Cruiserweight - Britain's most exciting division?

Despite boasting champions Evander Holyfield, James Toney and more recently David Haye, these fighters would often make a name for themselves before moving up in weight to heavyweight or would find themselves at the end of their career, past their best (and far heavier than in years gone by) looking for title shots in what would usually be a shallow division in terms of talent.

 However, in recent years the division has boasted impressive, talented, long standing champions who have shown just how exciting cruiserweight can be.

This is nowhere more evident than in Britain. From world through to domestic level the British cruiserweight scene is brimming with talent and rivalry that in the next few months could lead to some tasty match-ups.

The 180-200lbs weight class has recently had its ranks swelled by the arrival of Tony Bellew and his long standing rival Nathan Cleverly. Both these fighters have been in and around world level at light heavy and will be looking to get in and amongst the champions as soon as possible.

Bellew lost a close, epic fight with Cleverly in 2011. Having both made successful debuts at cruiserweight, a second meeting is now inevitable, especially since the pair are both now represented by the same promotional outfit - Matchroom.

Both are a welcome addition to what is already an exciting division here in Britain, but it’s easy to forget about Ola Afolabi, who, despite flying the flag for the UK, has only had one contest here, back in 2009 - an impressive KO victory over former WBO champion Enzo Maccarinelli.

Because his career has panned out mostly in the US and Germany, Afolabi has not built up the fan base that a fighter of his experience and accomplishment would normally have done. Indeed, it’s possible to forget a British fighter given he spends most of his time fighting in Germany or the US. But British he is, and proud of it - you only have to look at his Union Jack shorts on fight night to know that much.

The Maccarinelli result bagged Afolabi the Interim WBO title and led to a trilogy with Marco ‘Captain’ Huck for the full-weight version. Each of these fights, although ending with Ola not taking home the belt, would grow and strengthen his reputation.

He was deemed extremely unlucky to not take home the title on the first two occasions with the second fight a draw, and many believing he had won both. In between these fights Ola would pick up the Interim title for a second time and in his last fight won the vacant IBO title in New York’s Madison Square Garden. A fine list of accomplishments for any fighter.

Afolabi’s record - 20 wins, three defeats and four draws - doesn’t look particularly pretty at first glance but reflects a fighter who for many years was not committed to the sport or looked after in the kind of way many fighters are today. Fights at short notice and a lack of proper training regimes all led to early blemishes but now a regular sparring partner of the Klitschko Brothers and promoted by their K2 Promotion company, the support shows in the confidence Ola exhibits in the ring.

As an established world level Cruiserweight and would be begrudged, as would the hardcore fans who know him, to think that he was being overlooked as an opponent by the new boys on the scene, Bellew and Cleverly.

Bellew’s 12th round KO of Valery Brudov was a good night at the office. His first fight in a new division against a fighter who had been in and around world level for the past few years, and came to fight, Bellew got 12 good rounds under his belt as well as the KO that he claimed would come from his rejuvenated power from moving up in weight. Afolabi fought Brudov some years earlier and took only six rounds to dispatch him in impressive style.

Brudov, although game and experienced, is still a small cruiser and that is one of the problems with the division. The 25 pound open weight limit sees some fighters come in noticeably lighter than their opponents and this can lead to results looking impressive, but obvious physical advantages can’t be ignored.

Should the only established World level cruiserweight this country has be ignored by the new arrivals looking to fight for World honours he himself has been and fought for? Not a chance (although don't expect to see it soon).

The domestic field is fairly deep with talent, some of which could soon start to look beyond domestic level. Reigning British Champion Jon-Lewis Dickinson has put in great displays in winning and defending his title, winning the Lonsdale belt outright with a tenth round stoppage victory over Neil Dawson back in March. Dickinson could move up to European level soon without feeling out of his depth, but with a record that reads just 15 wins against two losses, he is still at a very early stage of his career.

Before he goes anywhere, Dickinson faces off against another relative newcomer to the cruiserweight scene, Derby’s big hitting Ovill ‘The Upsetter’ McKenzie, who snatched the Commonwealth title from another cruiserweight hopeful, Romford’s Tony Conquest, after the latter put in career best performance against Australian Daniel Ammann.

The addition of McKenzie adds yet another exciting name to the domestic division. His impressive stoppage win over Conquest makes for a potentially exciting fight against Dickinson, with both Commonwealth and British titles on the line. This takes place on Saturday on the undercard of Stuart Hall’s IBF bantamweight title defence against Paul Butler in Newcastle.

Conquest still has time to come again, and takes on Liverpudlian Carl Dilks, who himself recently moved up to cruiserweight, over eight rounds on July 12 at the York Hall. A rematch with Neil Dawson could be a good fight for both and an opportunity to put themselves back in the domestic title mix.

Further down the division, but not too far behind, you have numerous prospects such as Leeds’ China Clarke, Blackpool’s English champ Matty Askin and Scottish prospect Stephen Simmons, who takes on Canning Town-based Wadi Camacho in Glasgow on June 27. This fight promises to be one to watch after becoming something of a grudge match with near physical confrontations and verbal insults being thrown from both sides before the original fight date was cancelled due to injury.

There are plenty more fighters in the division who have been in with the closely ranked rivals and have picked up losses as a result. Fighters such as Wallsall’s Chris Keane, who suffered his only loss (a devastating KO) at the hands of Neil Dawson.

Many of the above have already fought each other and the mixture of results goes to highlight just how competitive the cruiserweight division is. (Editor’s note: This certainly wasn’t the case back in 2010. I had the misfortune to witness one of the most boring British title fights in recent history when Stourbridge’s Rob Norton went 12 rounds with Streatham’s Leon Williams at the York Hall. At the time, it was difficult to see any light at the end of the cruiserweight tunnel).

A division filled with not just one or two notable prospects, but many up and coming ambitious fighters who not only are not afraid to face off against each other but on any given day have the beating of one another. From top to bottom, the Cruiserweight division in Britain has reason for fans to get excited.

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