The World Boxing Council have created a new ‘bridgerweight’ class between the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, named after a little boy whose face was mangled when he saved his younger sister from a dog attack.
READ MORE: ‘The bravest man on earth’: 6yo boy bitten in FACE by dog while shielding sister receives honorary World Champ belt
Bridger Walker, then aged only six, required 90 stitches to his cheek after being bitten in the face when defending his little sister from an onrushing dog in July.
When asked why he committed such a selfless act, the boy answered with the heartbreaking words: “if someone had to die, I thought it should be me.”
A picture of Bridger hugging his grateful sibling while wearing the prominent, deep scars on his face, went viral and came to the attention of the ruling body, who named Bridger their ‘honorary world champion’ and presented him with his own belt.
Now, after gathering a think tank to create a new boxing weight class, the WBC have named the new division ‘bridgerweight’ to honor the young hero.
Bridgerweight has been established to sit between the 200lbs cruiserweight division and the 200lbs-plus heavyweight division and will have a new weight limit of 224lbs.
Despite the sentiment of its name, the new division has been met with derision by boxing fans and purists, who have accused the WBC of simply adding to the unwelcome ‘alphabet soup’ of boxing belts already in boxing.
Not long ago, the organization came under fire for creating illogical ‘franchise champions’, a title which could not be won or lost in the ring. Vasyl Lomachenko and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez were among those chosen to bear that particular trinket.
The WBC have christened their new division…..drumroll please…. BRIDGERWEIGHT ?????I’d have gone for Stupidweight.Soon we’ll have a WBC Franchise Bridgerweight Champion. pic.twitter.com/YYmQt5l93T
Nevertheless, recently dethroned WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder looks favourite to contest the maiden bridgerweight title; a favoured fighter of the organization, Wilder normally tips the scales around the 224lbs ‘bridgerweight’ limit.
In 2018, Wilder, who has seen a potential trilogy with Tyson Fury collapse, mooted the idea of moving down to conquer the cruiserweight “just for fun” and to enter the history books as the first fighter to go down in weight to do so.
