The Best Available Fight for Boxing's Top Stars in 2016
If boxing moved in an orderly fashion, Gennady Golovkin would fight Saul Alvarez sometime in the first part of 2016. Alvarez won the lineal middleweight title in November from Miguel Cotto. The undefeated Golovkin consolidated the IBF and WBA belts in October.
They are the two top stars in the division and arguably the two biggest stars in the sport. So they should fight.
But in boxing, what should happen is only sometimes the same as what does happen. Canelo and GGG will probably fight at some point. They might fight in 2016.
Then again, this is boxing, so they might never fight at all.
All the fights on this list make total sense and would be good for the fans and good for the sport. They all have good potential payoffs for both opponents.
But they won't all happen. If even half of them do, boxing fans will have a pretty good 2016.
Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr. in a Featherweight Unification Fight
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After spending the past few years as two of boxing's most promising, yet protected, potential stars, Gary Russell Jr. and Leo Santa Cruz both had career-defining wins in 2015.
In March, Russell smashed veteran WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez in four rounds. Leo Santa Cruz beat three-division world champion Abner Mares in one of the year's best fights in August to claim the vacant WBA belt.
This is a terrific potential fight for both men. It would attract a great deal of attention to the featherweight division, where unification bouts are badly needed.
Either man's name would look great on the other's resume, and this is a winnable bout for both sides. Like any truly great matchup, it's a risk for both men but with tremendous potential payoff.
Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux in a Clash of Olympic Legends
2 of 10
Guillermo Rigondeaux's unanimous-decision win over Drian Francisco on the Miguel Cotto-Saul Alvarez pay-per-view last November was a wretchedly boring fight, on an otherwise outstanding card. Even as a fan of defensive boxing, it's impossible for me to defend a fighter who lands just over five punches per round.
Rigondeaux is indeed one of the most talented fighters in the world, but to get any attention at this point, he's going to need somebody special for an opponent.
WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko is exactly that kind of opponent. The Ukrainian can match the Cuban's two Olympic gold medals. At 396-1, he even sports a better amateur record than Rigondeaux.
It remains to be seen if Rigo will be willing to move up the four pounds from 122 to 126 to face Lomachenko. It wouldn't make sense for Lomachenko to drain himself for a catchweight, when his long-term future probably includes moving as high as 140 pounds.
But if the fight happens, it will feature the two best amateur boxers of this century.
Timothy Bradley and Keith Thurman in a Welterweight Unification Bout
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Of all the fights on this list, this one is the least likely to take place. There is little chance that a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) fighter like Keith Thurman will venture outside the stable to face a Top Rank star like Timothy Bradley.
It's too bad, because this fight makes as much sense on paper as any of the rest. Bradley and Thurman are the two top-rated American welterweights. They each hold championship belts.
Bradley has been one of the better pound-for-pound fighters of the past five years. Thurman looks poised to move into that kind of company. But he needs a win over a fighter of Bradley's magnitude to make it happen.
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Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz in a Heavyweight Shootout
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With his brilliant knockout of Bryant Jennings on December 19, Luis Ortiz forced his way to near the top of the heavyweight division. It's one of the more impressive victories by any heavyweight in recent years.
After defeating Bermane Stiverne for the WBC belt, Wilder has gone back to facing the same fringe contenders and journeymen he padded his record with on his march to the title.
In order for fans to take Wilder's world title seriously, he's going to need to defend it against a true contender, at some point. Artur Szpilka, who he faces on January 16, is a move up from his recent competition.
But he's also a fighter Jennings previously knocked out.
To truly escape 2016 with a legitimate claim to top status in the heavyweight division, Wilder needs to face an opponent with the ability of Ortiz.
Kell Brook and Amir Khan in the Battle of Britain
5 of 10
Just as Timothy Bradley vs. Keith Thurman would be ideal for the health of boxing and the welterweight division in the United States, Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook is the bout fans need in the United Kingdom.
As the undefeated IBF champion, Brook has a good claim to being the best active fighter in the division. With the overall resume he has compiled over the past decade, Khan is himself one of sport's top stars.
Both men have the potential to stand uncontested at the top of the always competitive welterweight division. For both men, the road to that mountaintop goes straight through the other.
Tyson Fury vs. Alexander Povetkin for the Lineal Heavyweight Title
6 of 10
As the reigning lineal champion in the heavyweight division, there are a number of great potential fights for Tyson Fury. First up should be a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko. That fight promises to be as boring as the last bout between these two, but Klitschko's record in the sport does earn him a rematch.
If Fury can get past Klitschko a second time, there will be a huge outcry on both sides of the Atlantic to see him face WBC champion Deontay Wilder. I certainly won't complain if that bout gets made.
But Alexander Povetkin shouldn't get completely overlooked. The Russian did lose a one-sided fight to Klitschko in October 2013, but that doesn't mean he isn't one of the three best heavyweights in the world.
In the Klitschko fight, he was at a huge disadvantage when referee Luis Pabon refused to discipline Klitschko for excessive clinching and leaning on the shorter Povetkin. Since that fight, Povetkin has put together the best current four-fight win streak in the sport, with knockouts of Manuel Charr, Mike Perez, Carlos Takam and Mariusz Wach.
Nobody at heavyweight, besides Klitschko, has fought such a consistently high level of opposition over the past two years. Those four fighters had a combined record of 108-4-2.
Roman Gonzalez and Naoya Inoue in a Sub-Bantamweight Superfight
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It's not often that boxing sees a true megafight south of the bantamweight division. But the tables are set for it in 2016.
In the wake of Floyd Mayweather's retirement in 2015, Roman Gonzalez emerged as the consensus No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The undefeated three-division champion is 44-0 with 38 KOs and is the current lineal king at flyweight.
Japan's Naoya Inoue is one of the most exciting phenoms to emerge in recent years. At just 22, he's already a two-division world champion, with less than 10 professional fights.
Inoue has the WBO title at super flyweight. He claimed it in stunning fashion, via stoppage of the long-reigning Omar Narvaez in December 2014.
A win over Inoue would make Gonzalez a four-division champion. For Inoue, it would be the chance to defeat one of the sport's greatest stars.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Terence Crawford in a Cross-Generational Clash
8 of 10
It would be disappointing if Manny Pacquiao fights anybody but Terence Crawford in what is being billed as the Filipino legend's farewell bout next April.
Pacquiao beat Timothy Bradley with ease in their second fight. He beat him cleanly in the first fight, too, even though two judges disagreed.
On the other hand, Pacquiao was way out of his league against Floyd Mayweather last May. And the fight was a snoozer. No sane fan should want to see a rematch of that.
Adrien Broner couldn't beat Pacquiao's old sparring partner, Shawn Porter, last June. How does he rate a fight with a superstar like Pacquiao, coming off that uninspired showing?
But a fight between Pacquiao and Crawford makes perfect sense. Aside from the physical danger that is always present in a boxing match, it's not even that much of a risk for Pacquiao.
If he loses, it hurts his legacy no more than Sugar Ray Leonard's late-career losses to Terry Norris and Hector Camacho hurt his. If he wins, Pacquiao goes out beating one of the hottest young stars in the sport.
For Crawford, this is exactly the fight he needs to push his career to the next level and develop into the next American boxing superstar. The fight is good for the sport.
They share a promoter in Top Rank, so this fight should happen, if Pacquiao wants it.
Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward in a Fight Between Pound-for-Pound Stars
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Adonis Stevenson has the lineal championship at light heavyweight, and he'd make a great matchup for either Andre Ward or Sergey Kovalev. But he's in the shadow of both Ward and Kovalev at this point.
Between 2009 and 2011, Ward cleaned out the super middleweight division and emerged as one of boxing's best pound-for-pound fighters. His career has been marred by inactivity in recent years, but he's still just 31.
He's got the talent and experience to march right back to the top of the sport.
But he'll need to go through Sergey Kovalev first. And that will be no easy night of work.
While Ward has been in semi-retirement, Kovalev has emerged as one of the sport's most feared combatants and biggest stars. He's 28-0-1 with 25 KOs and three of the championship belts at 175 pounds.
Kovalev would represent by far the toughest challenge of Ward's career. But Ward represents exactly the same thing for him.
Saul Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin for the Lineal Middleweight Title
10 of 10
With his sensational December knockout of Peter Quillin, Daniel Jacobs earned his way into any discussions about the biggest fights at middleweight. But for now, the two biggest stars in the division remain lineal champion Canelo Alvarez and undefeated knockout artist Gennady Golovkin
With Floyd Mayweather officially retired and Manny Pacquiao's career winding down, GGG and Canelo are the two hottest stars in the sport, with competing claims to the championship in the same division.
A showdown between them would be the biggest possible fight in the sport right now. However, it's possible both of them will fight another opponent in between, so there is a chance that the entire thing gets derailed before it can even get signed.
And let's hope we don't hear a bunch of ridiculous talk about catchweights. The middleweight limit is 160 pounds. That needs to be the weight for this fight.
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