The best fighting the best – that is what boxing should be all about. How hard can it be to get the fights on that the fans are crying out for?
Well, when it comes to the current heavyweight division, very is the answer.
Heading into 2023, an undisputed clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk appeared a formality. The two best heavyweights of their generation meeting in the ring to prove who was top of the tree. Everyone was on board. Then it all fell apart.
Fury demanded a 70/30 split of the purse in his favour, and after continuing to push his luck in almost hourly posts on social media, Usyk and his team walked away from negotiations.
Months later, we are no closer to seeing that fight happen. Usyk is set to defend his titles against Daniel Dubois next month in Poland, while Fury has signed up to fight former UFC champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia in October.
Tyson Fury is set to face Francis Ngannou after failing to agree a deal with Oleksandr Usyk
Usyk will take on Daniel Dubois, with fans left frustrated at not seeing an undisputed clash
Dubois is Usyk’s mandatory challenger but is a heavy underdog coming off the back of a serious injury. Ngannou has never boxed before, and has very little chance of posing Fury any problems.
Fans will still tune in out of curiosity, but ultimately, these are not the fights we want to see. The heavyweight scene is a mess right now, and that looks unlikely to change before the end of the year.
So, is there anything to look forward to? In a word, yes. While the big boys are letting the sport down, the smaller men are ready to step up and take centre stage.
This week sees two super-fights taking place, with pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue clashing with Stephen Fulton in Japan on Tuesday, before attention switches to Las Vegas this weekend when Errol Spence faces Terence Crawford for the undisputed welterweight crown.
Let’s start with Inoue. The 30-year-old is nicknamed ‘The Monster’, and with good reason. He has won 24 straight fights as a professional with 21 of those victories coming inside the distance, giving him a 88 per cent knockout record.
He is a three-weight world champion and was the undisputed No 1 at bantamweight. Now he is stepping up to super-bantamweight to test himself against WBC and WBO title holder Fulton.
And Fulton hasn’t travelled to Tokyo to lie down. He is also unbeaten with 21 wins to his name, and the American has every right to fancy his chances on foreign soil.
Inoue has developed a reputation for being one of the biggest punchers in the lighter weight classes, but Fulton is the naturally bigger man and is likely to be able to withstand more punishment as well as dishing out some of his own.
Has Inoue bitten off more than he can chew this time? Fulton may well be the best opponent he has faced to date, and if he can take the fight into the latter rounds things could get very interesting.
Naoya Inoue (right) will have his hands full when he takes on Stephen Fulton (left) on Tuesday
Then you have Spence-Crawford. While Inoue-Fulton promises to be a tasty appetiser, this fight simply cannot fail to deliver as the main dish.
It is a match-up that has been five years in the making, ever since Crawford stepped up to 147lbs to dethrone Australia’s Jeff Horn.
Like Inoue, Crawford has held titles in three different divisions, and was the undisputed champion at light-welterweight. Now he is looking to hold all four belts in the division above.
After dismantling Horn in 2018, Crawford has defended his WBO title six times, but he is yet to stand in he opposite corner to Spence. That will change on Saturday night.
Spence came over to the UK to beat Kell Brook in 2017 and has reigned supreme at the top of the welterweight division for six years.
Along the way he has added to his collection of belts, taking the WBC title from Shawn Porter in 2019 and the WBA strap by stopping Yordenis Ugas last year.
He has been involved in two horrifying car crashes in the past four years, but has shown no signs of deterioration when stepping between the ropes.
The clash of styles will be fascinating. Crawford is a switch-hitter, equally comfortable in either stance, who has become one of the best finishers in boxing, winning his last 10 fights by stoppage.
Spence is a little more methodical, with a pumping jab that allows him to control bouts and bank rounds, but he is also heavy-handed, as he proved when sending Brook to the canvas in front of his home fans.
The bookmakers can hardly split Spence and Crawford, and that is exactly what fans want. When that opening bell rings, anything could happen, and no one will want to miss a second of the action.
The same can be said for the fight over in Tokyo. Inoue has home advantage and is the favourite, but Fulton cannot be written off.
Spence, Crawford and Inoue feature in the top five of most people’s pound-for-pound rankings, but two of them could lose their unbeaten records by the end of this week.
These are the fights that should be happening regularly to bring more fans in and allow the sport to grow. Unfortunately, they occur far too infrequently.
Errol Spence holds three of the four welterweight titles, and can become undisputed champion this weekend
Terence Crawford stands in his way, and he has won his last 10 fights by knockout
Boxing has a habit of kicking itself in the foot, with too many one-sided fights and poor judging plaguing the sport.
But this is the week it should emerge from the shadows and get everybody talking about two classic match-ups. It is a week boxing badly needs.
Spence, Crawford, Inoue and Fulton deserve credit for accepting the biggest challenges available. Many before them haven’t stepped up the plate. Now it is over to them deliver in the ring.
It’s almost time to rumble.
