By Al Classico: 2015 was a very big and eventful year in boxing which saw the biggest financial fight finally come to fruition as well loads of great match ups and many strong fight of the year candidates taking place.
2016 has a lot to live up to but the good news is that there are some great fights on the horizon for the boxing fans. Hopefully, we will see fights such as Saul “Canelo” Alvarez v Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, Andre Ward v Sergey Kovalev, Manny Pacquiao v Sergey Crawford, and hopefully some of the top welterweights will finally be paired up to fight each other.
Maybe even Floyd Mayweather will make one last return to the square circle for a big money fight and a chance to move to a 50-0 record. Either way 2016 promises to be another massive year in boxing.
With that being said, 2016 is also a make or break year for some of boxing’s superstars who face pressure to answer the question whether they are genuine superstars or whether they will be found out as pretenders?
So let’s start with….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC_IVHCgpqc
#5 Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (34-0, 31 KO)
Golovkin can already be considered a boxing superstar among the boxing fans as he clearly possesses elite skill and talent which has seen him ruthlessly dismantle and put away all 3 of his opponents this year, all within the distance. The reason why GGG is in this list of stars that need a big 2016 is because GGG needs a fight against a big household name. The problem is that none of the big names have so far been willing to do so. This is putting pressure on Golovkin because he is 33 and time is running out for him to get that fight which will launch him into mainstream super stardom.
Many are calling for GGG v Canelo in late 2016 and this could be the fight that gets Golovkin the recognition he deserves, because he is the real deal. Will he get the fight against Canelo? It is doubtful because GGG has the skills, size and power to dismantle Canelo and thus some of this star power.
If GGG doesn’t get to face Canelo, then he really needs a big fight against another top middleweight in the likes of Daniel Jacobs, Peter Quillin, Andy Lee or Billy Joe Saunders. The best that he can do is beat all of these opponents which I think he will do, although I do see Daniel Jacobs giving him some problems. For the pure boxing fans, I really hope that we see GGG fight some of the best in 2016.
# 4 Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia (31-0, 18 KO)
On paper Danny Garcia has a fantastic resume, having beaten Erik Morales twice, Zab Judah, Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Peterson and emphatically knocked out Amir Khan several years ago. He has surprised many by beating some of the above opponents and he is still undefeated. However, his recent performances and narrow/controversial wins have somewhat stalled his career and he needs a big win against a big name in 2016.
With his move into Welterweight and having already beaten a skilled but low risk opponent in Paulie Malignaggi, it’s time for Garcia to be faced off against a top Welterweight contender such as Thurman, Shawn Porter, Tim Bradley etc.
Garcia simply goes out there and does what he’s supposed to do, however he it’s time for him to face a prime, in-form opponent in 2016 to cement his spot as a genuine star.
# 3 Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs)
Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman hasn’t done too much for some time and he needs a big 2016 to back up all the talk and hype around him being the one to take over the post-Mayweather welterweight division.
He is very charismatic, intelligent, entertaining and very marketable out of the ring and is a strong, solid fighter in the ring, however his in-ring performances don’t match his out of ring performances just yet and this is a gap that he needs to close in order to take over the division.
He certainly possesses lots of power as his knockout ratio shows, however apart from an impressive performance against a declining Guerrero, he hasn’t yet lived up to the hype nor has he yet faced another top welterweight contender to really prove that he is the goods.
In 2016, Thurman needs to fight 2 top fighters out of Porter, Amir Khan, Bradley, Garcia, Errol Spence or Pacquiao. It’s time for ‘One Time’ to show that it’s his time and hopefully he does because he is a charismatic character and is good for the sport.
# 2 Andre ‘S.O.G’ Ward (28-0, 15 KO)
It has been too long for a fighter of Ward’s calibre to be out of the ring and out of the spotlight and he needs a big 2016 otherwise he risks further slipping out of relevancy.
He fought only once in 2015 in a tune up fight against Paul Smith and was forgiven for taking an easier fight in order to regain his ring sharpness, however he hasn’t fought since then due an injury but with so much inactivity in the last several years, patience is wearing thing from fans waiting for him to return. The fact is Ward needs a big 2016 to get back to the top of the P4P list and back into the public eye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuSTvDjB38o
It’s clear that he will be campaigning at Light- Heavyweight from here on in and so he may need one or two tune up fights at that weight against the fringe top 10 oppositions before he tackles a big name at the end of the year (perhaps Adonis Stevenson, Jean Pascal) and then finally a showdown with Sergey Kovalev. The good news for fans is that both Ward and Kovalev have expressed their desire to fight each other and it looks like politics will not be in the way of making this potential fight of the year match up.
#1 Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs)
This choice may come as a surprise because it can be argued that Canelo is already a boxing superstar who has just won ESPN’s 2015 Fighter of the Year and has faced some of the top fighters, including a recent win against Miguel Cotto. This is all true. However, doubts still remain among true boxing fans on whether or not he deserves this elite status since due to the manner of some of his victories and favorable circumstances surrounding his fights (i.e. constant catch-weights and ridiculous scorecards).
He has only officially lost to Mayweather and there is absolutely no shame in that at all. He fought his best but was simply outclassed by the master on that night. He has beaten top tier fighters in Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout and Miguel Cotto. However, all of those fights have raised more questions about him, than given us answers. Canelo won a very contentious decision over Lara, who seemed to have out-boxed and outworked him over the whole 12 rounds. Canelo’s fight against Trout was similar. However, Canelo probably did just enough to win it. Canelo did win against Cotto. However, the fight was much closer than what the scorecards showed even though Canelo had a massive weight advantage on fight night.
Canelo is at that weight now where he can’t make 154 anymore and is fighting well into middleweight territory on fight night and the fact is that his next fight needs to be at full middleweight. For a fighter who has such star power and status as well as talent and size, it’s time for him to step in with the big boys at middleweight and stop this ‘Canelo-weight’ business.
It would be unfair to him to immediately throw him in with GGG, but he does need to test himself at the full 160 pounds in 2016 against a top 5 opponent to really see where he stands against fighters in his own weight class. There are strong rumors that Canelo will fight GGG in late 2016, so before that he needs to face a Gabriel Rosado, David Lemieux or Peter Quillin/Andy Lee to gauge where he really stands in the middleweight class. If Canelo passes the middleweight test, then a fight against GGG at full 160 in late 2016 will be a huge fight. Win or lose, Canelo will at least gain a lot more respect, especially from the pure boxing fans.
So as 2015 draws to a close, 2016 promises to be a big year for boxing and hopefully more questions will be answered about the above fighters, especially for the real boxing fans who simply want to see the best fight the best.
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