Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out these photos highlighting Naoya Inoue’s TKO win over TJ Doheny to retain his undisputed junior featherweight championship.
Check out these photos highlighting [autotag]Naoya Inoue[/autotag]’s seventh-round TKO win over TJ Doheny to retain his undisputed junior featherweight championship in Tokyo. (Photos courtesy of Naoki Fukuda, Top Rank)
Great Eight: Oleksandr Usyk has supplanted Tyson Fury as king of the big men.
The proliferation of titles makes it difficult for all but the most astute fans to determine the cream of the boxing crop.
That’s why Boxing Junkie came up with its “Great Eight” feature, which names the best fighter in each of the original eight weight classes –heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight.
Heavyweight includes cruiserweight (and the WBA and WBC’s bridgerweight), light heavyweight includes super middleweight, middleweight includes junior middleweight and so on down to flyweight, which includes junior flyweight and strawweight.
In this installment of “Great Eight,” we crown a new heavyweight champion for the first time since the feature was started in 2020.
Oleksandr Usyk rallied from a slow start to score a knockdown and defeat Tyson Fury by a split decision on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, thus claiming the undisputed heavyweight championship and supplanting longtime king Fury as the “Great Eight” champion.
And let there be no doubt that Usyk deserves the top Boxing Junkie honor, with back-to-back victories over Anthony Joshua, a knockout of Daniel Dubois and now a decision over previously unbeaten Fury in his last four fights even though he’s smaller than all of the above.
Of course, Usyk might not have a long reign. He and Fury said in post-fight interviews that they plan to fight again, perhaps in the fall.
Fury, who fought well and would’ve walked away with a draw without the ninth-round knockdown, would reclaim his throne with a victory in the rematch.
Stay tuned.
Here are the top fighters in the original eight divisions:
HEAVYWEIGHT
Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) – Usyk got a lot accomplished with his victory over Tyson Fury on Saturday, becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion in a quarter century and only the second Great Eight heavyweight champ.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) – Bivol had been set to face Artur Beterbiev for 175-pound supremacy on June 1 in Saudi Arabia but the showdown was postponed after the latter was injured in training. Instead, Bivol will face Malik Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs) on that date.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) – The 154-pounder hasn’t fought since he came up short against 168-pound champ Canelo Alvarez in September and then lost his sanctioning body titles at 154. However, he remains the best at 160 and 154 … at the moment.
WELTERWEIGHT
Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) – Crawford is set to move from 147 to 154 to challenge WBA beltholder Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles. The winner probably will supplant Charlo as the Great Eight middleweight champion.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) – “Tank” remains the most-complete fighter at 135 and 130 but boxing wizards Shakur Stevenson and Vasiliy Lomachenko might have something to say about who reigns in Great Eight before all is said and done. Davis is scheduled to face Frank Martin on June 15 in Las Vegas..
FEATHERWEIGHT
Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) – Inoue gave arguably his most spectacular performance against Luis Nery on May 6 in Tokyo, rising from a first-round knockdown — the first of his career — to stop his opponent in dramatic fashion. Can anyone compete with this guy?
BANTAMWEIGHT
Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) – The Mexican 115-pound titleholder is scheduled to face Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, our Great Eight flyweight champion, in a blockbuster matchup June 29 in Phoenix. The winner will be the bantamweight king here.
FLYWEIGHT
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) – Rodriguez will hold his position as champion until the 112-pounder steps into the ring to challenge Estrada at 115, meaning we are likely to have a new flyweight champ in early July.
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Pound-for-pound: Does No. 3 Oleksandr Usyk leap frog Nos. 1 and 2 Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue to the top of the list?
Oleksandr Usyk gave the performance of a lifetime on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, rallying to defeat gigantic Tyson Fury by a split decision to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in a quarter century.
But was it enough to catapult No. 3-ranked Usyk past Nos. 1 and 2 Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue on the Boxing Junkie pound-for-pound list?
No.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) deserves consideration for the top spot after taking down Anthony Joshua in back-to-back fights in 2021 and 2022, stopping Daniel Dubois in nine rounds in August and now handing Fury the first loss of his career.
That’s a hell of a run by any standard. And the former cruiserweight champ has done it against naturally larger men, who would have trouble competing with him if he were their size. That obviously works in his favor in the pound-for-pound debate.
So why isn’t he No. 1?
Let’s start with Crawford and Inoue. The gifted lower-weight stars don’t have quite the resume Usyk has but they’ve dominated one contender after another to climb to the top of the list and have shown no signs of weakness.
Remember: We were as amazed when Crawford demolished fellow pound-for-pounder Errol Spence Jr. and Inoue got up from a knockdown to destroy Luis Nery as we are now following Usyk’s historic victory over Fury.
And while we must keep in mind the size difference between Usyk and his heavyweight rivals, he dominated neither Joshua nor Fury and benefitted from a controversial call by the referee – a clean body shot that was ruled a low blow — against Dubois to maintain his perfect record.
Fury believes he did enough against Usyk to get the decision, which isn’t far fetched given the tight, back-and-forth war. Had it gone Fury’s way, we wouldn’t even be talking about Usyk as a potential No. 1.
None of the above is meant to denigrate Usyk’s accomplishments. He has demonstrated over the past two years that he not only is the top heavyweight at the moment but also an all-time great, which is the highest praise in boxing.
He just hasn’t done quite enough to leap frog two other future Hall of Famers, Crawford and Inoue.
Of course, we must add one thing: If Usyk fights and beats Fury again — particularly if it’s more convincing the second time — we’ll have to revisit our decision to leave him at No. 3.
What about Fury, who entered Saturday at No. 9? He drops to No. 11 — below Bam Rodriguez and Artur Beterbiev — after his disastrous performance against Francis Ngannou in October and his setback against Usyk on Saturday.
And, obviously, Fury also can change his fortunes if he can turn the tables on Usyk in a rematch.
Next pound-for-pounder up: No. 8 Gervonta Davis will face Frank Martin and No. 15 David Benavidez will take on Oleksandr Gvozdyk on the same card June 15 in Las Vegas.
Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled); Roman Gonzalez (no fight scheduled); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to face Fernando Martinez in a 115-pound title-unification bout in on July 7 in Tokyo); Teofimo Lopez (scheduled to defend his 140-pound title against Steve Claggett on June 29 in Miami); Junto Nakatani (scheduled to defend his 118-pound title against Vincent Astrolabio on July 20 in Tokyo).
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Pound-for-pound: Did No. 2 Naoya Inoue do enough in his breathtaking victory over Luis Ney to supplant No. 1 Terence Crawford?
Who’s truly the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound? Depends who you talk to.
Terence Crawford, No. 1 on Boxing Junkie’s list, and No. 2 Inoue are both unbeaten, near-flawless all-around fighters who have dominated almost everyone they’ve faced over an extended period of time.
Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) was at his glorious best in the early morning hours (U.S. time) Monday in Japan.
Luis Nery shocked everyone watching by putting Inoue down in the opening round but that only hardened Inoue’s resolve. The 122-pound champion responded by destroying a good opponent, putting him on the canvas three times and brutally stopping him in Round 6.
Inoue was nothing short of brilliant. It becomes more and more clear that he’s one of the best to ever do it.
And don’t count the knockdown against him when assessing his pound-for-pound credentials. Almost all the great ones have gone down. The important thing is they get up and demonstrate who’s the better man, as Inoue did in spectacular fashion on Monday.
The question is whether he did enough — or is good enough — to supplant Crawford at No. 1. That answer is no, at least for now.
The resume of Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is roughly equal to that of Inoue. Both of them have faced a long list of top contenders but relatively few pound-for-pound-caliber foes, although Crawford is coming a ninth-round knockout of Errol Spence Jr. last July.
And Crawford has been as dominating as Inoue, unleashing an overwhelming combination of skill, speed and power on one opponent after another.
The knockout of Spence, a pound-for-pounder himself, was just as breathtaking as Inoue’s annihilation of Nery at the Tokyo Dome even though Crawford didn’t have to demonstrate that he could overcome adversity.
Crawford has been nothing short of brilliant his entire career, which is why he was Boxing Junkie’s top pound-for-pounder since this feature was initiated in 2019 and hasn’t budged.
How could we justify demoting him under those circumstances? We can’t.
Inoue could reach the top at some point in part because of their respective ages: He’s 31, Crawford 36. That time simply isn’t now.
Another pound-for-pounder was in action on May 4, No. 6 Canelo Alvarez, who defeated Jaime Munguia by a one-sided decision in Las Vegas.
The superstar looked sharp but he was never destined to leap up the list because Munguia was not ranked. However, sitting directly above Alvarez at No. 5 is fellow Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada.
Did Alvarez do enough to swap places with his countryman? That’s a matter of interpretation. We decided to leave Alvarez where he is in good part because Estrada is scheduled to face rising star and No. 10 “Bam” Rodriguez on June 29. Estrada’s fate is in his hands.
Next pound-for-pounder up: No. 13 Vasiliy Lomachenko is scheduled to face George Kambosos Jr. for the vacant IBF 135-pound title May 12 in Australia..
Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled); Roman Gonzalez (no fight scheduled); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to face Fernando Martinez in a 115-pound title-unification bout in on July 7 in Tokyo); Teofimo Lopez (reportedly near a deal to defend his 140-pound title against Steve Claggett on June 29 in Miami); Junto Nakatani (no fight scheduled).
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We saw that Naoya Inoue isn’t perfect. And then we witnessed his greatness with another brilliant knockout in Japan to move to 27-0 in boxing.
(This story originally published on MMA Junkie sister-site BoxingJunkie.com)
We saw that [autotag]Naoya Inoue[/autotag] isn’t perfect. And then we witnessed his greatness.
[autotag]Luis Nery[/autotag] stunned Inoue and everyone watching by putting Inoue down with a perfect left hook in the opening round of their fight at the Tokyo Dome, the site of Buster Douglas’ historic upset of Mike Tyson.
Would we see another shocking result there? Uh, no.
Inoue, his otherworldly talents on full display, got up from the knockdown to put his Mexican opponent down three times before referee Michael Griffin stopped the fight at 1:22 of Round 6 (via X):
🎥 FULL HIGHLIGHTS 🎥
Re-watch the Demolition at the Dome 💥 pic.twitter.com/ckGGD9rZSX
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 6, 2024
Thus, Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) retained his undisputed 122-pound championship.
“That happening gave me motivation,” Inoue said about the knockdown through a translator afterward.
Nery’s hook about a minute and a half into the fight — landed when Inoue’s right hand was down — genuinely rocked the champion, who had never been on the canvas in his decade long career.
He got up quickly but went into a defensive mode, perhaps a sign that he felt the weight of the blow. However, by the end of the round he seemed to be at 100%.
Then came the fireworks. Inoue, careful to avoid Nery’s left thereafter, proceeded to pick the slower, less skillful Nery apart from both the outside and inside until the Mexican challenger could fight no more.
Inoue put the challenger down with a short left hook as he was rushing in recklessly in the second round, although Nery wasn’t hurt.
The champion scored the second knockdown with the same punch in Round 3. This time Nery seemed to truly feel Inoue’s power.
And, after taking a fearful beating that broke him down over the next two-plus rounds, Nery went down once more from a right hand as his back was against the ropes.
Griffin had no reason to count as Nery sat on the canvas. He was done. Inoue had the 16th knockout in his last 17 fights.
It appears that unbeaten contender Sam Goodman might be Inoue’s next opponent. The Australian, Inoue’s mandatory challenger, was in the ring after the fight and called out the champion.
“Look, I’ve been mandatory for over a year. Either give up the belts or fight me. Let’s get it on,” Goodman said.
Inoue said he would open negotiations with Goodman for a fight in September.
Naoya Inoue got up from a first-round knockdown to stop overmatched Luis Nery in the sixth round Saturday in Tokyo.
We saw that Naoya Inoue isn’t perfect. And then we witnessed his greatness.
Luis Nery stunned Inoue and everyone watching by putting Inoue down with a perfect left hook in the opening round of their fight at the Tokyo Dome, the site of Buster Douglas’ historic upset of Mike Tyson.
Would we see another shocking result there? Uh, no.
Inoue, his otherworldly talents on full display, got up from the knockdown to put his Mexican opponent down three times before referee Michael Griffin stopped the fight at 1:22 of Round 6.
🎥 FULL HIGHLIGHTS 🎥
Re-watch the Demolition at the Dome 💥 pic.twitter.com/ckGGD9rZSX
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 6, 2024
Thus, Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) retained his undisputed 122-pound championship.
“That happening gave me motivation,” Inoue said about the knockdown through a translator afterward.
Nery’s hook about a minute and a half into the fight — landed when Inoue’s right hand was down — genuinely rocked the champion, who had never been on the canvas in his decade long career.
He got up quickly but went into a defensive mode, perhaps a sign that he felt the weight of the blow. However, by the end of the round he seemed to be at 100%.
Then came the fireworks. Inoue, careful to avoid Nery’s left thereafter, proceeded to pick the slower, less skillful Nery apart from both the outside and inside until the Mexican challenger could fight no more.
Inoue put the challenger down with a short left hook as he was rushing in recklessly in the second round, although Nery wasn’t hurt.
The champion scored the second knockdown with the same punch in Round 3. This time Nery seemed to truly feel Inoue’s power.
And, after taking a fearful beating that broke him down over the next two-plus rounds, Nery went down once more from a right hand as his back was against the ropes.
Griffin had no reason to count as Nery sat on the canvas. He was done. Inoue had the 16th knockout in his last 17 fights.
It appears that unbeaten contender Sam Goodman might be Inoue’s next opponent. The Australian, Inoue’s mandatory challenger, was in the ring after the fight and called out the champion.
“Look, I’ve been mandatory for over a year. Either give up the belts or fight me. Let’s get it on,” Goodman said.
Inoue said he would open negotiations with Goodman for a fight in September.
Fight Week: Naoya Inoue will take on Luis Nery in the early morning hours Monday. Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. George Kambosos Jr. is Saturday.
Naoya Inoue will face Luis Nery in the early morning hours Monday, U.S. time. Four days later, in Australia, Vasiliy Lomachenko is set to take on George Kambosos Jr.
Editor’s note: Naoya Inoue got up from a knockdown to stop Luis Nery in Round 6 in the early morning hours U.S. time Monday.
ALSO FIGHTING THIS WEEK
SATURDAY
Great Eight: Is Tyson Fury’s reign as heavyweight champion nearing an end?
The proliferation of titles makes it difficult for all but the most astute fans to determine the cream of the boxing crop.
That’s why Boxing Junkie came up with its “Great Eight” feature, which names the best fighter in each of the original eight weight classes –heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight.
Heavyweight includes cruiserweight (and the WBA and WBC’s bridgerweight), light heavyweight includes super middleweight, middleweight includes junior middleweight and so on down to flyweight, which includes junior flyweight and strawweight.
In this installment of “Great Eight,” we explore the possibility that the biggest champion here will be dethroned on May 18.
Tyson Fury has been the Great Eight heavyweight champ since this feature was instituted in 2020, but his reign will be in serious jeopardy when he faces Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship on pay-per-view May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) is coming off arguably the worst performance of his career in October, when he got up from a knockdown to eke out a split decision victory over MMA star and boxing novice Francis Ngannou.
The stunning events of that night raised an obvious question: Has Fury, 35, begun to decline going into the biggest fight of his life?
If he’s not at his best against a gifted, experienced technician in Usyk, many believe he will suffer the first defeat in his long career and lose his Great Eight championship.
Even his longtime co-promoter Bob Arum has questions going into the fight in the Middle East.
“I always felt once this fight was made … that Fury was a big, big favorite because I thought his size and boxing ability would be too much for Usyk,” Arum said on the BoxNation podcast. “So I looked at it as a 3- to 4-1 fight in favor of Tyson Fury.
“But I’m very troubled with the way Tyson looked in his last fight with Ngannou in Riyadh. I was there. I just thought he looked dreadful. There are two [possible] explanations: He really didn’t train hard for that fight or, two, when we all put on years — and I should know — we don’t function as well as we do when we’re younger physically.
“Is that what we’re seeing with Tyson based on the Ngannou fight? Or he didn’t take it seriously and wasn’t prepared. That’s what we’ll find out on May 18.”
Arum still believes Fury will win the fight if he’s reverts to his previous form.
“If Tyson is on his ‘A’ game, if it’s the Tyson Fury that fought [Deontay] Wilder the last two times, that fought Dillian Whyte, there’s no way that Usyk or any heavyweight can beat him. But that’s a really big assumption.”
He went on: “To me, I look at the Ngannou fight Fury had and going back on it, I mean the way he labored with Ngannou, particularly when you saw how easily [Anthony] Joshua handled Ngannou, I have a lot of questions.”
Here are the top fighters in the original eight divisions:
HEAVYWEIGHT
Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) – Fury will have a chance to prove his subpar performance against Francis Ngannou was an aberration when he faces Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship on pay-per-view May 18 in Saudi Arabia. Of course, the winner will be our Great Eight champ.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) – The winner of the Bivol-Artur Beterbiev showdown on June 1 will determine not only the Great Eight champion but also the best 175-pounder of the era. Few possible matchups in boxing are better or more significant than this one.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) – The 154-pounder came up short against 168-pound champ Canelo Alvarez in September but he remains the best at 160 and 154. He doesn’t appear to be negotiating with potential opponents, leaving his future up in the air.
WELTERWEIGHT
Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) – Crawford hasn’t fought since his epic beat down of Errol Spence Jr. last July and has nothing solid in the works. The WBO has ordered new 154-pound beltholder Sebastian Fundora to fight him but Fundora might fight Tim Tszyu again first.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) – “Tank” remains the most-complete fighter at 135 and 130 but boxing wizards Shakur Stevenson and Vasiliy Lomachenko might have something to say about who reigns in Great Eight before all is said and done. Now we need to see these pivotal matchups.
FEATHERWEIGHT
Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) – Inoue gave another dominating performance against Marlon Tapales on Dec. 26, stopping the Filipino in the 10th round to become undisputed champion in a second weight class. Can anyone compete with him? Luis Nery will be the next one to try. They meet on May 6.
BANTAMWEIGHT
Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) – The Mexican 115-pound titleholder has agreed to face Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, our Great Eight flyweight champion, in a blockbuster matchup June 29 in Phoenix. The winner will be the bantamweight king here.
FLYWEIGHT
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) – Rodriguez will hold his position here until the 112-pounder steps into the ring to challenge Estrada at 115, meaning we are likely to have a new flyweight champ in early July.
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Pound-for-pound: Did Isaac Cruz do enough against Rolando Romero to crack Boxing Junkie’s list?
Isaac Cruz made a strong impression with his eighth-round knockout of Rolando Romero on Saturday in Las Vegas.
But did the new 140-pound titleholder from Mexico do enough in that fight — and does he have the resume — to climb onto Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list?
Not quite.
Everyone agrees that Cruz is evolving into a formidable fighting machine, a pressure fighter with the fitness, durability and punching power to dominate opponents.
However, we shouldn’t overreact to a one-sided victory over Romero, a good, but limited fighter. And Cruz still doesn’t have a victory over a top-tier opponent, although he gave Gervonta Davis hell in defeat in 2021.
Bottom line: Cruz has to beat a pound-for-pounder or someone of that caliber to leave no doubt that he belongs with the best in the business.
And those matchups will come soon enough if Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) continues to win. Perhaps showdowns with the likes of fellow beltholders Devin Haney or Teofimo Lopez — or maybe even a rematch with Davis — are in his near future.
A victory over any of the above would be enough to lift Cruz to the next level. Stay tuned.
What about Sebastian Fundora?
The new 154-pound champ defeated rising star Tim Tszyu by a split decision in the main event on Saturday, an accomplishment for which Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) deserves credit.
However, we can’t draw firm conclusions because Tszyu was effectively blinded by blood in his eyes, the result of a ghastly cut on his hairline. Plus, Fundora was knocked out by Brian Mendoza in his previous fight.
Fundora’s time might come, just not now.
Next pound-for-pounder up: No. 10 Devin Haney is scheduled to defend his WBC 140-pound title against Ryan Garcia on April 20 on pay-per-view from Las Vegas.
Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): David Benavidez (has agreed to fight 175-pounder Oleksandr Gvozdyk in June but no announcement has been made); Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled); Roman Gonzalez (no fight scheduled); Kazuto Ioka (no fight scheduled); Teofimo Lopez (reportedly near a deal to defend his 140-pound title against Steve Claggett on June 29 in Miami).
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Great Eight: A potential matchup between Juan Francisco Estrada and Bam Rodriguez would pit two champions against one another.
The proliferation of titles makes it difficult for all but the most astute fans to determine the cream of the boxing crop.
That’s why Boxing Junkie came up with its “Great Eight” feature, which names the best fighter in each of the original eight weight classes –heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight.
Heavyweight includes cruiserweight (and the WBA and WBC’s bridgerweight), light heavyweight includes super middleweight, middleweight includes junior middleweight and so on down to flyweight, which includes junior flyweight and strawweight.
In this installment of “Great Eight,” we explore the possibility of an intriguing development: Two of our champions — Juan Francisco Estrada (bantamweight) and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (flyweight) — are in talks to fight one another.
Promoter Eddie Hearn said he’s trying to close a deal for the fighters to meet for Estrada’s 115-pound title on June 29 in Phoenix.
The principals are at different stages of their careers.
Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) is a two-division champion who has shown no signs of decline — he’s coming off a second victory in his third fight against future Hall of Famer Roman Gonzalez — but he’s 33 and has been fighting professionally for 15-plus years.
The Mexican also hasn’t been active. The second victory over Gonzalez took place in December 2022 and he hasn’t fought since. He had been in talks to face fellow titleholder Kazuto Ioka last December but negotiations broke down.
Estrada has won eight consecutive fights since he lost a majority decision to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in 2018, a setback he later avenged.
Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) is a rising star. The 24-year-old Texan has reeled off one spectacular victory after another to join Estrada on many credible pound-for-pound lists, including Boxing Junkie’s.
He made a strong impression by outpointing veteran Carlos Cuadras to win a vacant 115-pound title in February 2022 and then knocked out the equally respected Sor Rungvisai in eight rounds in his first defense four months later.
And he was just getting started. He delivered what might be his best performance last December, when, after dropping down to 112 and winning a major belt, he stopped previously unbeaten Sunny Edwards to unify two titles.
“This is a fight we’ve been working on for a long time,” Hearn told DAZN. “I think Estrada against Bam Rodriguez is just a stunner. You keep seeing these small guys give us unbelievable nights.
“Estrada against “Chocolatito” (Roman Gonzalez) so many times, Bam against Sunny [Edwards] last December was incredible, and Estrada against Bam is just a Fight of the Year contender written all over it.”
It would be difficult to argue with Hearn on that point. It doesn’t get much better than one of the best fighters of the generation vs. one of the most exciting young phenoms in the game
And, of course, it would have major implications in terms of Great Eight.
If the fight happens and Estrada wins, he would add to his own Hall of Fame credentials and remain as bantamweight champion here. Rodriguez would become champion in a second Great Eight division if he has his hand raised.
Rodriguez hasn’t said definitively that he’s finished at 112 but that appears to be the case.
Here are the top fighters in the original eight divisions:
HEAVYWEIGHT
Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) – Fury will have a chance to prove his subpar performance against Francis Ngannou was an aberration when he faces Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship on pay-per-view May 18 in Saudi Arabia. Of course, the winner will be our Great Eight champ.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) – The winner of the Bivol-Beterbiev showdown on June 1 will determine not only the Great Eight champion but also the best 175-pounder of the era. Few possible matchups in boxing are better or more significant than this one.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) – The 154-pounder came up short against 168-pound champ Canelo Alvarez but he remains the best at 160 and 154. He had expressed interest in facing welterweight king Terence Crawford but that doesn’t appear to be in the works, leaving his future uncertain..
WELTERWEIGHT
Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) – Crawford hasn’t fought since his epic beat down of Errol Spence Jr. last July and has nothing solid in the works. One potential opponent would be Israil Madrimov, who stopped Magomed Kurbanov to win a 154-pound title on May 8.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) – “Tank” remains the most-complete fighter at 135 and 130 but boxing wizards Shakur Stevenson and Vasiliy Lomachenko might have something to say about who reigns in Great Eight before all is said and done. Now we need to see these pivotal matchups.
FEATHERWEIGHT
Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) – Inoue gave another dominating performance against Marlon Tapales on Dec. 26, stopping the Filipino in the 10th round to become undisputed champion in a second weight class. Can anyone compete with him? Luis Nery will be the next one to try. They meet on May 6.
BANTAMWEIGHT
Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) – Boxing Junkie’s No. 5 fighter pound-for-pound had hinted that he might move up from junior bantamweight to bantamweight but an explosive potential matchup with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez at 115 might keep him in his current division.
FLYWEIGHT
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) – Rodriguez supplanted Edwards as champion here after leaving no doubt about who is the best 112-pounder in the world. He’ll almost certainly be replaced if he signs a contract to challenge Estrada at 115 pounds.
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