New WBC Weight classes! Cruiserweight 190 Pounds Max, Bridgerweight Division 190 to 224 Pounds
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
*Photo Credit: Top Rank
Mexico City, Mexico (December 1oth, 2020)– The World Boxing Council and President Mauricio Sulaiman, effective immediately, has changed the cruiserweight boxing weight limit from above 200 pounds to a maximum of 190 pounds. The new Bridgerweight division will be above 190 pounds up to 224 pounds.
In effect, what the World Boxing Council has done is rubber-stamped the so-called super cruiserweight or junior heavyweight divisions, which the International Boxing Association, International Boxing Council and some lesser organizations have endorsed over the years at 195 to 210 pounds or so. The IBA still exists, and the super cruiserweight division still exists on paper, and has been fought for, but not in recent years. The IBA lists cruiserweight at a 195 pounds limit, and super cruiserweight at 200 pounds limit, found online at https://www.internationalboxingassociation.com/champions/ although the IBA does not rank super cruiserweights, and the IBA rankings are last dated August 2017, roughly two years after the death of its founder and president, Cy Young award winner Dean Chance in October 2015.
The IBA lists super cruiserweight titles at world, Intercontinental, International, Regional and Americas at https://www.internationalboxingassociation.com/super-cruiserweight/ The late Danish southpaw super cruiserweight champion Tue Bjorn Thomsen won the vacant IBC World Super Cruiserweight title with a 10 round technical decision win over Nate Miller in March 2000, and defended in September 2002 with a 12 round decision win over Rob Calloway.
The intent of the WBC is to limit the cruiserweight division, and via the new Bridgerweight division, create a midrange halo division of junior heavyweights, a theoretical second transitionary division on the step ladder to heavyweight. In addition, super heavyweight, an Olympic Games category, has long been argued for at above 240 or above 250 pounds. At this point, the new Bridgerweight pro boxing weight division has not been embraced or endorsed by the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO or other boxing sanctioning authorities. What it does mean is if paper champions in the cruiserweight division of the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO, if they wish to unify with the WBC, will have to go down in weight to 190 pounds if they are above that threshold. Most cruiserweights today are hovering at between 195 and 200 pounds. The timing of the innovation during the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus period is out of place, but may add competitiveness. Championship 176 to 200 pounds fighters, such as Mairis Breidis or Oleksandr Usyk, eventually move up in heavyweight after winning the world cruiserweight title, as financial opportunities are better at heavyweight.
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