Storylines That Will Have the Biggest Impact on Boxing in 2017
If boxing had a spirit animal, it would be the phoenix. Since the 1700s, the Sweet Science has been declared dead again and again, only to rise once more in popular consciousness.
The 24-hour sports cycle might be dominated by team sports. But nothing captured the imagination like a major prizefight.
We saw again in May 2015, when Floyd Mayweather faced Manny Pacquiao, that no cultural event can make the world stop and pay attention the way a prizefight can.
Of course, that fight was a bore. And in its wake, we once again heard widespread mumblings that "boxing was dead."
There might have been some hangover for the sport in 2016, following the Mayweather-Pacquiao money grab, but we also saw, or will see, absolutely essential fights across the divisions.
And the stage has already been set for another roster of compelling storylines heading into 2017.
10. Super Middleweight: The Next Generation
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At the end of the previous decade, the super middleweight division was bloated with talent. In 2009, Showtime set up its historic, Super Six World Boxing Classic tournaments, which set the stage for the best to fight the best at 168 pounds.
As a result, Andre Ward was able to emerge as a pound-for-pound superstar, after defeating future Hall of Famers Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch.
The division is not in the same place today that it was in 2009, but three of the four belts there are held by exciting young champions. At 25, Gilberto Ramirez is threatening to become Mexico's next big boxing star. The rangy southpaw pitched a shutout against Abraham last April, to seize the WBO belt.
James DeGale won the vacant IBF belt in May 2015, when he knocked down veteran contender Andre Dirrell twice. He has defended twice, winning one-sided decisions over Lucian Bute and Rogelio Medina.
Badou Jack won the WBC belt against Anthony Dirrell in April 2015. His victory over George Groves in September 2015 featured outstanding body punching.
Jack and DeGale are already set to face off, in January 2017. It is a major fight. The winner will leave with half the belts, and fans are desperate to see him take another big date against Ramirez.
9. Cruising with Oleksandr Usyk
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Sadly, this storyline will probably not receive the attention it deserves in North America. But in Europe, where the cruiserweight division gets its proper due, Oleksandr Usyk and his felow 200-pounders will be in the spotlight in 2017.
Usyk won a gold medal for Ukraine at heavyweight in 2012. Think of him as a 200-pound version of Vasyl Lomachenko. He won his first nine bouts by KO and then took the WBO belt from Poland's Krzysztof Glowacki last September by wide margins on the cards.
Glowacki was no paper champion. He'd earned his belt by knocking out Marco Huck—one of the sport's longest reigning champions.
Russia's Denis Lebedev unified the IBF and WBA cruiserweight belts last May, when he destroyed Victor Emilio Ramirez in less than two rounds. Lebedev defends against his undefeated countryman, Murat Gassiev, in December.
A showdown between the winner of that bout and Usyk would be a major fight in Eastern Europe, with hardcore American fans scrambling to find a reliable Internet stream.
At least one potential cruiserweight star is campaigning in the United States. Cuba's Yunier Dorticos is undefeated, with 20 of his 21 wins coming inside the distance. He currently fights out of Miami, though he might want to consider a move to someplace like Germany.
8. The Featherweight Shark Tank
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Last September, IBF and WBA super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton moved up to featherweight to challenge WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz. It was a matchup of undefeated champions, which completely lived up to expectations. In an action-packed bout, Frampton fought with heart and intelligence, allowing him to lift Santa Cruz's title.
It should be on any short list for Fight of the Year. And a rematch is already set for January.
But an entire pool of hungry young talent are circling that fight, waiting for a crack at the winner. WBC champion Gary Russell Jr. might have the quickest hands in the sport. He won his title by knocking out longtime champion Jhonny Gonzalez in just two rounds in March 2015.
IBF champion Lee Selby has not lost a fight in over seven years. WBO champion Oscar Valdez is a two-time Olympian who has knocked out 19 of 21 in his career to date.
WBA "regular" champion Jesus Andres Cuellar is set to face three-division champion Abner Mares in December. I do not consider WBA "regular" championships any more legitimate than X-ray goggles sold in the back of comic books. But the winner of that fight will deserve top-five status in this outstanding division.
Fans should also keep an eye on undefeated Joseph Diaz. The 2012 Olympian should get a title shot in 2017.
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7. Superstars at Super Flyweight
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Last September, pound-for-pound king Roman Gonzalez moved up to super flyweight, to pursue his fourth world title, against undefeated WBC champion Carlos Cuadras. Gonzalez came away with the belt, but he had to battle through the toughest fight of his career to get it.
Cuadras came on strong in the second half of the bout and was carrying the fight in the late rounds, by which time Gonzalez's face was bruised and swollen. It is my choice for 2016's Fight of the Year so far, and Cuadras definitely deserves a rematch.
Meanwhile, WBO champion Naoya Inoue of Japan is one of the sport's top phenoms. He was a two-division world champion by age 21.
And the weight class now contains yet another fighter who would not look out of place on any pound-for-pound top 10. Juan Francisco Estrada captured the WBO and WBA flyweight titles from Brian Viloria in April 2014 and defeated one top contender after another at 112 pounds. But in October, he made his 115-pound debut, shutting out Raymond Tabugon.
6. The Super Welterweight Re-Shuffling
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The 154-pound weight class is always full of young lions, anxiously pacing while they wait for the big hunt to begin. It will be no different heading into 2017.
At just 26, Canelo Alvarez is a division mainstay and perhaps the sport's top star. He is technically the lineal champion at middleweight, but in his most recent fight, he captured the WBO super welterweight title by virtue of knocking out Liam Smith.
Aside from Alvarez, the belt holders at 154 are the Charlos twins and Erislandy Lara. Lara, who lost a split decision to Alvarez in July 2014, holds the WBA belt.
Jermall Charlo is the IBF champ, coming off from an impressive defense against former champion Austin Trout. Brother Jermell holds the WBC strap.
The IBF belt is up for grabs in December, when Charlo faces undefeated contender Julian Williams. The winner of that fight will enter 2017 as one of the sport's hottest stars.
At some point in 2017, somebody has got to give Demetrius Andrade a title fight. The former WBO champ might be the most talented fighter in the division. The tall, crafty southpaw recorded a dominant stoppage of contender Willie Nelson last June.
5. The Welterweight Consolidation
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2016 has been year one of the post-Mayweather universe. As such, the young stars at welterweight have tried to position themselves, to take Money May's spot at the top.
The boldest among them this year has been WBA champion Keith Thurman, who put his belt on the line against the rugged and intelligent Shawn Porter, the former IBF champ, last June. Both men brought everything they had into the ring for this battle, with Thurman prevailing in a Fight of the Year candidate.
Thurman will face WBC champion Danny Garcia in a unification bout next March, in a showdown between undefeated champions.
Perhaps the division's most exciting fighter is Errol Spence Jr., who emerged as a top star in 2016 after recording a pair of impressive stoppages against contenders Chris Algieri and Leonard Bundu. One way or another, he should get a shot at the IBF belt in 2017. Current champion Kell Brook will either have to face him or vacate and make room for Spence vs. another contender.
And let's not forget Manny Pacquiao, who captured the WBO belt from Jessie Vargas last weekend. Based on both resume and quality of opponents he has defeated this year, Pacquiao deserves to be regarded as the division's top champion.
4. The Heavyweight Game of Thrones
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It is way too early to declare a new golden age for the heavyweight division. Heck, it's too early to declare a new bronze age—or even a copper one.
But over the past couple of years, the big men have at least become worthy of attention again. In January 2015, knockout machine Deontay Wilder captured the WBC belt from Bermane Stiverne, giving the Unites States it's first heavyweight titleholder in a generation.
In November of last year, Tyson Fury shocked the world by defeating Wladimir Klitschko, to take possession of the other three belts. The IBF promptly made a mockery of their version of the title, stripping it from Fury so that it could be contended for by Vyacheslav Glazkov and Charles Martin in the most laughable "heavyweight title fights" in boxing history.
But that belt has now come to rest around Anthony Joshua's waist. It still does not deserve to be viewed as a true world title, but Joshua definitely deserves to be regarded as a true, world-class heavyweight. Now 17-0, with 17 KOs, Joshua might be the best heavyweight on the planet.
With Fury unable to make a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko this year, the WBO has decided its version of the belt will be reassigned in December, to the winner of Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz. The winner won't really deserve to be viewed as a world champion, but he will enjoy a status similar to Joshua.
For my money, the best heavyweight in the world is Cuban Luis Ortiz. He fights Malik Scott in November—another stay-busy fight for a dangerous fighter nobody seems anxious to face. I hope at least one of the division's ersatz belt holders will give him a shot in 2017.
3. Manny Pacquiao's Next Step
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There was very little enthusiasm for Manny Pacquiao's pay-per-view fight with Jessie Vargas last weekend. HBO opted not to carry it. Here at Bleacher Report, we gave it a fraction of the attention that we have given Pacquiao's recent bouts.
The results in the ring showed why. Pacquiao earned an easy decision, just as every knowledgeable boxing fan expected him to.
Even a month shy of 38, Pacquiao remains one of the world's most talented fighters, and there are fights out there for him fans would care about watching.
But they need to come against elite young fighters. If Pacquiao were to face fellow Top Rank star Terence Crawford, it would possibly be the biggest fight of 2017.
There would also be a lot of enthusiasm for seeing Pacquiao face Top Rank's Ukrainian star Vasyl Lomachenko, provided Lomo can take care of business against Nicholas Walters later this month.
It is true Lomochenko currently fights at 130 pounds, while Pacquiao is a reigning champion at 147. But Pacquiao has never actually weighed 147 and has had to stuff himself with calories just to get much over 140 pounds.
A catchweight could be fought for Pacquiao vs. Lomochencko, and the size difference would not even be particularly noticeable.
One fight I hope does not happen is a rematch between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. I do not believe a return bout would be anymore exciting or competitive than their first money grab.
2. History in the Making at Light Heavyweight
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On November 19, the most important fight of 2016 will take place. Former super middleweight champion Andre Ward faces WBO, WBA and IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. Both men are undefeated, and both are elite, pound-for-pound stars.
The winner will be the best pound-for-pound fighter alive, at least on my personal list. But regardless of who wins, neither man should face a shortage of major bouts in 2017.
The light heavyweight division hasn't had the kind of talent it is seeing right now since the early 1980s. The winner of Ward and Kovalev will not even be the lineal champion at 175 pounds—that distinction belongs to WBC belt holder Adonis Stevenson.
If Stevenson has any heart, he will do whatever it takes to make sure he gets a fight with the winner of Kovalev-Ward.
A pair of undefeated Ukrainians are also rising fast at 175. Oleksandr Gvozdyk recorded one of the year's best knockouts in April, when he dropped former title challenger Nadjib Mohammedi with a perfect straight right. He stopped Tommy Karpency in June and faces tough contender Isaac Chilemba on the undercard for Kovalev-Ward.
Vyacheslav Shabranskyy looked outstanding against tough Cuban contender Yunieski Gonzalez last December. He faces Gonzalez's countryman, Sullivan Barrera, this December.
And nobody should forget Kovalev's former rival in the Russian amateur program—Artur Beterbiev. Beterbiev is 10-0 with 10 KOs and has already knocked out a pair of former world champions in Tavoris Cloud and Gabriel Campillo.
1. 'As the World Turns' Starring Canelo and GGG
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In October 2015, Gennady Golovkin knocked out David Lemieux, to unify the WBA and IBF belts at middleweight. A month later, Saul Alvarez defeated Miguel Cotto to claim the WBC and lineal middleweight titles.
To right-thinking boxing fans, a 2016 showdown between the two seemed inevitable. What could be bigger than a bout between Mexico's biggest superstar and the Kazak knockout machine who has proudly embraced the "Mexican style" as his own?
Instead, Cannelo fought a welterweight (Amir Khan) in May and a paper champion at super welterweight (Liam Smith) in September. Golovkin fought a marginal middleweight contender (Dominic Wade) in April and a welterweight champion (Kell Brook) in September.
Both sides have loudly proclaimed themselves willing to fight, but somehow a year has gone by, one day following the next, and the bout still has not been made. Instead, Canelo vs. GGG has replaced Mayweather vs. Pacquiao as the sport's biggest "will they/won't they" soap opera.
If the fight does not take place in 2017, fans will have every reason to be disgusted, even if they cannot quite untangle who they should be disgusted with.
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