WBO Head Criticizes WBA’s New ‘Super Cruiserweight’ Division
The WBA has confirmed a new weight class in the form of a ‘Super Cruiserweight’ division, which makes it the 18th weight division in the sport.
According to reports, the WBA voted unanimously to push through the weight class that is set to take place at 200-224 pounds. The news follows after the WBC had done a similar thing when they endorsed the ‘Bridgerweight’ division in 2020, which was set at 191-224 pounds. The move will naturally give boxers another chance to become a champion and help those who would fall short at heavyweight. In response to the news, this is what the WBA had to say.
WBA Reacts
“The World Boxing Association (WBA) Executive Committee approved the creation of the super cruiserweight division in a vote called by the president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza. This new division will be between 200 and 224 pounds, while it will be located between the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions.
“The pioneer organization made several analyses during the last months before thinking about the request and in the end it was submitted to a vote, in which it was approved by the unanimous vote of the executive committee.
“The creation of this new weight will mainly help to avoid bouts in which the fighters enter the ring with excessive weight differences, as tends to happen at heavyweight occasionally, where there can be differences of 20 pounds or more.
“The creation of this new weight will mainly help to avoid bouts in which the fighters enter the ring with excessive weight differences, as tends to happen at heavyweight occasionally, where there can be differences of 20 pounds or more.
“Fighters considered ” small heavyweights” will have the option to move down to super cruiserweight and seek opportunities against more balanced weight opponents, in the quest to make the sport increasingly fairer. The WBA ranking committee has already begun working on the creation of the rankings for this weight and the first divisional match-ups will be announced soon,” WBA
WBO Reacts
Nevertheless, the move could damage boxing for the following reasons. The division will allow boxers the chance to chase titles in multiple weight classes at the higher levels and avoid mandatories by simply moving up. At the same time, the imposition of another belt would result in more sanctioning fees, which have already come under fire. And that will hinder the ability of fighters to make the biggest fights since boxers could simply move weight classes given the fact that the 200-224 pounds weight category is a wide limit. And those worries were summed by the head of the WBO (Paco Valcarcel), who felt that the move could create more harm for the sport.
“Having 17 divisions in professional boxing is more than enough. The Jr. Heavyweights or cruisers, from 175 to 200 is a fairly ‘colorless” division,’ imagine another ‘extended cruiser’ … The changes are not always good and many times trying to improve, we damage the image of boxing,” Paco Valcarcel stated
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