All you need to know about the first title fight for the WBC bridgerweight belt

Boxing has 17 weight classes, more than double the number the UFC, the top organization in MMA, carries. But that didn’t stop the WBC from creating an 18th division.

When Oscar Rivas and Ryan Rozicki meet on Friday in Montreal (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET), that new division, bridgerweight (named after then 6-year-old Bridger Walker, who in July 2020 saved his 4-year-old sister from a dog attack and needed 90 stitches on his face) covers fights from 201 to 224 pounds and will have its inaugural champion. Bryant Jennings was originally Rivas’ opponent but couldn’t enter Canada because he’s unvaccinated.

For years, the idea of a super heavyweight division has been tossed around. Unlike the UFC, which enforces a weight limit of 265 pounds for the heavyweight division, there’s no maximum weight for boxing’s biggest men.

Tyson Fury, at 277 pounds, was one of the largest heavyweight champions when he scored an 11th-round knockout of Deontay Wilder in an epic fight on Oct. 9.

The WBC didn’t create a super heavyweight division — it does exist in the Olympics — but rather added a weight class in between cruiserweight and heavyweight. Cruiserweight was formerly contested at 190 pounds before the limit was moved to 200 pounds in 2004.

Here’s everything you need to know about the first-ever bridgerweight title fight ahead of Friday’s meeting between Rivas and Rozicki:

Why add an 18th weight class?

The reason, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman argues, is that today’s heavyweights are simply too big, making it unsafe for some of this era’s smaller big men. While it’s true that heavyweights are indeed larger than ever before, skeptics believe it’s simply another way for the Mexico-based organization to generate money. After all, the former undisputed…