Jack Dempsey, Jim Corbett, and Rocky Graziano wouldn’t even qualify as heavyweights today.
