Who are the best boxers in each of the original eight weight classes? Check out Boxing Junkie’s new “Great Eight” feature.
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The Great Eight, Boxing Junkie’s list of the best fighters in each of the original eight weight divisions, could look different soon.
On Feb. 22, Deontay Wilder defends his sanctioning-body heavyweight title in a rematch with Tyson Fury at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. And Canelo Alvarez could announce that he’s finished at middleweight, although he hasn’t ruled out another fight at 160 pounds.
The Wilder-Fury fight is unusual in that the winner will be recognized as the top big man even though Anthony Joshua holds three of the four major belts.
Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) and Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs), who fought to a draw in December 2018, remain unbeaten. By comparison, Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) was put down four times and stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr. to lose his belts this past June and regained them in a convincing, but safety-first manner in December.
Thus, the Feb. 22 winner will be the Great Eight heavyweight. (Boxing Junkie loves when such things are decided in the ring.)
Meanwhile, Alvarez still holds two middleweight titles but – having fought as heavy as 175 pounds – it seems inevitable that he’ll give up his 160-pound belts and settle in as a 168-pounder in the near future.
Who could replace him at middleweight in the Great Eight? No-brainer: Gennadiy Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs).
Triple-G has accomplished a tremendous amount in his career and is only a hair behind Alvarez at 160 pounds right now. He’s the obvious candidate to step in if Alvarez leaves.
That said, Golovkin will be 38 on April 8. We don’t know whether he has begun to decline but that or possibly retirement can’t be far off. Among those in position to replace him: Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Derevyanchenko.
Who knows who might emerge or move up from 154 pounds and make a statement at 160.
And we should consider one last thing: Alvarez could decide to fight Golovkin for a third time at 160 pounds. In that case, of course, they would decide Great Eight matters in the ring.
The others six fighters in our Great Eight seem to firmly ensconced at the moment but, as we know, things change quickly in boxing.
Stay tuned. And check out our Great Eight below.
HEAVYWEIGHT – Deontay Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs)
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT – Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs)
MIDDLEWEIGHT – Canelo Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs)
WELTERWEIGHT – Terence Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs)
LIGHTWEIGHT – Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs)
FEATHERWEIGHT – Gary Russell Jr. (30-1, 18 KOs)
BANTAMWEIGHT – Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16 KOs)
FLYWEIGHT – Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9 KOs)