KONSHUU | Volume 55, Issue 9
A "BRIEF" OVERVIEW OF BOXING’S SUPER FLYWEIGHT DIVISION TONY T.
Managing Editor
2nd Year, Economics and Data Science
It’s pretty cool.
The appeal of sports as a form of entertainment is something that should really go without saying. Having previously written a short three page article utilizing the narrative of George Foreman’s historic comeback to regain the world heavyweight boxing championship as an example of how boxing is compelling on multiple levels, it should be obvious what my favorite sport is. To be more descriptive, though, boxing appeals to me due to its unique status as a sport with its modern incarnation having existed for over a century. I recall a line I’ve heard, likely from some boxing documentary, which states that the history of boxing from the 1800s onward is the history of the world in the same stretch of time. In addition to the narrative intrigue of pugilism comes its mixing of cerebral on-the-fly decision making and brutal violence which is inherently interesting. It’s no wonder why former heavyweight champions like Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko have been known to engage with chess, perhaps the most iconic platonic ideal of cerebral decision making.
Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko, current WBC and lineal champion Tyson Fury, and current WBA/IBF/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk are indicative of the current era of European dominance in the sport. Historical presence, high probability of a knockout, and simply hosting the largest pugilists are all reasons that make it obvious why the heavyweight division is the most popular. However, there are specific drawbacks to the division that make it occasionally hard to watch. For one, the heavyweights vary heavily in weight, allowing for certain strategies that have debatable legality but cause undeniable boredom. In spite of my Wladimir Klitschko fanboyism, his 2013 bout against Alexander Povetkin, enforcing the “Clinchko” pejorative, is a fight that I believe best demonstrates this. Additionally, the nature of heavyweight boxing has resulted in a diminished focus on speed and technique, with more emphasis on power. This does not initially sound like an issue, but when one watches too many Tyson Fury fights (outside of his engaging trilogy with Deontay Wilder), it becomes apparent that heavyweight boxing can often devolve into jab-fests with few risks taken on either boxer’s behalf. Finally, the heavyweight division suffers by being the marquee division. Since the turn of the millennium, fights between the very top two heavyweights at any given time have been hard to come by. A part of this is due to the unavoidable fact that for much of that stretch, the division was dominated by the two Klitschko brothers, who were naturally unwilling to fight each other. That’s reasonable. Yet, since the metaphorical era shift started by Wladimir’s loss to Tyson Fury in 2015, an innumerable amount of top level fights have not been made due to a lack of incentive. Historically, in terms of competitive matchups with both speed and power, the middleweight division, contested at or below 160 pounds, has been the boxing purist’s preferred weight class. In the last few years, however, I would argue the light middleweight division, at or below 154 pounds, has been by far the most compelling. Fighters like Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara, Brian Castaño, Jarrett Hurd, Julian Williams, Jeison Rosario, Erickson Lubin, and Tony Harrison have continuously given commanding performances, tossing the championships around like a game of hot potato. Having recently unified the entire division in one of the best fights of 2022 thus far, undisputed champion Jermell Charlo is also the target of extremely talented young contenders like Tim Tszyu and Sebastian Fundora.
Michael Moorer vs George Foreman (November 5, 1994) Due to that, it is also obvious why the heavyweight division is the most high profile. It comes with the greatest stakes – given the size of heavyweight competitors, their strikes are the most deadly, with a common adage being that, in the weight class, all it takes is one punch to achieve a victory. The history of the heavyweight division is in of itself probably the best to follow in terms of understanding boxing. Major changes in sport can be understood by simply going through a list of lineal heavyweight champions. Jack Johnson, for instance, embodied the racial divide in the sport during its early days, as a controversial figure who challenged the status quo of white America. The era of Floyd Patterson, Ingemar Johannson, Sonny Liston, and a young Cassius Clay (who would later change his name to Muhammad Ali) embodied boxing’s split championships between the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council. Fighters like the aforementioned
Jermell Charlo vs Brian Castaño II (May 14, 2022)
