How many good fights are acctually signed for in 2023? It looks to me like the most interesting fight with names on the dotted lines is Tim Tzyu vs Jermell Charlo. Other than that nothing remotely interesting looks signed. I predict that the following will happen in 2023: The PBC wil find a new backer(sucker) with deep pockets and the pbc will stage fights for their phoney pbc belts while overpaying their fighters to the moon. DAZN will sign some worthless idiot to a 100+ million dollar contract that won't produce any good fights. Saudi Arabia and other similar places will shovel money ontop of unwanted pointless exhibition fights. Boxing was at it's best probably when there was a bit of a Showtime and HBO rivalry, now it just looks lost. What probably destroyed HBO boxing was their tendency to have relationships. It wasn't enough to show a fighter taking on another good fighter.... no.... now the network had a relationship with this person so they also had to devote precious broadcasting hours showcasing his 12 round snorefest tuneup fights and if there was a Mandatory... ofcourse the network had to fulfill its obligations which probably resulted in champions sometimes showing up with the bags full of hundred dollar bills to the orgs to get easy fights out of their hbo contracts. Paradise is lost and I don't think that HBO can save us in this day and age, but what can?
The world of boxing holds its breathe in anticipation as The Gypsy King Tyson Fury moves towards becoming what he has always been and never will not be and that's the undisputed defacto #1 best fighter on the planet. Nobody wants to put on an event when you have a fight of that magnitude in schedule. Every A class seat in the arena will be sold out to boxers. We'll even have people pull out of their fights just to view this spectacle. Floyd Mayweather, Jake Paul, Donald Trump, Charlie Zelenoff. You name it they will be there. the camera may occasionally pan over to some guy named Crawfish or something and everyone will ask "Who the hell is that guy" then pan back across to Errol Spence which will be met with roaring cheers from the million man stadium. The broadcast will then cut back to the pundits Carl Froch (MBE) will ask his colleagues whether they knew that he fought in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley. Lennox Lewis will be asking Vitali whether he's got over TKO6 and Ryan Garcia will be arrested for breaking public displays of affection laws with men.
Promoters need to go to work and get some fights made. An excellent Christmas gift for the fans from Finkel and Hearn would be a Joshua vs Wilder announcement for March 2023.
This fight isn't signed so it isn't relevant to this discussion. Also it's a horrible fight, it's MT vs LL or BHOP vs FTT or ODLH all over again. Nonsense which people really should know is a mismatch but they don't.
The current state of boxing is Floyd's legacy. Not the titles, not the money, but the destruction of the fabric of the sport. Thanks Money May!
TopRank is going to make 2023 worthwhile Lightweight is on fire. Haney v Lomachenko will happen and I have no doubt the winner will face Shakur Stevenson immediately. 140 is entertaining across the board. Taylor v. Catterall winner against Prograis v. Lopez. Ramirez is there as an opponent for anyone if need be. Don't be surprised if Taylor clears this out and makes the move to fight Crawford at 147 (so long as Spence keeps ducking) Fury is a Champion's champion and I have no doubt he'll fight Usyk. Joshua or Joe Joyce is up after that. That's all exciting. PBC will only give us three fights all year: Charlo v. Tsuyzu, Plant vs Benavidez (and winner vs Jermall Charlo) Tank will not fight Ryan Garcia in April as promised. It's a stunt to get whatever money they can from this Hector Luis Garcia mismatch. He'll probably move on to Rolly rematch after that. DAZN is a trashcan essentially. Clenelo will ruin Ryder.... and then attempt to drain Bivol down to 168lbs. Hopefully Bivol tells him to F off and takes Beterbiev instead. If Clen comes to 175 though it'll be his Waterloo... Fulton vs Inoue is think is very possible, not likely but possible. 147 will continue to be a garbage heap. The only decent fight of the year is Virgil Ortiz vs Stannious. Spence absolutely will not fight Crawford Jaron Ennis will (tragically) continue to rot on the shelf Overall there's enough to be excited about.
Tszyu vs Charlo is definitely interesting. I guess the answer lies in your definition of good. For me: Daniel Valladares vs Ginjiro shigeoka & Masataka Taniguchi vs Melvin Jerusalem are both good fights that are signed. I think Rashidi Ellis vs Roiman Villa will be decent. I think Tank vs Hector Garcia could be competitive early. Jose Pedraza vs Arnold barboza Jr is a good fight. The Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall rematch is a good match up. Jaron Ennis vs Karen Chukhadzhian could be tougher than expected. There are some others & more schedules should be coming out soon
Quicker they go bust the better. Only ones that try to do it in-house and stage nothing but tune ups. If their stable went to Top rank and matchroom boxing would be a much stronger place
The way promoters are calling interim belt holders champions and completely undermining the structure and integrity of the sport with constant mismatches, the more they play into the hands of the exhibition bouts at this point, what’s the difference?
Exactly! What really is the difference? Boxing has changed so drastically within the last 20 years or so, that one could indeed say it's dead/dying. It's certainly not the same sport anymore. It isn't surprising that there's not much of note signed to happen in '23. But you never know! Let's just hope they get some decent fights together next year. Wow, just reread the last sentence. F*** me, is that sad or what? I've NEVER had that thought as a fight fan, ever. Oh well, at least there's lots of fights to watch/have access to, that is one good thing about being a fan these days!
Only in the eyes of Americans who don't care, or know about, what goes on outside the US: Can You Name a Country? - YouTube But the thing about this being a good time to be a boxing fan, because there's so much to watch/have access to... well, you got that right!