Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez both celebrate after the final round in their WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight championionship bout at T-Mobile Arena on September 16, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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For sports fans who don't pay attention to boxing, the only fight they want to see in 2020 is Mayweather-Pacquiao II.
Since Floyd Mayweather announced on social media that he's coming out of retirement this year—whatever that means—and Manny Pacquiao hasn't been shy about wanting a rematch of their substandard 2015 showdown, we could easily have a rematch between two legends that captures the attention of the sports world like few fights can these days.
But boxing fans know there are exponentially more attractive fights to be made that would be a hell of a lot more entertaining and consequential than a rematch between two fighters in their 40s. The caveat in boxing, however, is always whether a not a match can actually be made since the politics and business of boxing—with its rival promotional outlets—often get in the way of delivering the bouts fans deserve. But as we survey the landscape of the sport, and countdown to a monumental heavyweight championship rematch between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury in February, we've highlighted a handful of fights that would be a very big deal in the sport. Even better, there are reasons to believe all of them could actually happen.
5.Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk
Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) became the unified heavyweight champion again last month when he avenged his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. Joshua looked like a completely different boxer the second time out against Ruiz after being embarrassed in their first showdown and it’s about to be time for him to start making mandatory defenses. AJ’s been ordered to defend the IBF belt against Kubrat Pulev while the WBO has ordered a showdown against Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs). It sounds like Joshua will meet Pulev first before taking on Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, later in 2020. It’s an easy one to make since both fight on the streaming service DAZN and it’s an intriguing one because Usyk is one of our pound-for-pound best boxers in the world and could be favored in the fight since he’s widely considered to be better versed in the sweet science. AJ will have a healthy size advantage and much more experience at heavyweight since Usyk just made the jump to boxing’s most glamorous division this past fall. But Usyk would by far be Joshua’s best test yet as heavyweight champ. Expect this one to happen the second half of 2020.
4.Josh Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez
With news coming down last week that Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) is signing a promotional deal with Top Rank, this fight is going to happen since Ramirez is already with TR. And you should be hyped for it because the winner would become the undisputed 140-pound champion with an eye on eventually moving up to boxing’s best division—welterweight. Taylor and Ramirez (25-0, 17 KOs) are on the verge of cracking the pound-for-pound list and considering how rare it is these days to determine any division’s top dog in the ring, rather than in a completely subjective argument, boxing fans should savor the prospect of such a consequential fight appearing imminent. Taylor’s an exciting southpaw who triumphed over Regis Prograis in a match that was No. 2 on our 2019 Fights of the Year list while Ramirez had one of the more impressive wins of 2019 when he stopped Maurice Hooker. Taylor will fight at lest once in early 2020 while Taylor has a few mandatories to take care before this showdown, but expect to see the two square up in the second half of 2020.
3.Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennadiy Golovkin
We need to put this rivalry to bed. Canelo, our No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, doesn’t need to take this fight since he feels Golovkin is past his prime (potentially), doesn’t have much to offer him (debatable), and he seems more interested in fights at 168 and 175 pounds instead of 160. But Canelo (51-1-2, 26 KOs) will continue to field questions about a third fight with GGG (40-1-1, 35 KOs) until it finally happens. And with both guys signed to DAZN, all it takes is some convincing from the streaming service execs, and probably a sweetening of the pot, to make it official. While Canelo is 1-0-1 against GGG after their close and controversial fights in 2017 and 2018, many boxing observers feel it’s unfair that Golovkin was denied at least one win in the series and deserves one more chance against his bitter rival. GGG, at age 37, and coming off less than stellar performance against Sergiy Derevyanchenko this past October, ain’t getting any younger so this fight needs to happen now. There's varying chatter that the 29-year-old Canelo is open to the idea in ways he hasn't been recently. Who knows with Canelo? But if he can be convinced this has to happen, and additionally compensated, it would likely go down in September.
2.Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Gervonta Davis
This one won’t be easy to make since Lomachenko, No. 2 on our pound-for-pound list, is affiliated with Top Rank while Davis, a Mayweather protégé, is signed to Premier Boxing Champions. If you know anything about Top Rank and PBC, you know they’re rivals and rarely make fights. But since Wilder (PBC) and Fury (Top Rank) are fighting for a second time, there’s hope that two of the most powerful promotions in boxing will cooperate a lot more in 2020 to make the fights every fan wants to see. And just about every boxing fan would die to see this one. Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) is top dog at 135 pounds, an incredibly athletic fighter at 31, and capturing belts across multiple divisions at an historic pace. Davis (23-0, 22 KOs), on the other hand, is one of the hardest punchers in the game and considered a future superstar. Lomachenko wants it. Davis wants it. Davis, 25, probably needs more seasoning—and discipline since he's struggled making weight recently—before taking on Loma. But this one’s doable if politics are put aside.
1.Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr.
The No. 1 bout in boxing to make. The two top 10 pound-for-pound fighters inch closer to a mega-fight as everyone advising and representing them continue to openly question how much longer they can deny Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) and Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) a true legacy fight. Meanwhile, boxing fans want this welterweight unification bout to determine the true top dog in boxing's best division and who deserves to be higher on the pound-for-pound rankings. This one might be the hardest considering there's the PBC vs. Top Rank dynamic, Spence hasn’t stepped into the ring since his scary car crash this past fall, and each side has a lot to lose. On the positive side, the rhetoric between the two fighters has picked up (Crawford called out Spence on Twitter recently) and Spence, 29, and Crawford, 32, have practically run out of quality opponents in the division.