Comments Thread For: Thank You, Oleksandr Usyk, for Eviscerating the Bridgerweight Concept

[BoxingUpdates]

The bridgerweight division limit is 224 pounds. The undisputed heavyweight champion of the world weighed in one week ago at 223 1/2 pounds. And we need to split heavyweight into two weight classes, why exactly? Boxing owes Oleksandr Usyk many debts of gratitude these days,
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[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Fully agree with this. F*** Bridgerweight.

[N/A]

The Bridgerweight is still a good idea, I doubt he will do it, but Usyk can try and win some belts there. Boxing weight divisions are so outdated and it's not like we often have Usyks, Tysons and Holyfields to deal with gigantic heavyweights. It will not harm most heavyweights but can give a chance to some cruiserweight to try bigger or move smoothly towards the Heavyweight.

[Willow The Wisp]

175
185
200
215
Heavyweight

[juggernaut666]

Somebody forgot to tell the writer the Bridgerweight championship is today Rozanski vs Okolie ? Lol


The division will breath some interesting fights and make boxing more active lending a hand to guys who mostly won’t make it in the heavyweight division and or are making a pit stop in this one , funny he mentioned cruiser weight because that is an example how progression works and how change is looked at as if fans were once happy with the CW division as well when that got introduced in a time it was needed .

Heavy weights below or hovering about the 220 mark are Usyk and Wilder , Wilder has typically fought under 220 recently anyway . To suggest one guy who happens to hold elite talent is a reasonable point to just nullify an entire division of guys more suitable to this weight class is kind of dumb it just is, instead of crying why not just enjoy the match ups ,your getting more boxing and better match ups with guys 200 to 224 .

[Monty Fisto]

Bridgerweight is that rare thing in boxing: something we can all agree on. Nobody wants it.

[Monty Fisto]

I'm calling Juggernaut666 the exception that proves the rule...

[macmike100]

Fridgerweight just another belt for more fees.

[Southpaw16]

I don’t totally agree with this article. Usyk proved that it’s still possible for a smaller heavyweight to become undisputed, but seize still matters, unquestionably, and it’s foolish to think that this stops as soon as you hit 200.

[Boksingfan]

I would express a more nuanced view. Yes, Oleksandr Usyk showed the world that a little middleweight (aha) can beat a super-heavyweight. A combination of talent, hard & consistent training, dedication and ring IQ can overcome the size gap. Kudos to him and his team. Does that result bury the concept of a bridgerweight division ? I'm afraid it does not. The reason is simple : the general population, not just boxers, is getting taller. And the heavyweight division, being the only one devoid of an upper weight limit, is bound to feel the full force of that demographic change. It is therefore only common sense that we should see the proportion of heavyweight boxers increase compared to the boxers fighting in the rest of the divisions. There will be more heavyweights, and these will be, on average, taller, heavier and longer-limbed. As a result, it is simply a matter of time before the need for an intermediate division, between cruiserweight and heavyweight, becomes more pressing. We can sing Usyk's praises all day long, the fact remains that he is, by modern standards, a rather small heavyweight, even though he has the same height, reach and built as George Foreman and Muhammad Ali in their days. But Foreman and Ali were quite big men in their era. The heavyweight landscape is changing, progressively but surely. Usyk's own evolution appears to disprove the notion that size does not matter. He did put on a bit more than 20 pounds since moving to heavyweight. Although he does remain within the bridgerweight limits, could he have beaten Fury while weighing 200 pounds ? If one's answer to that question is 'no', one has to admit that the cruiserweight division does makes sense today, and that the bridgerweight class will come to achieve similar significance.