Usyk – Fury, Taylor – Lopez – the best thing that can happen in 2022. Top 7 fights in modern boxing

The sharp, but rather predictable turn in terms of organizing the fight for the undisputed world heavyweight title between WBC title holder Tyson Fury and WBA / WBO / IBF belt holder Alexander Usyk made us evaluate the most anticipated fights in boxing, predicting their likelihood.

Tyson Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk

There has been no undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999, when Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in a rematch to unify all three of the prestigious titles. In the era of the four belts, there was no absolute in the royal weight yet, but for the past few years such a fight has been at arm’s length. At first, they dreamed of a duel for the absolute between Anthony Joshua and Diontay Wilder, last year almost everything was already in the ointment for AJ with Tyson Fury, and now the fans are discussing Fury’s intriguing duel with Alexander Usyk.

If in Anthony Joshua a businessman beats an athlete and he agrees to a release clause, then such a fight could take place as early as the first half of 2022, but a much more likely scenario for successful negotiations is after the champions fulfill their obligations, that is, in autumn or winter.

The probability of organizing in 2022 is 80%

Anthony Joshua versus Deontay Wilder

For many years, this fight was one of the most coveted in the world of boxing, and it’s not just that these guys had all the championship titles in their hands. However, for a very long time the fighters walked in parallel courses, forgetting the common truth – if you marinate the battle for too long, then force majeure can happen. In the late 18th and early 19th years, both fighters stumbled – BB opened a Pandora’s box named after Tyson Fury with a draw, and AJ lost ahead of time to Andy Ruiz.

As of early 2022, these guys have no championship belts, and each of them has a train of fresh defeats. However, even without a single title on the line, Anthony Joshua’s fight with Deontay Wilder will be a huge event. A masterful puncher and an Olympic champion against a guy who can win in just a split second, what could be better?

The probability of organizing in 2022 is 20%

Saul Alvarez versus Gennady Golovkin 3

Since their last meeting in 2018, Saul Alvarez has gone very far from Gennady Golovkin, managing to become a light heavyweight champion and win all four belts in the super middleweight division. During the same time, the achievements of the Kazakhstani are much more modest – he stopped Steve Rolls and Kamil Sheremeta, and was also pulled by the ears by the judges in a fight with the Ukrainian Sergey Derevyanchenko.

You can say as much as you like that in the third fight Canelo will crush Gennady Golovkin, because the Mexican, unlike the veteran, has become much better, but we would love to watch this fight. Despite the fact that the red Mex is able to make money with any opponent, the financial potential of the third fight with GGG is higher than any other option, with the first two fights generating a total of 2.4 million ppv sales.

And before burying Golovinka’s chances in the third fight, it is worth remembering the legendary series of Manny Pacquiao against Juan Manuel Marquez, when, after three equal fights, the age-old Dynamite knocked out the favorite.

The probability of organizing in 2022 is 80%

Arthur Beterbiev versus Dmitry Bivol

There has been no clear division leader in light heavyweight for a long time, and neither Artur Beterbiev nor Dmitry Bivol are doing anything that could change this situation somehow.

Beterbiev’s track record includes a victory over lineal champion Alexander Gvozdyk, and Bivol’s record has a couple of valuable scalps – Sullivan Barrera, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith. However, for more than two years now, the champions have been doing outright nonsense, holding walk-through fights and not showing due enthusiasm for unifying the belts. I would like to believe that the light heavyweight leaders will not play the Canelo lottery, but will simply do their job – in a face-to-face fight, they will determine the strongest at 175 pounds.

The probability of organizing in 2022 is 50%

Terence Crawford versus Errol Spence

To be honest, we are already tired of mentioning this fight as one of the most coveted. Fans have been craving to see these guys face off against each other since Bud’s move to welterweight, but boxing politics has stymied the organization of the event for years.

Terence parted ways with Bob Arum late last year, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that Crawford’s free agent status didn’t make much of a difference and didn’t bring the fight any closer. It’s a pity, because given the rumors about the duel between Spence and Ugas, the situation could develop in such a way that by the end of the year, all the championship belts in the division could be at stake in their potential fight.

READ MORE: Crawford proves he’s the welterweight king

The probability of organizing in 2022 is 25%

Josh Taylor vs Teofimo Lopez

Until recently, undisputed super lightweight champion Josh Taylor was in a posh position to choose between two very tempting offers – to stay at homeweight to fight sub-absolute Teofimo Lopez or move up to 66.7kg to Terence Crawford. But given the fact that the American is no longer in Bob Arum’s pool, he has a minimum of really cool options left. More precisely, only one.

And the defeat of Teofimo Lopez to George Cambosos did not change anything. The fight of the absolutes in different weights is a great event, and given how much these guys managed to say to each other in the press, the promotion of the fight will be appropriate. The main thing is that now the Scot will not goof off and not stumble in a passing battle with his mandatory challenger Jack Catterall.

The probability of organizing in 2022 is 90%

Gervonta Davis versus Ryan Garcia

Perhaps, any face-to-face confrontation between the so-called “new kings” of lightweight will cause a sensation, but the chances of seeing at least one of them this year are quite modest.

But if you still dream a little and not get attached to the real state of things, then this is a fight between the two most hyped fighters in the division – Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia. It would not be boring outside the ring, and during the fight it would definitely be something to see. One bubble of unfounded hype would be less in modern boxing and, you know what’s interesting, it’s far from a fact that the inflated balloon of Davis’ “historical achievements” would not have burst.

The probability of organizing in 2022 is less than 5%