The weight limit for the Bridger class is 224 pounds.
The undisputed heavyweight champion of the world weighed in at 223 1/2 pounds a week ago.
Why split the heavyweight division into two weight classes?
The boxing world owes a lot to Oleksandr Usyk. Tyson Fury's humiliation (Assuming humility is a quality Fury possesses.) And to the list of things we have to be grateful for Usyk, add this: He has proven once and for all that an 18th weight class between heavyweight and cruiserweight serves no practical purpose.
The alphabet group frequently introduces terrible ideas that drive away fans, but rarely has it exemplified so conclusively how misguided their suggestions and statements are.
The idea of subdividing the heavyweight division is decades old, with people periodically arguing that the modern heavyweight division has gotten too big and is unfair to smaller heavyweights, so we need a “super heavyweight” class for the biggest men and a separate class for the smallest.
To all those who have proposed this idea without trying to squeeze licensing fees, I say: your hearts are right.
However, you will need to remove the head, clean it thoroughly, and reinstall it.
We've seen plenty of talented, motivated, smaller heavyweights beat larger, world-class heavyweights. Of course, they have to overcome some disadvantages along the way, but a fighter around 220 pounds tends to have an advantage over a fighter 50 pounds heavier. Size and strength are advantageous, but speed and accuracy are often favored.
Usyk only managed a narrow victory over Fury, but in the process proved why 223.5 pounds is the perfect weight to fight an opponent at 262 pounds. Avoid prolonged clinchesYou'll need to understand how to change levels and be prepared and able to take some painful punches, but it can be done.
And it has happened far too often to be dismissed as coincidence.
Usyk beat Fury. Usyk beat Anthony Joshua – not once, but twice. David Haye beat Nikolai Valuev. Chris Byrd beat Vitali Klitschko. Ross Puritty (224¾ lbs), Corey Sanders (225 lbs) and Lamon Brewster (226 lbs) beat Wladimir Klitschko. Evander Holyfield beat Buster Douglas, George Foreman and at least once Riddick Bowe. Max Baer beat Primo Carnera. Jack Dempsey beat Jess Willard.
Some of those victories were more decisive than others, and I will freely admit that there are countless examples of good super-heavyweights beating good conventional heavyweights.
But there's a century of evidence that anyone over 200 pounds, no matter how massive, can overcome size problems in the boxing ring. Usyk, who was outweighed by about six inches and 40 pounds against Fury and three inches and 20 pounds against AJ, is the latest example of this and a perfect way to shut the door on the idea that boxing needs a separate weight class to give a chance to poor puny guys between 201 and 224 pounds.
Former heavyweight champion and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Michael Moore told Boxing Scene earlier this year that he was one of the people who got the Usyk vs. Fury fight completely wrong because he overestimated his size advantage.
“It's a mismatch. You look at the difference in size. Usyk should be the heavyweight champion and Tyson Fury should fight at super heavyweight and he'll be the super heavyweight champion. Why create such a big mismatch?” Moore asked.
These quotes are not meant to embarrass Moore — every expert and every fan gets their predictions wrong, and there's no shame in predicting Fury to win — but Moore has been in the sport for a long time, moving up from light heavyweight to heavyweight with success, and should know that it's not wise to think that size is everything.
But he's by no means alone. Many fall into the trap of conjuring an image of one boxer being taller than another, overshadowing everything else. Moore asked Usyk aloud, “But does he have the power to hurt Tyson?” Turns out, yes. Indeed, he did. But Moore assumed he didn't, arguing about the division's modern giants, “They're bigger now. Make a super-heavyweight.”
That's a misconception. In fact, the term “heavyweight” still has a dignity that the alternative weight classes don't.
The term “bridgerweight” has been the subject of ridicule ever since Mauricio Sulaiman first tried to explain it, writing that it “is a necessary bridge for many boxers between 200 and 224 pounds.” need? Let me channel my inner Inigo Montoya and say, Mauricio, that word doesn't mean what you think it means.
The term “cruiserweight” has been in the boxing lexicon for almost 40 years, but it's still hard for most boxing fans to get interested in fights that bear that name.
And if, as Moore suggests, you start calling guys like Fury and Joshua “super heavyweights,” they'll reject it, because their childhood dreams and career goals were to become heavyweight champions of the world.
Usyk outright rejected attempts by organizations to rank him at bridgeweight when the division was first created.
The only people who would welcome the Bridgerweight division and the belt that comes with it would be fighters who are not capable of competing at the top of the heavyweight division.
Sorry to be rude, but it's a fact: this is a division for minor leaguers in the heavyweight division of boxing.
One ranking organization credits Evgeny Tyschenko with winning the Bridgerweight title. Tyschenko has a 12-1 record, most notably losing to cruiserweight Tabiso Mchunu. Another alphabet organization credits Lukasz Rozanski with defeating Alen Babich. The only other fighter to hold the Bridgerweight belt is Oscar Rivas, who vacated it without ever defending it.
The bridgeweight division was dead as soon as it arrived, and Oleksandr Usyk's performance on Saturday buried that demise six feet into the ground.
This reduces by one the number of legitimate contenders who can claim the heavyweight title, and in so doing reduces by one the number of weight classes that any reasonable person believes should exist in boxing.
We don't need super heavyweights. We never have. But we don't need them, especially when we have super heavyweights.
