Boxing Junkie’s “Great Eight” feature – in which we name the No. 1 fighter in each of the original eight weight classes – hasn’t changed in some time, as the best don’t often fight the best.
A significant shakeup could come soon, though.
Seven of the “Great Eight” champions will or could face serious threats in the near future, including one who is moving up in weight to face another champ. Have a look:
- Heavyweight champ Tyson Fury is expected to fight fellow titleholder Oleksander Usyk for the undisputed championship as early as June. That’s obviously a genuine test for “The Gypsy King.”
- Light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol appears to be on a collision course with his fellow beltholder and countryman, Artur Beterbiev. Another significant risk.
- Tim Tszyu is a longshot to beat junior middleweight Jermell Charlo but his chances seem to be better than ever after his spectacular knockout of Tony Harrison.
- Welterweight Terence Crawford and yet another fellow champ, Errol Spence Jr., have pumped a little life into the possibility they will meet in their long-awaited showdown. That’s a 50-50 fight.
- Gervonta Davis is a significant favorite to beat Ryan Garcia on April 22 but Garcia brings a lot of talent into that fight. Don’t rule anything out.
- Junior featherweight Stephen Fulton has accepted the challenge of “Great Eight” bantamweight king Naoya Inoue, who will be moving up in weight. Still, that’s a tough, tough fight for Fulton given Inoue’s ability and punching power.
Get the point? It likely that the “Great Eight” list will look at least somewhat different before the end of the year or perhaps early next year, which means great fights are being made.
Or are they? We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the Fury-Usyk, Bivol-Beterbiev, Charlo-Tszyu and Crawford-Spence fights actually get made.
Here is how “Great Eight” works.
The original eight weight classes are heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight.
Heavyweight includes cruiserweight (and the WBC’s bridgerweight), light heavyweight includes super middleweight and so on.
Here’s the current list.
HEAVYWEIGHT – Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs): The best big man in the world is in talks to face the only other heavyweight who can argue he should be No. 1, Oleksandr Usyk. The winner of their prospective fight will leave no doubt as to who deserves to be on top.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT – Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs): No brainer. The 175-pound champion was everyone’s 2022 Fighter of the Year after upsetting Canelo Alvarez and then outpointing Gilberto Ramirez. That made this choice about as easy as it gets.
MIDDLEWEIGHT – Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs): No one at 160 or 154 is as dominating as the junior middleweight champion. He was scheduled to fight Tim Tszyu on Jan. 28 but the fight was postponed after Charlo broke his left hand in training.
WELTERWEIGHT – Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs). Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. have been unable to reach terms on a fight to determine the best 147-pounder, which is a shame. Crawford will remain on top until someone knocks him off or he shows clear signs of decline.
LIGHTWEIGHT – Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KOs): Davis’ combination of ability and punching power makes him the best in this top-heavy division, as he demonstrated again against Hector Garcia. Ryan Garcia could pose a threat on April 22.
FEATHERWEIGHT – Stephen Fulton (20-0, 8 KOs): The gifted junior featherweight titleholder appears to be on a collision course with rugged pressure fighter Brandon Figueroa, who gave him hell in their first fight. Now comes his biggest test: Naoya Inoue.
BANTAMWEIGHT – Naoya Inoue (22-0, 19 KOs): The Japanese bantamweight just stopped Paul Butler to become the undisputed 118-pound champion, which keeps him a step ahead of 115-pound stalwarts Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez and Bam Rodriguez.
FLYWEIGHT – Julio Cesar Martinez (18-2, 14 KOs): The 112-pound titleholder came up short when he moved up in weight to challenge Roman Gonzalez but got back to his winning ways in December, outpointing Samuel Carmona.
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