Misfits boxing: Weight divisions, titles and the biggest stars
Misfits boxing has burst onto the scene as a crossover alternative to the professional sport over the past year. It pits hugely successful online stars against vastly experienced pros of the boxing world.
Earlier this year the promotion signed a five-year deal with DAZN to broadcast all of their events within that time period. Boxing fans could soon become accustomed to another level of the sport, and perhaps a more entertaining format. But how does Misfits work, and who are its biggest stars?
The weight divisions
The promotion is split into seven different weight divisions, two belts are on offer for each – one is the official Misfits title and the other is awarded by the International Crossover Boxing Network (ICBN).
Holding both titles at an individual class would make the fighter an undisputed crossover boxing champion.
The heavyweight title is the largest weight class which features all of the fighters at 200 lbs or over. The current champion of the ICBN is Papi Luisito, and the Misfits title is vacant.
The cruiserweight division is undoubtedly the most competitive by far in the Misfits promotion. It allows fighters to compete at weights between 175 and 200 lbs. This means that the strongest fighters overall in Tommy Fury vs KSI can compete for the titles. In Tommy Fury vs KSI odds, the former is a huge favourite at 2/7.
KSI is putting his Misfits champion status on the line. He is currently the undisputed cruiserweight champion, but the odds suggest that Fury could take his crown in the latest Misfits event in October.
KSI talks about his boxing journey ❤️ pic.twitter.com/WE2OHVrHXq
— KSI NEWS (@ksinews_) October 8, 2023
The vast majority of the biggest names in crossover boxing are placed within the top two weight divisions, but an influx of new stars could potentially make the lower classes more intriguing as the promotion grows.
Light heavyweight offers a class just below the strongest division, at a weight boundary of 160 to 175 lbs. Middleweight places opponents against each other of weights between 147 and 160 lbs. And lightweight rounds out the men’s divisions at 130 to 147 lbs.
There are two women’s divisions in Misfits as the promotion is inclusive of allowing all sorts of fighters to go head-to-head for its titles.
Women’s bantamweight is the heaviest division at 126 to 135 lbs and flyweight is the lightest division in the entire promotion. Fighters between 116 and 125 lbs can enter into flyweight bouts.
Ultimately, Misfits operates on a much more simple divisional system compared to professional boxing – where fighters can be split into as many as 18 different classes.
The biggest names
Besides a huge reduction in weight classes, Misfits boxing follows all of the typical rules that fighters must follow in their pursuit of titles.
The promotion of course does not offer the peak level of boxing quality, with professionals being a minority amongst online stars that are still developing their craft. But it does promise huge entertainment due to the widely popular stars at each and every event.
Besides Fury and one of the biggest British Celebrities in KSI, the Paul brothers, Jake and Logan also regularly enter the ring at Misfits events. The promotion has also welcomed champions of other combat sports such as Dillon Danis who is a multiple Brazilian Jiu-jitsu champion of the world.
Conor McGregor and Dillon Danis sparring pic.twitter.com/3LWFVCwbTG
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) June 22, 2023
Overall, Misfits offers huge names and a simplified boxing weight division system. This could make the promotion easy to follow for new boxing fans. Or perhaps even seasoned fans of the sport could enjoy the regular nature of the big fights in Misfits.
In professional boxing, the most highly demanded fights often take place too late in the fighters’ careers, or never at all. Misfits tend to always deliver what the fans desire, it surely has a huge amount of potential for further growth over the coming years as it is set to be broadcasted on a mainstream level internationally.