Cruiserweight is a great division that doesn’t really get any mainstream boxing attention in the United States. Think of cruiserweight as “small heavyweights who are good” and also if you’re an MMA fan, do not mistake this as support for cruiserweight in MMA, which would shove a division in between two weak ones.
Anyway, Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) was cruiserweight’s star. He unified the entire division through the World Boxing Super Series tournament, schooling Murat Gassiev in the July 2018 final to become the undisputed champion. Before venturing up to heavyweight, the Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist traveled to London later that October to defend his titles against former cruiserweight champ Tony Bellew.