by Cliff Rold

Cruiserweight is sometimes the forgotten weight class on this side of the Atlantic. It makes sense. For the last few years, almost the entire cruiserweight title picture has been formed outside US borders. 

It isn’t always that way of course. Cruiserweight has its moments in the US. Evander Holyfield made his early bones there. James Toney-Vasily Jirov was the thinking man’s choice for Fight of the Year in 2003. A string of fighters from O’Neill Bell to Jean Marc Mormeck to David Haye to Tomasz Adamek kept it very relevant in the 00’s.

This weekend, the 200 lb. class has as good a spotlight as it can get: prime time network TV (NBC,

It was with Adamek that Steve Cunningham started to get his earned due. He lost their first fight, one of the best ever in the division. Yet, after several years as one of the top cruiserweight lights, it was a spotlight in his home country after scoring some of his biggest wins abroad.

We could use cruiserweight action here more often. It can be an exceptional action class, as evinced in last year’s fight of the year candidate between Krzysztof Glowacki and long reigning Marco Huck. Glowacki came off the floor to halt Huck’s march past Johnny Nelson’s consecutive title defense record.

Glowacki had waged his career in Poland before that memorable US debut in New Jersey. Now Glowacki has a chance to make it 2-for-2 against a Cunningham making his return to cruiserweight after almost four year’s in the heavyweight ranks.

Is Cunningham’s move folly or a chance to regain his footing in the class where he did his best work?   

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Let’s go the report card.

The Ledgers

Krzysztof Glowacki

Age: 29

Current Titles: WBO cruiserweight (2015-Present, 1st Attempted Defense)

Previous Titles: None

Height: 6’0

Weight: 199 lbs.

Hails from: Walcz, Poland

Record: 25-0, 16 KO

Rankings: #1 (BoxingScene, TBRB), #2 (ESPN, BoxRec), #3 (Ring)

Record in Major Title Fights: 1-0, 1 KO

Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced: 1 (Marco Huck KO11)

Vs.

Steve Cunningham

Age: 39

Titles: None

Previous Titles: IBF cruiserweight (2007-08, 1 Defense; 2010-11, 1 Defense)

Height: 6’3 

Weight: 199 ¼ lbs.

Hails from: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Record: 28-7-1, 13 KO, 1 KOBY

Rankings: Unrated

Record in Major Title Fights: 4-4 (2 KO)

Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced: 9 (Guillermo Jones SD10; Kelvin Davis UD12; Krzysztof Wlodarczyk L12, MD12; Marco Huck TKO12; Tomasz Adamek L12, L12; Wayne Braithwaite UD12; Yoan Pablo Hernandez L6, L12; Tyson Fury KO by 7; Antonio Tarver D12)

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Glowacki B; Cunningham B

Pre-Fight: Power – Glowacki B; Cunningham B

Pre-Fight: Defense – Glowacki B-; Cunningham B

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Glowacki B+; Cunningham B+

Who finds it odd, reading through the career of Cunningham, that’s he’s only been stopped once? One of the things that has made Cunningham so compelling is how vulnerable he appears to be. He’s been down a bunch of times in his career, hurt plenty of others, but only the current heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, ever finished the show.

Fury had Cunningham by more than forty pounds. It says a lot about the weight of Cunningham’s heart.

His vulnerability keeps him from an A in intangibles. Saturday, he faces someone else who has shown vulnerability. Glowacki was down and hurt bad against Huck, and nearly stopped on his feet later in the fight. He persevered and won his first major title.

We know what we’re getting here. These are two proud professionals whose in-ring experience says they can survive and keep coming. Those ingredients could make this a very good fight.

There are also signs that it could be a bad night for Cunningham. History is rarely kind to fighters who move down the scale after protracted stays in higher weight classes. Emile Griffith tried to go home again at welterweight against Jose Napoles and was thrashed. Ray Leonard moved back to Jr. middleweight after getting used to bigger, older men. Terry Norris ended his time among the elite (if not his career).

In recent vintage, smaller heavyweights like Eddie Chambers and Chris Byrd decided to give the lighter classes a try. It didn’t work out at all. After four years of facing bigger targets, is Cunningham set up to fail?

If there is a silver lining, it might be in the speed of both men. While he didn’t look particularly good against Tarver on the same card as Huck-Glowacki, Cunningham’s speed appeared better than Glowacki’s and he tends to throw the more straight shots. There is also the reality of the weight. Cunningham isn’t really coming much down the scale. His highest weight at heavyweight was 210 and for Tarver he was 204.

Defensively, it is also advantage Cunningham. Both men are hittable but Cunningham has seen his defense tested against a deeper pool of foes. He gets dropped, but he also wins a lot of rounds by avoiding trips to the floor in the rounds around them.

The legs of Cunningham are still going to be tested. Glowacki isn’t that fast but he keeps coming and he’s got enough pop to hurt him. While the experience edge is dramatically to Cunningham, boxing is usually a younger man’s game. Glowacki has a lot of youth in his favor.

The Pick

This is just an intriguing fight. Anything with Cunningham can turn into a battle but, at his age, there is also the possibility of the sort of loss that ends a career. There doesn’t seem to be a chance the fight is dull. Both men enter off a long layoff and it’s probably best for both. Cunningham probably doesn’t have that many fights left in him. Glowacki surely needed some healing time after Huck. A few years ago the athleticism of Cunningham would lean the scale in his favor. In 2016, the lean is to the physicality and youth of Glowacki. Both will have their moments but Glowacki is going to catch Cunningham with some big stuff and it will matter on the cards. There might not be a knockout, but the Polish titlist will retain.

Report Card and Staff Picks 2016: 12-5

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com