When was the last time Boxing gave you a positive surprise?

Naoya Inoue vs Nonito Donaire was a very pleasant surprise. Seeing Donaire turn back the clock one last time and give Inoue everything he could handle, forcing him to show a new level of toughness and skill in response. Then seeing Inoue sealing it late with the body shot knockdown despite dealing with a broken face for most of the fight. Reminds you of why you love the sport.

 

Tank/Garcia. Two of the sports biggest stars, in their prime, fighting each other.

 

Kazuto Ioka beating Franco this year, and the week we had Crawford and Inoue put on dominant performances were recent highlights.

 

1. Fury exposing the one trick pony
2. Tank vs Garcia happening
3. Spence vs Crawford happening
4. Usyk calling Fury’s bluff with the public negotiations and making the drug cheat squirm
5. Fury going life and death with a UFC debutant. Sure, not great for our sport, however it is a welcome shake up and reality check for the PED abusing cherry picker
6. Inoue continuing to challenge himself and seeking greatness as he plans to climb the weight classes (no weight clauses or diva actions will be a welcome change!)

However, the negatives definitely outweigh the positives for 2023…

 

Juggernaut Joyce getting demolished twice by a 40-something Chinaman was hilarious.

 

For all the complaining about A side robberies you had Canelo and Joshua lose decisions

A lot of the big fights happening in 2023

Fury vs ngannou being a better fight than anticipated

 

Leigh wood v mauricio Lara and Conlan. Great fights

 

People on here putting Tank Ryan without irony smh the state of it

 

Opetaia Breidis - It was hard to Gauge how good Jai was as he had limited opposition in the Pan Pacific area
Kambosos beating Lopez- I expected George to have his number but was pleasantly surprised that he got a fair shake on the cards
Fury in the first and second fights with Wilder
Povetkin icing Whyte
Crawford doing a demolition job on Spence
Inoue doing a demolition job on Fulton

 

Canelo getting schooled by Bivol.

 

The last nice little surprise boxing gave me was Bud and Spence finally happening.

 

Rambo Kambo vs Lopez

 

The tournament series that gave us undisputed champions.

 

I'd need to go back twenty years to stuff like Gatti vs Ward I or Pacquiao vs Marquez I. Every good thing seems to take a long time to build up; so there's never any surprise on that end. You could watch every big star or big fight coming from years ahead. Disappointing upsets and robberies, those are all the surprises we have in boxing.