5 Things Boxing Fans Can Be Grateful for in 2023
It's that time of year again.
The seven-day stretch where folks of a Thanksgiving mindset ditch the frustrations and angst of the past 51 weeks and take inventory of things for which they're grateful.
It holds true for we combat sports types, too.
Though there'll be plenty to move the irritation needle once the holiday buzz has come and gone, the B/R staff decided to convene to discuss the things most worthy of celebration as we welcome family and prepare the dining room for a mid-week feast.
Some are fights. Some are fighters. Some are, well...other things,
All are worthy of gratitude.
Click through to see what we came up with and drop a grateful thought or two of your own in the comments.
Heavyweight Unification Prep
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a heavyweight fight.
When Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk came together last week for a heated faceoff and some incendiary words in London, they lit a public fuse on a fight that should deliver something the sport hasn't had in 24 years:
An undisputed heavyweight champion.
Say what you will about Fury's struggle with ex-UFC menace Francis Ngannou and Usyk's pedigree of Olympic and cruiserweight success and whether either of them measure up to past greats, but the fact that come February 17 in Saudi Arabia one of them will succeed Lennox Lewis and become the division's inaugural four-belt king.
OK, we all know it won't last. One of the organizations will make an obnoxious demand for a mandatory defense or pull the plug for a missing sanctioning fee, prompting a thrown-together match for a conveniently available belt six months down the road.
But for one magical night in a middle eastern desert, at least, boxing will be king.
Jake Paul Generating Numbers
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OK, the purists can hold their noses for this one.
A once-beaten cruiserweight with precisely zero wins over proven in-ring commodities isn't typically reason for revelry in the streets, but in the "credit where credit's due" department it's hard to argue that Jake Paul hasn't been a boon to the sport.
Because the numbers don't lie.
Not only has the 26-year-old "Problem Child" from Cleveland added followers to his already prodigious social media ranks, but he's raked in enough cash to warrant behind the velvet rope treatment at parties frequented by the blinged-out likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Paul earned nearly $40 million for his ring activities in 2021 to grab 46th place on the Forbes list of the world's highest-paid athletes, and the environment he created for crossover events tilled the ground for the recent Saudi extravaganza between Fury and Ngannou.
It's not the way our grandfathers got revved up for fights, but given the fact that Paul is instantly recognized by every fifth-grader in America—and pound-for-pound stalwart Terence Crawford would take a backseat to the likes of MrBeast and Dude Perfect—he's clearly doing something right. And the sport is better for it.
'Bud' is Beyond Compare
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We apologize to Terence Crawford.
While the native Nebraskan may not have quite the digital clout of Paul and his click-hungry ilk, when it comes to actual boxing there's no one on his level.
Crawford was already among the sport's pound-for-pound elite at the start of 2023, having made six defenses of his WBO title at welterweight—the third division in which he'd captured a belt—including a sixth-round blowout of David Avanesyan in his native Omaha.
But there was more to accomplish this year.
And accomplish it he did.
Crawford's ninth-round stoppage of fellow 147-pound claimant Errol Spence Jr. in their long-sought showdown was so comprehensive in its one-sidedness that there was no other conclusion to draw other than its winner, now 40-0 with 31 KOs, was the world's best fighter.
A Spence rematch is a contractual obligation for 2024 and Crawford has been dropping hints about moving up in weight to meet the likes of Canelo Alvarez, too, which is a greatness-chasing mindset we're all fortunate to witness.
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The Kids are All Right
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Usyk is 35 years old. Fury and Crawford are both 36.
Heck, even Canelo Alvarez is 33.
All of which might lead an unsuspecting fan to believe the best fighters in the world are in the final chapters of their respective runs at the top of the pound-for-pound ladder, and that the sport as a whole is due for an imminent drop-off.
But it's not quite true.
In fact, it's not even close.
While there's no debating that seven of the 10 fighters on B/R's most recent pound-for-pound list have passed their 30th birthdays, it's no less factual that three of them—and several others just off the page on the near-miss list—are still comparative newbies in their 20s.
Gervonta Davis (29), Devin Haney (25) and Teofimo Lopez (26) are a combined 78-1 with 55 KOs and title belts across three weight classes, while 20-somethings Shakur Stevenson (26) and Emanuel Navarrete (28) have already won belts at multiple weights and David Benavidez (26) is a two-time champ prepping for a pay-per-view main event on Saturday night.
And when it comes to prospects Keyshawn Davis (24) and Xander Zayas (21), forget it.
The game is in good hands.
The Return of The Voice
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Some people may not even realize it.
Though he's probably best known for doing blow-by-blow from ringside with HBO, a golden-throated Jim Lampley was occasionally calling fights for ABC a few years before he arrived to the gold standard of premium cable for a Mike Tyson title defense in 1988.
So when he signed off from the Network of Champions for the final time in 2018, the sport said goodbye to the voice that had sounded out its most significant moments—Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas, George Foreman's return to prominence, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s vanquishing of Manny Pacquiao, among others—for a whole generation of fight fans.
He pursued other endeavors while not locking down a full-time mic gig in the subsequent five years, but the rise of the PPV.com streaming service has created an opening.
Lampley returned to provide fight week reports, on-site commentary, and original content for the service's website and social media platforms for Canelo Alvarez's bout with Jermell Charlo in September and he's back in those roles this week for the super middleweight bout between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade whose winner will chase Canelo in 2024.
An event takes on more significance with his voice attached, regardless of form.
"Something new," he told Bleacher Report. "We'll see, but it has been fun to become a sidebar in the story."
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