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The first half of 2022 is one of the best six months for boxing in the 21st century. Boxing fans have been rooting for the unification of the heavyweight championship and Jr. middleweight, the unpopularity of the sport’s biggest star, more unification of the title at bantamweight, Jr. Heavyweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, and Heavyweight, Heavyweight monster match, and controversy. the biggest fight for women.
The next couple of months saw it cool down but they still have big fights like Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua II to keep them going. keep on keep on keep on keep on keep on rooting for a blessed fall.
The highlight is the heavyweight showdown of the ages between WBA/WBC/IBF Errol Spence and WBO titleholder Terence Crawford. While both are at an age where ‘still in their prime’ may be questionable, recent releases for both show that this is still their first time in the ring on paper.
It’s not happening in 2022.
It became clear that there was tension when the initial speculations and reports about the November date did not lead to an announcement. The November promotional window has closed and this past week, reports including here at BoxingScene that the hope is for a February 2023 fight.
It was interesting that not only did one of these come together, but we are now left with a battle that almost no one asked for (Crawford defending David Avenysan) on an unknown app that almost no one has ever seen hear the story, and there is no present. opponent for Spence.
When a fight doesn’t happen, there is always an argument about what both sides can do to bring them together. In this case, all signs point to Crawford being the one to eventually walk off the table. Whatever Crawford didn’t like about the Spence fight, whether it was financial, contractual, or scheduling, he came up with his backup plan and moved on.
Any optimism about this fight coming together in 2023 should instead be tempered. Errol Spence returned from injury in April to defeat Yordenis Ugaas. This is not enough time to fight. Spence has already made public announcements about the potential rate hike. At the moment, Spence has a very talented group of contenders for his belt (Keith Thurman, Jarron Ennis, Eimantas Stanionis) if he fights again at welterweight this year.
Could this all come back together next year? Yes. Can he? Don’t expect too much. The numbers being thrown for Crawford-Avaneysan are hard to believe. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reports sources said Crawford will have eight paydays for the fight. Eight numbers mean a minimum of $10 million.
This is a great list. The suggested retail price for Crawford-Avaneysan is $39.95. In order to generate just $10 million in revenue, excluding any door figures in Omaha, Nebraska, the fight must have done north of 250,000 purchases. Crawford and Shawn Porter have reportedly not reached 150,000 buys with the major media channel, ESPN/ESPN+, to support. It’s hard to see how these numbers make sense without someone seemingly willing to take a huge loss.
If so, more power to Crawford for an incredible payday for fighting without actual public utility or setting up a distribution center. The flying numbers are counterintuitive, but logic isn’t always what’s needed in boxing.
Along with Crawford’s announcement, fans also received the announcement that Tyson Fury will defend his heavyweight title against Dereck Chisora. Fury had some hopes about the Anthony Joshua fight but the short window for the fight, and Joshua’s back-to-back losses, made that idea seem like it would be difficult to get off the ground.
But Chisora?
Usyk said he doesn’t plan to travel again until 2023 so that’s off the table. There may not be many good options but it is hard to believe that there is nothing that can be delivered. Chisora is a better opponent than Manuel Charr but he is also the one that Fury beat twice on the way to the title, and he beat in a fight that was not memorable or competitive. It wasn’t Wilder’s series where the first fight advanced the show to two.
There is reason to believe we can see Fury-Usyk next year and Fury-Chisora will certainly put the seats, but it’s hard to get excited about it. Chisora winning this fight will make Buster Douglas look like a softie in the pool.
The weight division went out with a whimper to end 2022.
Front: What we won’t see at the end of the year is disappointing but boxing fans still have something to look forward to. Any disappointment now will eventually wear off and the 2022 slate can be viewed from end to end. Some of the things that remain may make this the greatest age of boxing.
We finished an amazing October 15th with beautiful fights and memorable knocks around the world. Boxing fans are gearing up to see the final bantamweight (Inoue-Butler), Jr. Flyweight unification barnburner on paper (Kyoguchi-Teraji), Jr. match. bantamweight rubber is one of the biggest rivalries of this generation (Gonzalez-Estrada III), the clash of regional queens (McCaskill-Cameron), and what could be a great heavyweight fight (Bivol-Ramirez). These are just some of the known battles left in 2022.
There will probably be a surprise or two in the schedule before we’re done. There are many things to look forward to.
2022 is not over and hell with the battles that cannot be done. That’s one fight lost. One battle. To the next one.
Cliff’s Notes…
Mauricio Lara deserves a title shot in a big way. Whether it’s a third round with Josh Warrington or someone else, Lara emerges as a fighter everyone should be wary of at featherweight…this fight…Bob Arum is considering the possibility of Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton should be taken seriously considering the size of the fighters. Jr. A featherweight that can earn big money is not easy to find. This can be.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the World Boxing Organization, a member of the World Boxing Research Association, and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
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