Cruiserweight Division Is Quietly Thriving After Recent Wins For Billam-Smith And Opetaia

Chris Billam-Smith delivered a career-best performance on Saturday to retain his WBO cruiserweight title. Jai Opetaia last month announced himself as a superstar by becoming the IBF’s two-time world champion. Whisper it quietly, but the cruiserweight division might actually be thriving.

The 200lbs weight class has long been one of the most unpopular divisions in boxing, particularly among the heavier classes. Often a stepping stone to heavyweight for lighter fighters who are not natural heavyweights by size, the most famous fighters to emerge from cruiserweight are usually better known for their exploits in the next class up.

Oleksandr Usyk, David Haye and Bernard Hopkins were all notable champions at 200lbs, but it is their time at heavyweight that ultimately secured their legacies.

Cruiserweight’s historically unglamorous status is a curious quirk of boxing. It is, after all, the class with the widest weight range, which should theoretically cast a wider net over a larger catchment of talented fighters.

Opetaia A Cruiserweight Superstar

Yet, it suffers from being the class below the ultimate division in all of boxing. All big fighters dream of becoming heavyweight world champion, so the best of them either enter the heavyweight division immediately or strive to get there after a spell at cruiserweight.

Consequently, attention from fans – and as a result sponsors, broadcasters, and therefore money – is drawn away from the 200lbs division, leaving it regularly filled with fighters lacking in star quality.

However, cruiserweight has enjoyed a successful few weeks.

On May 18, Opetaia defeated Mairis Briedis for the second time to reclaim the vacant IBF world title in the co-main event of the biggest fight of the year.

Tens of millions of people around the world tuned in to watch Usyk defeat Fury in the first undisputed heavyweight title fight for 24 years, so the volume of viewers Opetaia received was enormous.

Billam-Smith Draws A Crowd In London

The Australian is a superstar in the making (and inevitably bound for heavyweight) and his exposure on the ‘Ring of Fire’ event in Saudi Arabia would have given his profile a huge boost. By having high-profile fighter in the division, cruiserweight is giving fans a reason to pay attention.

Then on Saturday, around 15,000 fans were in attendance in London to watch Billam-Smith outclass rival Richard Riakporhe in their rematch to retain his WBO cruiserweight belt.

Billam-Smith has built up a strong following in the UK. He attracted a similar number of fans to his world title fight against Lawrence Okolie – who has since become bridgerweight world champion on his path to heavyweight – at his hometown soccer club in May 2023.

His performance on Saturday showed that he still has plenty left in the tank to pursue more titles at 200lbs after the criticism that followed his labored performance against Mateusz Masternak in December.

The success of Saturday’s event in London, with a major cruiserweight bout headlining, would again have given the division another welcome boost.

Cruiserweight Needs Unification Fights

What cruiserweight really needs is for its two leading lights to collide. Billam-Smith would likely prefer to avoid Opetaia for now, particularly with more winnable title fights on the table; WBC holder Noel Mikaelian and WBA champion Gilberto Ramirez represent his other unification options.

The ideal scenario, in terms of enhancing the cruiserweight division’s popularity, would be for Billam-Smith and Opetaia to fight the other two champions and then, assuming both are victorious, face each other for the undisputed title.

That’s the target for Billam-Smith’s trainer Shane McGuigan, who said: “We’ve got to go for a unified world title. I would love that. I’d like that against Ramirez or Noel Mikaelian, the WBC champion, and then we’d look to box [Jai] Opetaia early next summer. That’s the dream fight. Why wouldn’t we want to do that for an undisputed [title]?”

It would be a plan that would likely suit Opetaia, too. Promoter Eddie Hearn revealed that the Australian’s aim is to move to heavyweight next year once he has claimed the undisputed title at 200.

However it plays out over the next 12 months, there is no doubt that there’s more interest in the cruiserweight now than since the prime years of Haye 16 years ago.