In boxing, every year it’s the same thing, fans will wants fights that won’t happen for various reasons. Whether it’s money or behind door politics, fights that the fans want to see likely will not happen. Every once in a while, you’ll get a good year like 2013 where you see 4-5 of the fights you actually want, but as we saw this year, those “must see” fights can be very scarce. However, the best thing about boxing is its debates, so I’m going to go over 25 fights that either should happen in 2015 or at least ones that we fans would want to see.
Gennady Golovkin Era:
- Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez
- Golovkin vs. Julio Caesar Chavez Jr.
- Golovkin vs. Carl Froch
- Golovkin vs. Miguel Cotto
Last year was pretty much known as the breakout year for Golovkin, but not for his in-ring skill, it was the rise in popularity that he experienced outside the ring. From coast to coast, Golovkin grew into the fastest rising star in boxing and HBO’s #1 guy. Now this year, he has to get the breakout win to solidify his stature as the new star of the sport. A win against any of the four above top boxers puts him into the PPV category.
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto
- Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. vs Carl Froch
To most people, these two fights are much more likely than any of the 4 of them fighting Gennady Golovkin. That may suck for GGG, but for fans, those are still two helluva fights that will be PPV worthy.
Wladimir Klitschko Dominance:
- Klitschko vs. Bryant Jennings
- Klitschko vs. Tyson Fury
- Klitschko vs. Winner of Bermane Stiverne/Deontay Wilder
Every year people will try to predict when someone not with the last name Klitschko will rule at top the heavyweight division. Who knows if this year will be any different, but one thing is for sure, the division doesn’t lack for upcoming talent. If Klitschko wasn’t around, there would be a pretty damn good battle for the division between Stiverne, Wilder, Fury, and Jennings, but with Klitschko still alive and kicking, does anyone of the four have a chance? Maybe, but I’d love to find out. The first fight above is likely, probably on April 25th at MSG. Hopefully we get one of the others later in the year.
Is Deontay Wilder a beast in the making?
- Wilder vs. Bermane Stiverne
- Wilder vs. Tyson Fury
- Wilder vs. Bryant Jennings
Deontay Wilder is 32-0 with 32 KOs, the only boxer in history to do so. Now 29 years old, this is the year that he has to prove to boxing fans if he’s the real deal or someone that is just hyped up by the media and Golden Boy. His fight against Stiverne will kick off the big boxing schedule this year in Vegas on January 17th. If he wins his first world title on that date, the sky is the limit and his next fight should be against one of the next two.
Young Guns to Make a Name:
- Nicolas Walters vs. Vasyl Lomachenko
- Terrence Crawford vs. Jessie Vargas
- Keith Thurman vs. Marcos Maidana
- Leo Santa Cruz vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux
All four of the above fights would make sense. They would all be fights that the winner can use as a building block into becoming a more known name and the loser can use as motivation to work harder. And most importantly, none of them seemed to be really blocked by any promotional or network battle. All the fights have been mentioned and talked about even as soon as April for the first one, but hopefully a few of them are signed and we can really get a good look into the future of the sport.
Rematches Can Be a Good Thing:
- Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado 3
- Timothy Bradley Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 2
- Roman Gonzalez vs Juan Francisco Estrada 2
- Chris Algieri vs. Ruslan Provodnikov 2
Adrien Broner vs. Lucas Matthysee – This fight doesn’t seem likely to happen even though Broner has publically called out “The Machine.” I think it would be a GREAT fight stylistically, but Matthysee seems to have his sights set on other “Problems.”
Danny Garcia vs Lamont Peterson – This fight makes a lot of sense for both because their styles matchup to make for an exciting fight and both need to get some momentum going. Garcia hasn’t had a positive vibe moment since beating Matthysee and Peterson’s last big fight was a 3rd round KO from Matthysee. Hopefully the two can get negotiations out the way and get in the ring together.
Sergey Kovalev vs. Adonis Stevenson – This would be the ultimate fight to decide who the best light heavyweight in the world. They have been jawing at each other for a while, but we may finally see whose bark is bigger than their bite. A win by Kovalev against Pascal in March would line up a fight for later in the year.
Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook – If you put this in Wembley Stadium, it would do a good 70-80k. They are two of the top 5 biggest names in the UK and it just makes sense for the UK to develop their undisputed champion then have him face the US undisputed champion. It’s the type of stuff movies are based on.
Demetrius Andrade vs. Erislandy Lara – This is probably a fight that most haven’t considered but it would be a test to see who is all talk and whose ready to step up. Both have been widely known talkers on Twitter (whether it’s them or their PR people) so it’s time for one of them to put up or shut up.
So that’s all the fights you should be rooting for in 2015. I don’t think there is anything else a boxing fan can ask for this year. If you want to know who is the best of the best, just sit back, relax, and watch HBO and Showtime and hopefully we’ll get as much of the fights above as possible. Oh, I forgot, one more fight that you might just want to see in 2015 would be a little one involving Floyd “Money” Mayweather vs. Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao, but I’m sure you’ll see enough hyping about that one in other bigger “Media Outlets.” Good luck with that one and enjoy that fights we actually do get.
