Since man first fought for sport, the spectacle of the heavyweight bout has been the most lauded. In boxing, the heavyweight world title has garnered the most prestige, the greatest financial reward and even turned the best fighters into icons.

On July 21, Oleksandr Usyk beat Murat Gassiev to unify the cruiserweight division, becoming undisputed champion. To hardcore fight fans this put Usyk somewhere among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Despite this, Usyk’s name does not ring out across the world. To the wider public the southpaw master is unknown, an unfortunate symptom of one of boxing's least popular weight categories. 

The cruiserweight division, which sits directly under heavyweight, was introduced in 1979 and adopted by all boards by 1983. Previously, anyone above light-heavyweight (12st7) was considered a heavyweight.