The ubiquity of titles makes it difficult for all but the most astute fans to determine boxing’s status.
That’s why Boxing Junkie launched the “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 WBA and WBC bridgerweight), light heavyweight includes super middleweight, middleweight includes junior middleweight, etc. up 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 champion since the feature was implemented in 2020, but his reign will be in serious jeopardy when he faces Oleksandr Usyk for the vacant championship. can debate during the pay-per-view on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) was coming off arguably the worst performance of his career in October, when he rose from a knockdown to win a unanimous decision over the star MMA and boxing novice Francis Ngannou.
The shocking events of that night raised an obvious question: Was Fury, 35, already starting to decline as he entered the biggest fight of his life?
If he fails to perform at his best against talented, experienced technician Usyk, many believe he will suffer the first defeat of his long career and lose the Great Eight championship.
Even his longtime co-promoter Bob Arum questioned the war in the Middle East.
“I always felt once this fight happened… that Fury was a huge favorite because I thought his size and boxing ability would be too much for Usyk,” Arum said on stage . BoxNation podcasts. “So I see this as a 3-4-1 fight in favor of Tyson Fury.
“But I’m very worried about Tyson’s appearance in his last fight with Ngannou in Riyadh. I was there. I just think he looks scary. There are two [possible] explained: He really hadn’t trained hard for that match or, two, as we’ve all gone through the years – and I should know – we’re not performing as well as when we were 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 returns to his previous form.
“If Tyson had fought the ‘A’ fight, if Tyson Fury had fought [Deontay] The last two times Wilder fought Dillian Whyte, there was no way Usyk or any other heavyweight could beat him. But that’s a really big assumption.”
He continued: “For me, I look at the Ngannou fight that Fury had and recount it, I mean the way he worked with Ngannou, especially when you see how easy it was [Anthony] Joshua dealt with Ngannou, I have a lot of questions.”
Here are the top fighters in the eight initial divisions:
HEAVYWEIGHT
Tyson was angry (34-0-1, 24 KOs) – Fury will have the chance to prove his subpar performance against Francis Ngannou was a mistake when he faces Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship on pay-per-view channel on May 18 in Saudi Arabia. Of course, the winner will be our Great Eight champion.
LIGHT-WEIGHT
Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) – The winner of the Bivol-Artur Beterbiev fight on June 1 will determine not only the Great Eight champion but also the best 175-pounder of the era. Few fights could happen in boxing better or more important than this one.
MEDIUM
Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) – The 154-pounder lost to 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez in September but he remains the best at 160 and 154. He doesn’t seem to be negotiating with potential rivals, leaving his future up in the air.
WEIGHT
Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KO) – Crawford has not fought since he defeated Errol Spence Jr. in July last year and there was nothing solid in the works. The WBO has ordered new 154-pound titleholder Sebastian Fundora to fight him but Fundora could fight Tim Tszyu first.
LIGHT-WEIGHT
Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) – “Tank” remains the most complete fighter at 135 and 130 but boxing wizards Shakur Stevenson and Vasiliy Lomachenko may have something to say about who will dominate the Great Eight before it was all said and done. Now we need to see these important matches.
FEATHER WEIGHT
Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) – Inoue turned in another dominant performance against Marlon Tapales on December 26, stopping the Filipino in the 10th round to become the undisputed champion in the weight class Monday. Can anyone compete with him? Luis Nery will be the next to try. They met on May 6.
BANTAM class
Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) – The reigning Mexican 115-pound champion has agreed to face Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, our Great Eight flyweight champion, in a blockbuster bout on the 29th June in Phoenix. The winner will be the bantamweight king here.
WEIGHT
Jesse “Bam” Rodríguez (19-0, 12 KOs) – Rodriguez will keep his spot here until the 112-pounder steps into the ring to challenge Estrada at 115, meaning we may have a division champion new flies in early July.
