Who’s the best?

By Boxing News - 05/23/2016 - Comments

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By Brian Garnett: Too many times in boxing the fans are forced to wait for the fights that we want to see, such as, the five year wait for Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. What we were left with, was a boring fight that looked like it was five years too late. Interestingly enough, we are on the cusp of some premier fights being put together in the next few months featuring the best fighters in their respective divisions facing each other with everything on the line.

Unbeaten, WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman will be facing former IBF welterweight champ Shawn Porter whose only defeat came at the hands of Kell Brook. At age 27 and 28, Thurman and Porter, respectively, are considered to be the cream of the crop at 147lbs and both in their prime.

It should be noted that both fighters are under the Al Haymon banner. In past years Haymon has been slow to match his top fighters in against each other or against dangerous opponents.

In July, we will have the two best junior welterweights in the world signed to fight in a location still to be determined. Undefeated rising star Terence Crawford, ranked #6 pound-for-pound by Ring, takes on Viktor Postol, coming off an impressive destruction of tough Lucas Matthysse. While Postol will have a reach and power advantage over Crawford, the Omaha Native is considered to be one of the best pure boxers in the game and switches form orthodox to southpaw seamlessly. For both fighters, both 28-0, this will be the toughest test each champion has faced to this point in their careers.

In November, we will be treated to the fight I will be most looking forward to since Mayweather-Pacquiao. Former 168-pound king, Andre Ward who has a 29-0 record, will take on the man that has punched his way to the top of the light heavyweight division in Sergey Kovalev, 29-0-1. This will be the classic puncher vs. boxer match up with Ward moving up to a new division with questions about his power and chin while Kovalev has never faced such a complete and savvy boxer in his prime. After cleaning out the 168lb division and going through injury and promotional problems, Ward moved up to the 175lb division and after knocking off #1 contender Sullivan Barrera. Both men will take a tune up over the summer. Ward in an effort to finish knocking the rust off and Kovalev to stay sharp. Again, this will be the toughest test either fighter has faced in their career and both should be commended for making the fight happen so quickly.

That’s three weight divisions that are about to become more unified and more importantly, they are absolutely the best fights that could occur in those weight classes. All of those fights are signed so barring an injury, we will get to see all of those great fights while we still have a few more simmering such as newly crowned IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua vs. WBC champion Deontay Wilder. Both men are signed to Showtime sports and both men have expressed desire to fight each other. In my opinion, this is the most exciting fight that can be made in the heavyweight division because I doubt this fight would go the distance like a Tyson Fury – Wladimir Klitchko fight. We also have WBC 126-pound champ Gary Russell calling out undefeated WBA champion, Leo Santa Cruz and IBF champion Lee Selby. I would much rather see Russell fight Santa Cruz, but the fact that he is calling out the other two recognized champions in order to unify the tittles and make the best fights possible shouldn’t go unnoticed. And now to the elephant in the room. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is the fight that has the most buzz in the sport but I am skeptical that this fight will get made anytime soon. With Canelo giving up his WBC middleweight belt, it’s clearly not a good sign although I don’t doubt Canelo’s desire to make the fight. This may be one of those fights that doesn’t get made simply because Canelo holds so many advantages that I can’t see him or his promoter, Golden Boy, giving up any of them to make such a difficult fight. GGG doesn’t have big PPV numbers and doesn’t want to come down to 155 so he will have to take very short money to make the fight happen. Truth is Canelo has good opponents such as the Charlo brothers, Julian Williams, Liam Smith and Demetrius Andrade that are all undefeated junior middleweights to fight where as the only name available to GGG is Canelo.

It’s about time the fans are able to witness the fights we deserve. The fights that have occurred already are a credit to the fighters wanting to prove themselves as the best. Boxing is not a sport that is “played”. You “play” football and you “play” basketball. You don’t “play” boxing. There are no teammates to help you if you’re having an off night. Its man vs. man and no excuses are excepted so I commend all of these fighters for putting it all on the line and testing themselves. In an era where you hear more about money being made and the fights not happening, these fighters have stepped forward to give us the best fights we could ask for.