Olekandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2 is the month’s biggest fight, and will have major impact on the next rankings update.
Notes: Obviously we have the big Usyk vs Fury rematch this month, and the look of the division in 2025 will take shape from there. If Fury wins, there’s every chance we get a rubber match, while Eddie Hearn stays on the sidelines of it all praying for Anthony Joshua to get a Tyson Fury bout before Joshua’s brand name takes any more hits. If Usyk wins, sure, Fury vs Joshua is still a money fight, though not what it could have been ideally. Daniel Dubois’ next fight is in the process of being figured out, too; could be AJ, could be Zhang, could be Parker — any would be acceptable and notable. And then there are other options.
Notes: Even with the loss to Zurdo Ramirez, nobody in this division deserves to be ranked ahead of Chris Billam-Smith other than Opetaia and Zurdo, nobody else has done much of anything. As is often the case, cruiserweight sits as a division with some talent, a few compelling possible matchups, a lot of stagnation.
Notes: Beterbiev has staked his clear claim as No. 1, though not in any dominant fashion over Bivol, and a rematch seems very likely. Benavidez and Morrell will finally just fight each other at the top of February, as PBC have totally run out of even “useful enough” options for them otherwise.
Notes: Waiting to see what Canelo will be doing in May, because there are no clear-cut choices at 168, the Bivol rematch that he’s wanted at 175 may not be an option at all right now, and the novelty money fight with Jake Paul is probably more likely than ever — look, no actual boxing fan really wants it, other than the idea of seeing a legitimate, high-end professional embarrass Paul, but you can’t ignore the money potential and Canelo in his mid-30s probably winding down his career and possibly seeing nothing any more worthwhile on the table. Mbilli, Iglesias, and Pacheco are possibly intriguing-ish opponents for Canelo, but they’re all relatively unknown plus potentially dangerous, not exactly the ideal situation for star boxers.
Notes: Murtazaliev makes the big jump, obviously. I still think Tszyu is a contender, a top 10 guy, but he’s very flawed and he’s also been cracked now with two straight losses, albeit to top-level opposition, and I personally reward fighting and losing to top-level opposition more than racking up a bunch of gimme wins. Bohachuk vs Madrimov is a good, intriguing fight this month.
Notes: Paro vs Richardson Hitchins is the month’s big fight at 140. I want to see more than we have from Hitchins before ranking him, but he has a strong chance of entering high next time if he beats Paro. I don’t think there’s a clear No. 1 in this division at all, and I’m still not ranking Devin Haney because he doesn’t seem to have much interest in fighting at the moment so who cares? But could be Paro, could be Teofimo who hasn’t been blowing doors off, could be Catterall. Arnold Barboza’s career-best win over Jose Ramirez has him reversing some troubling career momentum, and I don’t really know what to make of Ramirez at the moment, that’s sort of a tentative placement.
Notes: Foster and Conceicao should fight each other every four months to switch places over and over and over. Navarrete vs Valdez 2 will give us a clear No. 1 in the next update, or at least should, it’s boxing, sometimes what’s “clear” actually isn’t and even fighting to figure it out doesn’t really solve an issue.
Notes: The Espinoza vs Ramirez rematch this coming weekend could shake things up in this division again.
Notes: Inoue and Akhmadaliev both in action this month, could meet in 2025 if both win as they’re expected to do.
