10 Burning Questions for Boxing in 2016
In 2016, boxing fans will wait anxiously to see if a fight can be made between lineal middleweight champion Saul Alvarez and the division's true king, Gennady Golovkin. We'll also find out if Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s retirement is permanent.
We'll watch as the heavyweight division reshuffles and new stars emerge in traditionally competitive weight classes such as welterweight and junior middleweight
We'll see if the PBC can continue to expand the presence of boxing on the television dial. The sport's current top pound-for-pound fighter, Roman Gonzalez, will look to extend his legend.
There's a lot to wonder about and look forward to heading into the new year.
10. Will a New Superstar Emerge at Junior Middleweight?
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Over the past half-decade, junior middleweight was been the division Mayweather dominated in his spare time. At his retirement, he was the lineal champion there, as well as at welterweight.
But with Mayweather retired, 154 pounds will be one of the places where fans and promoters look for new stars. There are some promising candidates.
The Charlo twins, Jermell and Jermall, are both in the top 10 in the division now and ready to take part in some of the sport's biggest fights. Julian Williams deserves a big fight at 154 as well.
The best of the class at junior middleweight might be Demetrius Andrade, though. The 6'1" southpaw is undefeated, a former world champion and a 2008 Olympian.
A 16-month layoff between June 2014 and October 2015 put him on the back burner, but he should be a major player in 2016.
9. Will James DeGale Lock Down Super Middleweight?
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James DeGale was one of the breakout stars of 2015. It's not like he entered the year as an unknown, of course. He was an Olympic gold medalist, and I'd argue his 2014 campaign was better than anyone else's at 168 pounds.
But in 2015, he emerged as a true star. In May, the Brit traveled to Boston and knocked down Andre Dirrell twice in the second round and fought hard in the late rounds to claim the vacant IBF title. In November, he went to Lucian Bute's backyard of Quebec City to defeat the former champion by convincing margins on the scorecards.
The super middleweight division is in need of a true, defining champion. I'd favor DeGale in unification bouts with either WBC champion Badou Jack or WBO titlist Arthur Abraham. But both of those bouts would be close and hard-fought.
Let's hope we see them in 2016.
8. Will the PBC Thrive?
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In 2015, Al Haymon and his Premier Boxing Champions Series brought boxing back to network television. There was more boxing on television last year than ever before, and largely thanks to the PBC.
The product got mixed reviews. I'm a diehard fan, so I'm inclined to applaud any boxing. But there were also some good fights on the PBC and featured some of the sport's most exciting fighters.
The threat of the PBC is that it remains a closed shop, with only Haymon-managed fighters receiving opportunities. In order for the sport to thrive, Haymon's fighters are going to need to fight other stars, whether on PBC broadcasts or other venues.
For now, though, I'm still cheering for the PBC. More boxing on television is a better than less boxing on television.
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7. Will Roman Gonzalez Win a Fourth World Title?
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In the past year, undefeated, three-division world champion Roman Gonzalez finally started to get the attention he deserves in the United States. In May, he made his HBO debut, blasting former world champion Edgar Sosa in two rounds.
After Mayweather announced his retirement in September, the lineal flyweight champion emerged as the consensus pound-for-pound No. 1. It's tough to make a case for anybody else. Gonzalez is 44-0 with 38 KOs.
Hardcore fans in the States have been following Gonzalez for years via YouTube and live streams. But now he is firmly on the radar with even the casual fans.
In 2016, expect to see him go for a title in a fourth weight class. Naoya Inoue of Japan is one of the sport's true phenoms. In his early 20s, he's a two-division world champion with fewer than 10 fights.
Inoue has the 115-pound WBO belt. A matchup between him and Gonzalez is one of the most exciting bouts the sport could see.
6. Who Will Emerge as the Leading Star at Welterweight?
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The welterweight division is almost always stuffed with talent. That's certainly the case right now. And with Mayweather in retirement, there's space for new, young stars to emerge.
In a perfect boxing universe, we'd see a four-man tournament in 2016. Amir Khan would face IBF champion and fellow Englishman Kell Brook. The winner of that one would face the winner of WBO champion Timothy Bradley versus WBA champ Keith Thurman.
It's highly unlikely that things will work out like that, of course. But we should still see some great bouts at welterweight next year.
Brook vs. Khan looks like a real possibility. The winner of that will be the King of Britain and the No. 1 fighter in the division.
Thurman should face another PBC star, such as Errol Spence Jr. or Shawn Porter. There's a good chance Bradley faces Manny Pacquiao for a third time, but I'd rather see him touch gloves with a hungry, young contender.
5. Will Sergey Kovalev Become Boxing's Next PPV Star?
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Boxing fans are a dedicated group. A lot of them are like me, subscribing to premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime for no other reason than boxing.
But there is a limit to how much the average fan can afford to spend on his passion. As the economy has remained stagnant for years now, this has become a reality for all sectors of sports and entertainment.
The majority of fans can only justify shelling out for a certain amount of pay-per-view cards each year. That means there is a limited number of slots available in the sport for PPV star status.
But a fighter like Sergey Kovalev has all the ingredients to earn one of those spots. He's a skilled boxer with dangerous, fight-ending power. He has an engaging personality too—part charming family man and part sinister assassin.
He's also fighting in one of the sport's hottest divisions, with two exciting potential opponents. Adonis Stevenson holds the only light heavyweight belt Kovalev doesn't own, along with the lineal title. He's also an exciting boxer-puncher in his own right.
Meanwhile, Andre Ward is one of the best pound-for-pound talents in the sport and set to make a run in the 175-pound division, after ruling without a challenge at 168.
I'd pay the extra money to see Kovalev against either of these men. I expect a lot of other boxing fans would agree.
4. Will the Heavyweight Division Collapse into Alphabet-Soup Insanity?
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Tyson Fury's unanimous-decision victory over longtime heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko last month might have been boring to watch, but it at least created some interesting new potential in the division.
Unfortunately, it also created the conditions to return boxing to its normal state of alphabet-soup chaos. England hadn't even finished celebrating Fury's win before the IBF had already announced it was stripping Fury for indicating he would honor his rematch clause with Klitschko instead of face the IBF's so-called No. 1 contender, Vyacheslav Glazkov.
It makes me wonder if the "I" in IBF doesn't perhaps stand for "idiotic." The organization would have us believe that the winner of Glazkov vs. Charles Martin (who has defeated zero contenders) is a more credible champion than the man who defeated Klitschko.
There is a straight line that could get us to a unified, undisputed heavyweight champion. Klitschko deserves a rematch with Fury, regardless of whether or not the prospect seems exciting.
The winner of that fight should face WBC champion Deontay Wilder, so long as Wilder takes care of business against Artur Szpilka in January.
And anybody who would call himself a world champion at heavyweight should be prepared to face WBA interim champion Luis Ortiz at some point during 2016. There are major fights out there to be made among the big men, and they could bring true clarity to the title picture.
But instead, we're likely to end 2016 with a heavyweight division that is as Balkanized as ever.
3. Who Will Manny Pacquiao Fight?
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This question should have already been answered. And maybe it will be answered before the ball drops in Times Square.
But my own gut feeling is that we're going to still be left wondering who Manny Pacquiao's next opponent will be, for at least a few weeks into 2016.
In an ideal world, it would be Terence Crawford. A third fight with Timothy Bradley or second with Floyd Mayweather is not intriguing. But Crawford is one of the true up-and-coming stars in the sport, and Pacquiao would represent a great step-up opponent for him.
They share a promoter in Bob Arum, so if Pacquiao wants this fight, it should happen.
2. Will Floyd Mayweather Come Back?
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In boxing, retirement is often a temporary condition. So even if Mayweather is officially retired from the sport, there's going to be no shortage of speculation on whether or not he will come back.
Right now his career record stands at a perfect 49-0, giving him an identical record with heavyweight great Rocky Marciano. Win No. 50 would have significant symbolic value for Mayweather, if nothing else.
If he does come back, we can only hope it will be against a compelling opponent. A rerun of last year's Money Grab with Pacquiao would not be compelling.
Another step up in weight class to face Gennady Golovkin would be a huge event. A fight with a true, rising welterweight star such as Kell Brook or Keith Thurman would be a decent consolation prize.
1. Will Canelo Sign on for the Big Drama Show?
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Expect Saul Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin to headline boxing's biggest out-of-the-ring soap opera in 2016. When Canelo beat Miguel Cotto in November, he became the lineal middleweight champion, regardless of the fact that the bout took place at a 155-pound catchweight.
But there's little debate in the sport about who deserves to truly rank as No. 1 at 160 pounds. GGG has the IBF and WBA titles. He's 34-0 with 31 KOs and has knocked out 21 straight.
Alvarez and Golovkin are also the sport's two biggest box-office attractions. Getting them together in the ring should be the most natural thing in the world.
It's inevitable that it will happen, but they'll both fight somebody else first.
A likely scenario would be Golovkin in another unification bout with WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders, who just took that belt from Andy Lee. An even bigger fight for him would be against WBA interim champion Daniel Jacobs, who stopped top contender Peter Quillin with a sensation Round 1 KO on December 4.
Canelo would meanwhile face another middleweight. Recent champions Lee and David Lemieux would be good options. Lemieux would provide a common opponent with Golovkin and help toward building what will eventually be a major showdown.
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