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Cruising in Obscurity
By Sean Stowell (January 4, 2003)
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This March will mark the 23rd anniversary of the cruiserweight title. While it is old enough to drink, the cruiserweight division has yet to taste the notoriety of its big boy counterparts, the light heavyweights and heavyweights.
The division’s most recent chance at getting a big-name champion was scheduled to take place later this month, as James Toney was tabbed to take on International Boxing Federation champion Vassiliy Jirov. The bout was scrapped when Jirov hurt his ribs in training. In fact, not since Evander Holyfield tore through the division in the mid to late 1980s has the cruiserweight division had a steady, marquee name at its helm.
The uphill battle with anonymity began in the early spring of 1980. Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox were patrolling California’s highways, Blondie ruled the airwaves, America prepared to swap a peanut farmer for an actor in the Oval Office, and boxing was about to crown a champion in its newest division.
On March 31 of that year, Marvin Camel bested Mate Parlov in the Las Vegas desert to become the World Boxing Council cruiserweight champion. Actually the first cruiserweight title bout was held three months earlier when Camel and Parlov squared off in Croatia. But in typical fashion for a division that has a history of struggling to get noticed, that fight ended in a 15-round draw.
Camel failed to get over the hump in his first defense losing to Carlos DeLeon. DeLeon went on become a mainstay in the division for the next eight years, winning the WBC title three times. In the first five years of the WBC title, it changed hands six times. DeLeon was involved in four of those bouts. In 1982, the World Boxing Association pitted Ossie Ocasio against Robbie Williams, with Ocasio coming out on top. Not one to be left out, the IBF joined the party 20 months later as Camel dropped Roddy MacDonald in the boxing hotbed of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Just how screwy is this cruiserweight division? Let’s start with a look at the weight the cruisers fight at. From strawweight (105 pounds) through the light heavies (175), no more than seven pounds separates one weight class’ weight limit from the other, that is until you get the cruisers. With the light heavies ranging from 169-175, there is a whopping 15 pounds until the weight limit of the cruisers at 190.
Toney’s ascent to the top of the cruiserweight division began when won his first title at middleweight in 1991. He would then win the super middleweight crown two years later when he defeated former middleweight titlist Iran Barkley for the IBF belt by way of a ninth round KO. Toney brought much needed attention to the super middleweight division, making the 168-pounders pay-per-view material for the first time. He held the title for almost two years before losing a 12 round decision to Roy Jones, Jr.
As the years passed, Toney, whose distaste for hard training is legendary, blew up in weight so much he could no longer compete at the supper middleweight limit, which made him an excellent candidate for the cruiserweight division and possibly the one fighter out there today who can bring the division to the next level.
“The key is to get James back into popularity and onto pay-per-view,” Toney’s promoter Dan Goossen said. “That was where he was a pioneer.”
While many believe that if Toney trained like he should, he could take out Jirov by the late rounds of the fight, Toney himself believes that he can defeat anybody in the cruiserweight division, and becoming the first stable champion since Holyfield.
“Pound-for-pound nobody has more skills than James Toney,” he said. “It’s all about James Toney. Nobody’s got more skills than James Toney. If anybody wants to challenge me, come on and step and get done up. Period.”
Although it may seem that he has a confrontational style at times, Toney actually has good sense of humor and is very approachable, just look at the pictures in the most recent Ring magazine with him dressed in a Santa Claus suit smoking a cigar. Toney’s style maybe just what the division needs. Someone willing to say what’s on his mind no matter how controversial it may be and is willing to back it up in the ring.
“It’s all about James Toney,” he said. “If you’re looking for a real fighter, I can do it all. I’m an old-school fighter like Ezzard Charles, that’s the bottom line.”
Jirov, the most recognizable cruiserweight champion today, would probably be a very popular fighter if he were in any other division. Try and remember the last time you heard Jirov speak—that is if you’ve ever heard him. The tough 28-year-old former Kazakhstan Olympic gold medallist has good footwork for his size along with the ability to give and take a good punch.
He also reportedly has bizarre training methods, that if he were a heavyweight, would be getting all sorts of attention.
It’s been said that the Scottsdale, Ariz. resident has been locked in a hallway with a German Sheppard, and has to run from one end of the hall to the other without getting a chunk taken out of his behind.
If Jirov is unable to unify the cruiserweight title, he may just move up to heavyweight. That is what has plagued the division. Most cruisers have heavyweight dreams for their not so heavyweight bodies. It seems that when somebody wins a title they get the Holyfield syndrome and make the move to heavyweight. Who can blame them, when just being a contender in the heavyweight division can mean more money than being the cruiserweight champion.
Of course, Holyfield would go on to become one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time, winning a version of the crown a record four times. Michael Moorer, a natural 190-pounder is another success story in the heavyweight division.
More often than not it is just a stop off before a move to heavyweight, ala Bobby Czyz, the current Showtime color analyst and former light heavyweight champion who would win the cruiserweight title in 1991, only to vacate it a couple of years later to campaign as a heavyweight. Also, heavyweights who have a tough time competing at the heavier weight use the cruiserweight division as a place to hone their skills while they develop into a competitive bigger man like 2000 Olympian Michael Bennett.
Or the division is just overlooked completely as in the case of Jones who will take on John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight crown. No doubt a Jones-Toney rematch at cruiserweight would bring the cruiserweight division into the spotlight like never before.
But that won’t happen until a name fighter comes along and is ready to step
up and get done up. Period.
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E-Mail Sean Stowell at seanstowell@hotmail.com
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