Great Eight: Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury to decide who’s No. 1

The Feb. 22 rematch between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury will determine the Great Eight heavyweight representative.

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)

Great Eight: Boxing Junkie’s best fighters in each of original divisions

Boxing Junkie has established its Great Eight, in which we determine the best boxers in each of the original weight classes.

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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Sadly, the proliferation of sanctioning body titles has diluted the value of once-precious championship belts.

If we accept that there are four major sanctioning organizations and allow each of them one “champion,” then we have 68 titleholders. That ridiculous number, which grows when the organizations add even more self-serving belts, drives boxing aficionados who want the best for the sport absolutely mad.

In effect, the sanctioning body titles mean next to nothing unless they’re unified. And even then, they’re value is often limited.

That’s why some of us look back longingly at a time when boxing had only eight divisions and one true champion in each of them. Everyone knew who the champions were and they had tremendous respect.

With that in mind, Boxing Junkie has decided to turn back the clock and establish its Great Eight, in which we determine the best boxers in each of the original weight classes – heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight.

To be clear, heavyweight includes cruiserweight, light heavyweight includes super middleweight, middleweight includes junior middleweight … all the way down to flyweight, which includes junior flyweight and strawweight.

Also, pound-for-pound has nothing to do with this. We believe the fighters selected in each division would defeat anyone else at that weight.

And, finally, this feature will be presented periodically.

Have a look:

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)

Kazuto Ioka and Kosei Tanaka successfully defend titles in Tokyo

Kazuto Ioka earned a 12-round unanimous decision over Jeyvier Cintron, while Kosei Tanaka knocked out Wulan Tuolehazi inside three rounds.

A pair of Japanese titleholders successfully defended their belts Tuesday night in Tokyo.

Four-division titleholder Kazuto Ioka dominated Puerto Rico’s Jeyvier Cintron in a junior bantamweight title bout to win by unanimous decision win at Ota-City General Gymnasium. On the undercard, Ioka’s countryman Kosei Tanaka retained his flyweight title by knockout.

Ioka’s was making the first defense of his WBO belt, which he took from Aston Palicte in June. Two judges scored it 116-112, while another had it 115-113, all in favor of Ioka, who has fought on New Year’s Eve every year – except 2017 – since 2011.

“I had hoped to demonstrate how strong a champion can be and how hard a world title fight can be,” an emotional Ioka said afterward.

He continued, “There was some pressure, because this was my first fight since my son was born.”

The southpaw Cintron (11-1, 5 knockouts) used his superior height and reach to keep Ioka at bay with his jab early in the fight. But Ioka (25-2, 14 KOs) soon turned it up a notch, getting on the inside and landing pinpoint body punches.

Ioka ramped up the pace in the mid-to-late rounds, including an onslaught of combinations to the body in Round 10. Cintron simply had no answer, although he was able to outbox Ioka in the final two rounds.

Earlier, Tanaka made short work of Chinese flyweight Wulan Tuolehazi, stopping him in three rounds. Tanaka was making the third defense of his WBO title, which he won last year.

Tanaka (15-0, 9 KOs) landed a double uppercut that sent Tuolehazi (13-4-1, 6 KOs) crashing to the canvas. Referee Jose Rivera waved the fight off at 2-29 of Round 3.

“I was able to land that uppercut after a feint to the body,” Tanaka said.