Canelo Alvarez Jermall Charlo 2021 Getty
9.
Kind of like our messed up country, the fractured sport of boxing is forever its own worst enemy and frustratingly refuses to put on the fights fans really want to see and, frankly, boxing needs to return to a level of prominence it hasn’t held in decades.
It’s demoralizing, degrading, and downright deplorable as those of us who really care about the sport watch sanctioning bodies hand out worthless belts like Halloween candy and demand champions fight awful mandatories. Meanwhile, promotions pettily refuse to work or even acknowledge each other, trade barbs, and drum up drama like they're starring on The Real Housewives of Who the Fuck Cares.
Boxing’s issues run much deeper, of course, than that. But at the most superficial level, it’s kind of a big deal when you struggle to make matchups of consequence and intrigue, therefore forcing fans and the media to spend more time dreaming of mythical matchups rather than talking and writing about fights that matter and can actually be made.
Ranting about boxing’s bullshit aside, a new year means it’s time for new dreams. Hardcore fight fans shamefully know all too well that many of the fights we're dying to see are much harder to make than others. More than a few of will probably never happen, stymied by the sport’s putrid politics. But that’s boxing. And despite its massive flaws, silliness, and penchant to disappoint on the regular, we still love it. So here are eight fights we really want to see in 2021 that aren’t on the schedule, are highly consequential, and 1,000 percent must-see.
8.Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield
Division: Heavyweight
Records: Tyson 50-6, 44 KOs| Holyfield 44-10, 29 KOs
Why the hell not? Over a million people bought the pay-per-view to watch Tyson egregiously earn a draw against Roy Jones Jr. in November so you know there’s an appetite to see Tyson fight again. So why not meet Holyfield for a third and final time? Yeah, it would be an exhibition match that wouldn’t really count for anything and probably feature ridiculous restrictions like Tyson-Jones did. But I’ll indulge the most casual of boxing fans out there that can never get enough of Iron Mike, even though he’s 54 and Holyfield is 58 and nobody really needs to see it. Holyfield continues to say he wants the fight (if the money’s right) and Tyson probably wouldn’t say no, either, if enough dollars were thrown at him. Hardcore boxing fans will continue to shudder and be appalled that a potential third Tyson-Holyfield fight, after the second one 23 years ago almost destroyed the sport, will garner more interest than 90 percent of the legitimate, consequential, and, you know, professional fights on the schedule. But boxing did this to itself.
7.Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Miguel Berchelt/Oscar Valdez winner
Division: Super Featherweight
Records: Lomachenko 14-2, 10 KOs | Berchelt 37-1, 33 KOs | Valdez 28-0, 22 KOs
A true hypothetical here. We don’t know what Lomachenko wants to do after suffering his second professional loss this past October. Does he stay at lightweight or head down to super featherweight where he’s arguably better suited? If he shoots down to 130, I’d love to see him eventually take on the winner of 2021’s best fight currently on the schedule (it goes down Feb. 20). Berchelt, the WBC super featherweight champ, is a borderline top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. Valdez could eventually crack the list. Truthfully, it’d be sweeter if Berchelt emerges victorious and Top Rank cements a bout with Loma, still one our top 10 pound-for-pound best, since Berchelt has called out Loma for years.
6.Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol
Division: Light Heavyweight
Records: Beterbiev 15-0, 15 KOs | Bivol 17-0, 13 KOs
A showdown between the two best light heavyweights in the game that would unify the division? Who says no? Well, considering both guys are signed to different promotions and TV networks (Beterbiev Top Rank/ESPN and Bivol Matchroom/DAZN), it might take a minor miracle to make it happen. Beterbiev is a borderline a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter with heavy hands and Bivol, the 30-year-old WBA champ, is one of the most avoided fighters in the world, if you believe Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn’s words. This needs to happen sooner rather than later since Beterbiev, the WBC and IBF titleholder, is 36. It probably won't. Notably, neither fought in 2020.
5.Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia
Division: Lightweight
Records: Davis 24-0, 23 KOs | Garcia 21-0, 18 KOs
Ryan Garcia, just 22, continues to live up to the hype after his rousing victory over Luke Campbell Jan. 2 and the young gun, who recently appeared on The Complex Sports Podcast, has his sights set on a tantalizing throw down with the 26-year-old Gervonta Davis. Make. It. Happen. Boxing. Gods. Pretty. Please. This showdown between two of the Four Horsemen of the lightweight division (Davis, Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez) would generate a ton of interest considering Garcia and Tank have huge followings. Even though Garcia fights orthodox, both of these 135 pounders have some of the heaviest left hands in boxing. Even better, Garcia’s been calling out Davis, the WBA champ at 130 pounds, for a while now, dying to get the biggest opportunity of his life to take on one of the hardest punchers in the sport. Chances are Garcia gets a crack at Haney first for the WBC lightweight belt since he’s now Haney’s mandatory—and it's an easier fight to make for TV/promotional reasons. Should Garcia take care of business then Golden Boy and Mayweather Promotions must make a matchup between two of the most popular boxers reality.
4.Teofimo Lopez vs. Jose Ramirez/Josh Taylor winner
Division: Super Lightweight
Records: Lopez 16-0, 12 KOs| Ramirez 26-0, 17 KOs | Taylor 17-0, 13 KOs
Probably too far-fetched to think this ones happens for a bunch of reasons given the Ramirez-Taylor winner (not yet scheduled, but expected to take place in early 2021) will likely have a mandatory immediately after. Plus, we don’t know yet what the unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez wants to do—keep fighting at 135, move up to 140, or start setting his sights at 147. But one can dream. Bottom line, it’s Teofimo’s world right now and the rest of the guys at 135 pounds are living in it after Lopez’s scintillating unanimous decision victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko in October crowned him one of boxing’s brightest young stars. I’d personally like to see Lopez, just 23, test himself at 140 since he doesn’t really have to prove anything at 135 after unifying the division and beating a living legend in Lomachenko to do it.
3.Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermall Charlo
Division: Middleweight or Super Middleweight
Records: Alvarez 54-1-2, 36 KOs | Charlo 31-0, 22 KOs
We ain’t getting Canelo-GGG III and, quite frankly, who really needs it since Father Time loos like he’s caught up with the future Hall of Famer Gennadiy Golovkin is 39 years old. It’s a shame the two hated rivals never completed their trilogy when there was a serious appetite for it, but since Canelo owns a 1-0-1 record against GGG and he’s chasing new challenges, let’s hope he and his handlers can finalize a showdown with the talented WBC middleweight champ Jermall Charlo. Canelo’s clearly the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world these days, and blissfully free of any connections to a network. The rugged Charlo, aligned with PBC, would present a helluva test. We don’t know if this fight would happen at 160 or 168 pounds since Canelo seems pretty comfortable at super middleweight these days, but whatever they agree on the hype would be, shall we say, significant. Southpaw vs. orthodox, Mexico vs. America, living legend vs. rising star. The storylines are endless and the action between these two power punchers would be awesome.
2.Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua
Division: Heavyweight
Records: Fury 30-0-1, 21 KOs | Joshua 24-1, 22 KOs
Plenty of people would put this No. 1 on their list because this fight between two giants from the UK would give us the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 21 years. I’m putting it second because Joshua isn’t quite in Fury’s class. Plus, there’s a much more intriguing bout between two undefeated fighters at another historic division that boxing fans would argue guarantees to be more tactically exciting and aesthetically pleasing than Joshua, the WBA, WBO, and IBF titleholder, and Fury, the WBC and lineal heavyweight champ after dominating Deontay Wilder last year, slugging it out. But make no mistake, this fight would be HUGE and, of course, historically consequential. It’s taken two agonizing decades, but it looks like 2021 could be the year—with numerous indications that this fight is makeable and, dare we say, imminent—that we finally anoint the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
1.Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr.
Division: Welterweight
Records: Crawford 37-0, 28 KOs | Spence 27-0, 21 KOs
The best fight boxing can make. Period. End of story. Zero debate. Sure, the heavyweight division will always be the most glamorous and earn the most attention because who doesn’t love to watch two monsters beat each other up? But a Crawford-Spence showdown, which boxing fans have been begging to see for years, would once and for all settle the debate about who is the best fighter at 147, the winner rightfully becoming the pound-for-pound best in the business since they’re Nos. 2 and 4 on our rankings currently. The politics of boxing have held this one up for so long that it kind of feels like it’ll never happen. But there’s quiet hope that Crawford, who reportedly could become a free agent in 2021 and just might be underrated despite his brilliance, and the PBC-aligned Spence will finally make good on their desire to further unify the division in 2021. I'm still skeptcal it gets made, but crazier things have happened. I just have one question: Is it #CrawfordSpence or #SpenceCrawford?