Cruiserweight

Fighting outside of the ring sells.

Any publicity is good publicity for boxing’s dying popularity.  The drama between Dereck Chisora, Vitali Klitschko and David Haye will without a doubt boost the sport’s ratings.

A war of words began before Chisora and Klitschko’s battle in the ring.  Indeed, according to USA Today, Chisora was trash-talking his opponent at the weigh-in:

“Everybody's tired of you and your brother.  There's no excitement in the ring.  It's time for the new king.  People want a new relief in boxing.  Him and his brother have killed the sport I love…”

He also slapped Klitschko.  

As if the subplots couldn’t get any better, after Klitschko defeated Chisora in a split decision, David Haye decided to join in on the action.  At the postmatch press conference, Haye, apparently feeling left out, began to brawl with Chisora.

Here is the video (Warning: Language is not safe for work).

Haye’s fight with Chisora will help the sport far more than the Klitschkos.

Think about it: What’s one of the most memorable scenes from the Rocky series?  When Balboa fought Tommy Gunn…in the streets. 

How about one of the most emotional?  When Clubber Lang jacked-up Micky before fighting Rocky. 

Sure, it’s just a movie, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the thrill of organized, refereed fights pale in comparison to the latter.

Besides the fact they’re the two most talented boxers in the world, a potential Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather bout is so hyped up because of the never-ending drama outside of the ring.  Non-boxing fanatics are hearing the names Klitschko, Chisora and Haye for the first time, not because of an average match, but because of the unscripted fighting away from it.

Chisora and Haye aren’t the most intelligent athletes on the planet, but their immature antics are definitely a plus for boxing.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels

Roy Jones Jr. (54-8, 40 KO's) suffered his third loss in a row in Moscow earlier today at the hands of Denis Lebedev (22-1, 17 KO's), protege of retired Russian legend Kostya Tszyu (31-2, 25 KO's) according to Boxing Scene.

At the elderly age of 42, Roy Jones was still able to take 31-year-old Lebedev to school with a few aggressive attacks and sneaky punches that momentarily made him look like the Jones of old.

Then misfortune struck in the third round when Jones was caught with a couple wild shots that wobbled him.

Jones defended well from then on, even managing to win a few rounds, but never did he rise to the promise of vintage Jones domination displayed for a glimpse in the opening round.

Lebedev stalked Jones with great effort from Round 7 onward.

Jones buckled Lebedev's knees with a quick left hook to the jaw in the final moments of the ninth round.

In the 10th and final round, Jones displayed extra flashy quick punches, but was overwhelmed in an exchange with Lebedev.

In the exchange, Lebedev unleashed a monstrous assault that laid Jones to rest, head crashing face-first.

It has been said that if Jones lost this match, he would retire. Though he did look capable, it may be wise to finally hang up those gloves.

As reported by Dan Rafael of ESPN.com and as mentioned last night on Fightnews.com, Roy Jones Jr. (54-7, 40 KOs) has signed a contract to fight on May 22 in Moscow, Russia against cruiserweight and No. 1 ranked contender by the WBO, 31-year old Denis Lebedev (21-1, 16 KOs) of Chekhov, Russia.

John Wirt, CEO of Square Ring Promotions, who Jones owns told ESPN.com that the fight would be scheduled for 10 rounds at the cruiserweight limit of 200 pounds.

A boxing legend and former pound-for-pound champion for over a decade, Jones Jr. is now 42-years old.

In his illustrious prime boxing career, which started in 1989, he has beaten the likes of  Bernard Hopkins (1993), James Toney (1994), Vinny Pazienza (1995), Montell Griffin (1997), Virgil Hill (1998), Clinton Woods (2002), John Ruiz (2003), Antonio Tarver (2003), Felix Trinidad (2008) and, in his last victory, Jeff Lacy (2009).

He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1990s by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

On March 1, 2003, Jones Jr. defeated John Ruiz to capture the WBA World Heavyweight title, becoming the first middleweight champion in 100 years to also win a heavyweight title.

Recently, in his last two matches, he has been beaten by unanimous decision—once in April 2010 by Bernard Hopkins, as well as by Danny Green in December 2009, where he was beaten by TKO in the first round.

Jones Jr. is now looking to rebound and silence his doubters that feel he has lost a step or two. Against Lebedev, he will be coming in as the underdog. Wirt admits that having the fight at 200 pounds will be in Jones Jr.'s favor, as it's hard for him to make weight at 175 pounds.

Lebedev's only defeat was a split decision loss last December to WBO Cruiserweight Champion Marco Huck in a close fight that many had thought he had won.

Wirt admits that there were other offers to fight Jones Jr. in the United States and Canada, but the best and "most attractive" offer was to fight Lebedev in Russia.

Wirt stated that, "Roy has no problem and no issue with going to Russia. We'll have fair judges and a fair referee. We've already been in contact with the Russian federation to make sure we know all the rules."

As of now, no American television contract has been signed, but is in the works, Wirt admits.

It will be interesting to see and hear more about the bout on Saturday night when Roy Jones Jr. will be part of the HBO Boxing After Dark broadcast team televising Gamboa vs. Solis.

WBO champion Marco "Kap'n" Huck of Germany today defended his WBO cruiserweight crown in a back-and-forth encounter with the previously unbeaten Denis Lebedev of Russia at the Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany.

The first half of the fight saw the challenger working the champion over with hard body shots, seen most vividly in round four, perhaps the Russian's best round of the fight.  Huck was repeatedly hit with hard punches to the stomach and liver, and was slowing noticeably by the round's end, despite the exhortations of his trainer, Ulli Wegner, to attack.

Huck was showing signs of desperation in round five, loading up and throwing haymakers that repeatedly missed their mark.  Lebedev's southpaw stance was giving Huck fits, and the champion's own style—usually squared up, with his guard held high a la Wegner's other star pupil, Arthur Abraham—left the Russian an inviting open target to the midsection that he repeatedly went after with straight lefts.

Unfortunately for Lebedev, American referee Eddie Cotton Jr. decided to become perhaps overly involved, twice warning the Russian for low blows that appeared to be legal.  In such a tight fight, a point deduction could have been catastrophic, and Lebedev got away from his game plan after the second warning in the eighth round.

With Cotton's help, Huck rallied in the latter third of the fight, his best round perhaps being the 10th, where he scored with a hard right hand lead and a hard shot to Lebedev's midsection.  Both fighters' faces were marked up by this point, Lebedev perhaps getting the worst of it with a cut near his left eye.

Overall, this was a very difficult fight to score, as both fighters appeared wary of each other's power and often turned the proceedings into a chess match, with each man probing for ways to penetrate the other's defences. 

Huck, however, seemed confident of a win by the 12th round, as he mostly danced away from Lebedev, who tried to press the action but was rapidly running out of steam.

The champion's confidence in the result was rewarded with a split decision victory, two judges seeing it 115-113 for Huck (31-1), with one dissenter calling it for Lebedev, 112-116.

This writer had Lebedev, who can with some justification feel that he should still be undefeated, edging it by a point, 116-115, with three rounds even.

David Haye comfortably dispatched Audley Harrison with a third-round knockout before a crowd of 20,000 at the MEN Arena in Manchester.

The Bermondsey fighter proved too much for Harrison, with Haye landing a flurry of right and left hooks to finish the fight.

After a quiet first round in which barely a punch was landed, Haye came forward in the second round as he attacked from the bell.

It was in the third where the action really kicked off, though, with Harrison looking defenceless once Haye's onslaught began.

The Hayemaker pierced Harrison's defence with a right-hand and pushed forward, backing him on to the ropes.

As he landed combinations, a right-hand uppercut and right cross saw Harrison go down for the first time mid-way through the round.

After getting up from a count of eight, Harrison lasted a matter of seconds before Haye finished the fight and, effectively, A-Force's career as a premier boxer and he knocked him down once more.

Haye said afterwards in his post-match Sky interview he was 'convinced he could crush anyone in the world', adding he put a lot of money on a third-round knockdown and had told his friends and family to do the same.

The 30-year-old also said he felt no bad blood towards Audley Harrison, saying he 'had known him for many years and would like to take him out for a drink'.

Lennox Lewis told Sky Sports Haye showed power in his punches, but said he was surprised that Audley did not take charge of the early rounds, saying 'he did not really get going tonight'.

Video of knockout is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ORQ7T0pXw)

Alexander Frenkel may have ended Enzo Maccarinelli with a vicious knockout in the seventh round. With the win Frenkel wins the EBU title and is the mandatory for Marco Huck.

Maccarinelli (32-5) boxed well over the first six rounds and was looking good before being crushed with a surprising left hook in the seventh round.

He got back up but was in no shape to continue and ate another huge left hook and didn’t get up this time. You could argue that the fight should have been stopped after the first knockdown.

He was on the mat for a few minutes and got treatment from ringside doctors. They were trying to give him oxygen but he was pushing it away.

He was eventually helped up and was helped to his corner by his corner people. This is his fifth loss and all five have come by knockout.

With the win Frenkel moves to 23-0 (18 KO) and picks up his best win to date. He will be looking to cash in his WBO title shot in the near future.

Maccarinelli looked very good and was winning the fight on two of the three cards when he was stopped. He was enjoying his best stretch of the fight when he was stunningly knocked out.

Frenkel didn’t looked particularly good until he landed the wicked left hook and got the stoppage. He wasn’t very active and was throwing wild punches most of the time.

 He came through in a big way and ended the night with a knockout of the year candidate. With the win he established himself as a top tier cruiserweight.

He has the chance to fight Huck and making that fight may prove to be a problem. Huck has been fighting a lot but only fight B level fighters since his only loss to Steven Cunningham.

They are both Germans so this could be made just because of the cash involved. Huck is a star in Germany and Frenkel can punch so it would be easy to market.

As far as Maccarinelli it appears that his career is over. If he does decided to move on he wont be a top tier fighter and is going to have a hard time getting back there.

He is a former champion, has made some money, and is a universally liked guy. He is a true good guy in boxing and nobody wants to see him stick around to long and get hurt.

He wasn’t the best cruiserweight fighter of his era but he was the most exciting. He was either going to spark you or get sparked himself.

If he does call it a career I will miss watching him and all the excitement he brought to the ring. He was never one of my favorite fighters, but he is one of the fighters I always watched.

At the end of the night, Frenkel steps into up into the top tier of cruiserweights and hopefully Maccarinelli calls it a day.

UPDATE: Word is Enzo passed out in the locker room and is on his way to the hospital. Hopefully he will be okay.

Originally written for and posted on www.kissingthecanvas.com.

In his most recent outings, Roy Jones Jr. (54-7, 40 knockouts) has looked like a fighter that should hang up the gloves.

Jones was knocked out by Danny Green in December, not even lasting a full round, and was decimated by fellow future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins in a loss via unanimous decision.

Named the Boxing Writers Association of America “Fighter of the Decade” in the 1990s, Jones wants to prove to the fans that he has got something left, despite looking like a shell of his former self recently.

“Captain Hook” plans to step back in the ring on October 7th at the Pensacola Civic Center, in Pensacola, Florida, which also happens to be Jones’ hometown.

In Jones' last outing in Pensacola, he knocked out Omar Sheika in the fifth round.  This was in March of 2009.

Jones has been adamant about the fact that retirement has not even crossed his mind, so he will step back in the ring against Danny Santiago (31-4-1, 19 knockouts).

Some fans will remember Santiago as one of the featured boxers on ESPN’s reality boxing TV series The Contender, which aired in late 2007. 

While Santiago has built up an impressive professional record, “The Bronx Bomber” has floundered against elite competition such as Zsolt Erdei and Antonio Tarver, his most recent losses.

This, coupled with the fact Santiago is 2-2 in his last four fights, makes him a pretty evenly matched opponent for Jones. 

A win here would not do much to boost Jones’ stock, but it would prove he still has a couple of decent fights left in him.

On the other hand, Santiago walking out victorious could put him into the title picture of the cruiserweight division. 

This could likely be the final opportunity for the 37-year-old to work his way toward a championship run.

Jones’ company, Square Ring, will promote the fight, although as of now, no television deal is in place. 

Jones made “almost no money” from his fight with Bernard Hopkins, and does not expect much revenue to come in from the fight with Santiago. 

He has implied that from this point forward, he is competing for the love of the sport, regardless of where his finances currently stand.

Square Ring CEO John Wirt has announced a tentative undercard for the event.

The expected fights include light heavyweights Ismayl Sillakh and Daniel Sackey squaring off, as well as former featherweight champion Derrick Gainer taking on Walter Estrada in the lightweight division.

Jones Jr., a four-time champion in four different divisions, also mentioned that he is not opposed to a move back to the light heavyweight division in the future, referencing Jean Pascal’s upset victory over Chad Dawson as evidence that the division is wide open.

Fans can only hope that Jones can channel his old self next month, as he has been one of the most disappointing veterans of the ring in the past couple of years. 

Recently, I heard that Chris "The Nightmare" Arreola had lost to beefed up cruiserweight Tomasz Adamek. I won't say I was shocked, after witnessing Arreola get brutally beaten by Vitali Klitschko and have trouble with Brian Minto, I thought his career was on the way down.

Initially, that fight sparked little interest in me because I was focusing on the upcoming Paul WIlliams-Kermit Cintron bout. I didn't even read any of the press releases or the Bleacher Report editorials. However, on Sunday night I was channel surfing and found the Arreola fight on-demand and went ahead and ordered it to get a look at Tomasz Adamek.

To make a long story short, I came away far more impressed with Arreola's chances within the divison if he continues to make the strides he very obviously made going into this fight. He's only 29, is coordinated, has power and knows his way around the ring. 

Sometimes a loss actually enhances a fighters reputation, and in my humble opinion, this fight did exactly that for Chris Arreola.

Growing up and Early Career

Chris Arreola was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in East LA. The son of a former boxer, he started boxing at the age of eight and had approximately 200 amateur bouts between then and age 16.

He took a hiatus from 16 to age 20, but returned and after only three months of training he won the National Golden Gloves in 2001 at light heavyweight. After celebrating his improbable feat, he took another sojourn from the sport and returned at age 20.

Arreola is sort of like a monk who takes sabbaticals every couple years or so from the sport.

Fate stepped in as he arrived too late to sign up for the 2003 Golden Gloves, so he turned pro.

Infamous Goosen Tutor signed the portly, heavily tattooed fighter in 2003 and he started a roller coaster ride through the heavweight division. Arreola has stopped such unbeaten prospects as Chazz Witherspoon, Thomas Hayes, and Zakeem Graham on his way up the ladder.

He fought highly regarded prospect Travis Walker and  got up off the canvas to knock Walker out.

Arreola faced veteran Jameel McCline and knocked him out with an uppercut to set up a title fight with Vitali Klitscho that was televised worldwide on HBO.

Vitali Klitschko who is 6'7" 250, is an absolute brute and was a heavy favorite in the days leading up to the fight.

During the fight, Klitschko dominated Arreola with pawing jabs, hard straight rights and body shots which prevented Arreola from closing the gap. Arreola's corner and the referee stopped the fight before the start of the 11th, giving Klitschko a TKO.

The judges had it 99-91, 99-91, 100-89 for Klitschko at the time of the stoppage, and it really wasn't even that close. Arreola was thoroughly dominated in the ring, and devastated in the interview afterwards, breaking down in tears.

The Nightmare came back to defeat lightly regarded Brian Minto in December of 2009 on the undercard of the incredible Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez fight. Minto gave Arreola a little trouble before he dispatched him in the fourth.

Chris Arrreola Versus Tomasz Adamek

In most of these fights Arreola's weight and conditioning seemed to be lacking as he often looked flabby and started breathing through his mouth early in his fights. To his credit, he is the ultimate warrior who never gives up, and that was truly on display against Tomasz Adamek.

Adamek's record is 41-1 with 27 KOs. He is the former WBC world light heavyweight champion and the former IBF, IBO and The Ring magazine cruiserweight champion.

As of the end of 2009, Ring Magazine has ranked Adamek as the 30th best boxer in the world. Adamek is known to have one of the toughest chins in boxing.

Unfortunately it seemed Arreola left his crowd-pleasing, brawling syle with the weight. After only two rounds, you could hear the crowds begin to boo.

The fight was held in Ontario, California which is practically Arreola's backyard. I immediately wondered how bad of beating Arreola had taken to lose a decision in his hometown.

Especially with the questionable hometown decisions in the Carl Froch-Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler-Carl Froch fights recently where the scoring was highly debatable at best.

The fighters came to the ring and Adamek didn't look much smaller than Arreola who weighed in at a positively svelte looking 250 lbs.

Once the fight started though, Adamek's speed was quickly evident, as he was on his bicycle for much of the evening. I don't mean this disparagingly because he simply took advantage of one of his strengths.

Arreola jabbed and stalked. Adamek just worked him over with crisp two to three punch salvos and was doubling the punch output of Arreola through three rounds.

In round four Arreola came alive and punished Adamek, as if he caught him with his wife in the backseat of a Ford pinto, with right hands and left hooks to the head.  Arreola wobbled Adamek twice, once with a straight left and then with a right hand in round five.

Adamek had terrible footwork, that reminded me of myself at my first school dance, and it made Arreola's punches look even better than they were as he staggered drunkenly around the ring. In round six, it was more of Arreola with a nice punishing jab that shoved Adamek all round the ring.

Arreola threw nice combinations and Adamek responded with thudding hooks to the body and a couple of low blows.

So far it has been the tale of threes, the first three rounds for Adame and the last three for Arreola.

Adamek won the seventh, eight and ninth on nice clean one-two-three(left-right-left) combinations to the body and the head. He would throw, and then dance out of the way frustrating Arreola, who motioned to Adamek to come fight.

Adamek ignored Arreola's attempts to lure him into a firefight and continued to circle, step in and deliver, back out and circle and repeat.

In rounds 10 and 11, Arreola ratcheted up the aggression and started throwing combinations of his own. He was very successful in driving Adamek into the ropes, and the crowd started to roar, but as he hit Adamek on top of the head with a straight right, he pulled back with it and visibly winced.

There was about a minute and a half left in the round and Arreola didn't use the right for the rest of round 10. 

Arreola came out strong in round 11 and threw the right but pawed with it more than anything. Adamek ran and countered, but it was Arreola's round, because in the last minute he threw caution to the wind and fired the right hand again.

The bell rang and Arreola and Adamek came out for the twelfth round and they looked amazingly different. One announcer said Arreola looked like a bloody Shrek, which was an apt description, while Adamek looked ready for his high school senior pictures.

Arreola came out strong, but Adamek sidestepped him and picked him apart throughout the entire round, while he landed vicious combinations to the body and the head. Arreola threw the right with out holding back, but couldn't connect. He fought like a warrior to the end, but it was clear to me at least, that it just wasn't enough.

Judge's Scoring and Analysis

After the fight, he informed the announcers he injured his arm in the fifth round. For seven rounds of a heavyweight fight against a quality opponent, without a vital weapon, Arreola went to war.

Judges Scoring: 114-114 draw   115-113 Adamek   117-111 Adamek

Tomasz Adamek fought a smart, controlled fight, but he is not threat to either David Haye or the Klitschkos.

He circled Arreola, threw three punch combos, worked the body and did his best to avoid heavy exchanges with the larger Arreola. Adamek seemed determined to wear out Arreola, but did enough to win to the fight with clean effective punching.

The heavyweight champions are just too big, polished and strong for Adamek to succeed against. If one of the Klitschkos had Adamek on the ropes like Arreola did, they would have finished him off. If Arreola's arm hadn't been injured, he very well might have pulled it off.

Chris Arreola came into tonight's fight looking nothing like the fighter who was dominated by Klitschko and had trouble with Brian Minto.

He looked almost trim and light on his feet and seemed determined to establish a surprisingly crisp jab early in the fight. Arreeola's stamina was impressive, he did a minimum of clinching and he threw more combinations than at any time I could recall.

He was no match for Adamek's foot speed and his defense is still rudimentary, but Arreola fought a clean, fight with nice overhand rights and a jab that at times staggered Adamek.

Chris Arreola showed a ton of potential in this fight. It doesn't matter that he lost. He came in looking fit, fought a twelve round fight without giving away rounds while taking a break and looked agile and competitive.

Arreola fought hurt  for seven rounds and he fought hard in every round.

If he continues to train hard, stay motivated and self assured,  he should earn another shot at the title and when he does, he will be much better prepared to take advantage of it.

I doubt he will ever beat the Klitschkos, but I would love to see him fight Haye.

There's a new face in the heavyweight division and it's a familiar one: The Nightmare is back.

Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.

Longtime wrestling fans may remember that as Owen Hart’s catchphrase, which is appropriate given today’s topic—the defunct Cruiserweight Championship.

Hart was an incredible wrestler who could take to the air with the best of them and, in a day when aerial maneuvers were still in their infancy stages in the United States, he was a man ahead of the times.

If the Cruiserweight gold had been around during Hart’s tenure with the WWE, he no doubt would have been a multi-time champion. Unfortunately, he never got that opportunity and, sadly, neither will many of today’s best high-flyers.

The Cruiserweight Championship has been retired for more than two years now, ever since Vickie Guerrero—then the General Manager of Smackdown—stripped Hornswoggle of the title, rendering it vacant.

Six months later the WWE officially removed the title from the “active title” list and placed it alongside other defunct relics of days gone by such as the European and Hardcore Championships.

As such, I’m channeling Hart with my cry that enough is enough and it’s time for a change…it’s time to bring back the Cruiserweight Championship.

The WWE has struggled for years to create new superstars, a fact that is not lost on Vince McMahon or any of his cronies in the front-office.

They’ve attempted to shove behemoths such as The Great Khali, Vladimir Kozlov, and Bobby Lashley down our throats only to see all three fail.

It is a different crop of smaller, faster, and infinitely more-talented superstars that are getting over with the WWE fans. Men like Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler, Evan Bourne, Yoshi Tatsu, and a whole host of others have proven themselves in a way the overgrown and under-talented behemoths couldn’t.

These are exactly the type of superstars who have historically benefited from the Cruiserweight Championship.

For years, the Cruiserweight Championship—and for the sake of this article the Lightweight Championship, which eventually unified with the Cruiserweight Championship—were used to push some of WCW and WWE’s smaller, yet supremely-talented, superstars.

Men such as Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, and Jeff Hardy have worn an incarnation of the Cruiserweight or Lightweight Championships and gone on to become World Champions in the WWE.

Chavo Guerrero, Christian, and Matt Hardy all propelled from their reigns as Cruiserweight or Lightweight Champions to eventually rule in the land of extreme as ECW Champion.

Rather than bring back the title to push some of the smaller, more exciting superstars on the roster, the WWE has chosen to leave it retired and use many of those wrestlers as glorified jobbers.

Superstars such as Evan Bourne, Chavo Guerrero, and Jamie Noble could all be top-flight Cruiserweight Champions, but the WWE would rather they get beaten and destroyed in the ring by anyone from Sheamus to Hornswoggle.

Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.

The WWE has an incredible opportunity to build a new wave of exciting superstars simply by reactivating the Cruiserweight Championship.

Many superstars would see their careers—which are currently sitting in neutral—become re-energized with real opportunity and the chance to put on five-star matches, the kind that most of the WWE’s upper-card is greatly lacking.

The WWE’s biggest competitor, Total Nonstop Action has—in the past—made it a point to push the X-Division.

Although a two-year lull of dependence on aging superstars with “name-value” stunted the growth of the division, no less than half a dozen superstars could say they were “born” within the X-Division’s heyday.

The WWE needs to look around the roster and take stock of all the talent they’re currently wasting by using them as curtain-jerkers and fodder for the upper mid-card.

My recommendation is that the WWE bring back the Cruiserweight Championship in ECW, but allow it to be defended on all shows.

The title would largely be defended on ECW and Superstars and hopefully, the popularity would grow enough for the title and the men who ply their exceptional skills to get the respect they deserve on the A and B shows, RAW and Smackdown, respectively.

The new Cruiserweight Division could logically contain a myriad of talented, underutilized superstars such as: Carlito, Chavo Guerrero, Eric Escobar, Evan Bourne, Gregory Helms, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Wang Yang, JTG, Kung Fu Naki, Primo, R-Truth, Santino Marella, Slam Master J, Tyson Kidd, and Yoshi Tatsu among many others.

Additionally, reviving the Cruiserweight Division could serve as a good jumping off point for debuting superstars in the future.

Current developmental wrestlers such as Kaval (Low-Ki) and Justin Angel would benefit in a big way from debuting in the Cruiserweight Division rather than toiling for months on ECW’s undercard with nothing to show for it but wins over Goldust and Tommy Dreamer.

If the WWE were to wise up and make the decision to reinstate the Cruiserweight Championship, the biggest question would be whether or not we could trust the writing team to avoid their urge to turn smaller wrestlers into a joke.

In its rather brief existence the title has had periods of brilliance and periods of absolute absurdity, if the latter is the likely outcome of a title return, leave it retired.

However, if the writing team can be counted on to use the division and title to legitimately push new talent; they should waste no time in bringing back one of the most exciting championships in wrestling.

Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.

BY: Diane Bennett

On December 11 the newly built Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey was christened with a boxing classic. Steve Cunningham put his IBF cruiserweight championship belt on the line against number one challenger Tomasz Adamek. After 12 grueling rounds of amazing action in which both fighters left every single ounce of their energy in the ring it was Adamek prevailing by split decision.

However, it was Cunningham who was the aggressor throughout the bout, firing more punches but only to have them absorbed by the   steel chin of Adamek. At points when it appeared that Adamek was wilting to the Cunningham punishment, he would dig deep and find away to land shots of his own, three of those shots landed Cunningham to the canvas. Cunningham immediately got up after each knockdown which occurred in the second, forth and eighth rounds.

As Cunningham would say afterwards “All the knockdowns were flash knockdowns to me. I was not really hurt." In the fourth round in particular it looked like the champ was going to put Adamek away. Cunningham was demolishing Adamek with an onslaught of blows for the first two minutes or so of the round then with twenty second left Adamek roared backed and nailed Cunningham with a shot sending him to the canvas. The fight had the same theme all the way until the final bell.    

As soon as the final bell sounded the first thought that I had was when will the rematch take place. Boxing fans should not have to wait more than the required time for these two cruiserweight gladiators to climb through the ropes and do it again.

Very few survive three knockdowns and are able to finish the bout let alone receive a favorable decision from the judges. In this case many experts believed that Cunningham’ who threw more punches and connected more frequently was deserving of at least a draw.

The judges felt differently with only one of the three giving the nod to Cunningham. Judge Clark Sammartino scored the bout 114 – 112 for Cunningham, while John Stewart had it 116 -110 and Shafeeq Rashada 115-112 for Adamek.

As the dust settled and the massive amount of Polish fans that were in attendance to cheer on their new champion emptied the Rock, both fighters were greeting the press in the post fight conference room. This post fight conference had a tune to it, even before Cunningham who was first to speak could utter a word the hundred or so media in attendance shouted REMATCH, REMATCH.

That remained the constant during the conference and Cunningham without hesitation stated that is exactly what he wants. On the other hand Adamek was non comitial.

A week has gone by now and all the reports have been printed, each boxing expert had the fight scored within one point either way and all agreed that an immediate rematch needs to happen. Many went further to say that this was the fight of the year. One thing is for sure USS Cunningham already has the gloves laced and is ready to go. Now it’s up to Adamek and the powers to be to give the fans what they want to see now Cunningham – Adamek II.

BOXING NEWS www.diamondboxing.com

Photo Credit - Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro