One class away from Heavyweight tends to get overlooked, but the cruiserweights of the LSUBF are a solid crop and the title situation over the first four years of the federation has been interesting to say the least.

The four fighters to qualify for the cruiserweight tournament were Steve Cunningham (14-0, 7 KO), David Haye (13-2, 8 KO), Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (13-2, 10 KO) and Giacobbe Fragomeni (13-4, 5 KO). Wayne Braithwaite was one fight shy of the requisite 10 for qualifying, or he would have been the #4 seed.

In one semifinal, Haye made short work of Wlodarczyk, ending his night with a third round TKO.

Meanwhile, Cunningham came out lackluster and Fragomeni controlled the early going. But after tasting the canvas in the fifth, Cunningham realized he'd better get to work. He'd pitch a shutout the rest of the way, dropping Frogomeni twice on his way to a unanimous decision victory, 116-109 (x2), 117-109 to set up the title fight with Haye.

The title bout was a tactical, back and forth contest, decided largely by a knockdown of Cunningham by Haye in the third, as Haye would win the title by majority decision, 144-143 (x2), 143-143.

Haye knocked out Jean-Marc Mormeck in the 10th of his first defense, but in his second he'd be hit by a truck - Wayne "Big Truck" Braithwaite, who put Haye down in the first. Haye dropped Braithwaite in the second but in the fourth Braithwaite unloaded, putting Haye on the canvas again before battering him to a stoppage and making Braithwaite the new champion with a 4th round TKO.

The title has been a hot potato since then, with Haye left on the outside looking in.

Braithwaite was stopped in the third round of his first defense by Guillermo Jones, but regained the title in the rematch with a stunning 1st round TKO. Unexpectedly, the rubber match would go the distance, with Jones earning a unanimous decision to regain the title.

But Jones would surrender the title his next time out, dropping a unanimous decision to Kelvin Davis, who would then decision him in the same fashion in their rematch.

Davis would then face Braithwaite, and regret that he did, as Braithwaite would starch him in the 4th round to reclaim his title.

In the words of Seinfeld, Braithwaite is good as TAKING the title, he's just not good at HOLDING the title. He'd lose the belt in his first defense, stopped in the 14th on a combination of punishment and cuts by Krystzof Wlodarczyk, in a fight that was even at the time of the stoppage.

The pair would engage in a war in a rematch three months later, with Braithwaite flooring Wlodarczyk in the third, Wlodarczyk doing the same to Braithwaite in the fourth before pummeling an out of shape Braithwaite to a TKO in the 5th to retain the belt.

Wlodarczyk stopped Mormeck with a 10th round TKO in November to retain, and enters 2013 hoping to keep the belt for longer than his many predecessors.

The same names crowd the top of the rankings, but the most intriguing challengers are Haye, ranked #6 and who has never had a title shot since losing the belt three years ago, and O'Neil Bell (11-5, 9 KO), at #7 the highest ranked fighter who has never received a title shot.