The 2017 boxing season is set to be a bumper one worldwide. Here’s five fights that I’d personally love to see this year.
Golovkin vs Canelo
Probably the fight that most fans want more than any.
One that has been talked about for a couple of years now and due to popular demand, it’s unlikely that the year will end without seeing this matchup.
Politics and money aside, surely their respective teams will work out a deal for it to take place with many expecting it to finally happen come September time.
A pay per view mega event that the sport of boxing needs in the United States in particular.
Since Mayweather vs Pacquiao this would likely be the biggest fight in the US and one that has the potential to crossover to casual sports fans if promoted right.
Joshua vs Haye
The heavyweight scene is really on fire again and the star name at the front of this is IBF champion Anthony Joshua.
But there is another well known name mounting a comeback in the sport too, who might also want a piece of ‘AJ’ – fellow Britain David Haye.
While both men have assignments early in the year with Klitschko for Joshua and Tony Bellew for Haye, should both men win, a showdown between the two in Britain would likely be the biggest selling fight in the UK on record given the star power of both guys.
What a fight it would be too. Power galore.
Khan vs Brook
Staying with the UK for a moment.
Talks of a possible Amir Khan and Kell Brook fight finally (at long last) happening in 2017 continue to gather steam, although perhaps later in the year might be the time for this rather than the summer which was initially mooted.
The rivalry and tension between the two is very real with Brook in one recent interview saying he wants to do ‘damage’ to Khan when they do fight.
Khan has been doing extensive charity work while recovering from hand surgery since been knocked out by Canelo Alvarez in May 2016.
One would imagine he’d need a warm up fight before taking on Brook, as Brook would coming off his stoppage defeat to Gennady Golovkin last September.
Wilder vs Fury
Although it’s unclear when exactly former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will return in 2017 there’s no doubting he’ll be back this year and when he is, I’d love to see him in a cross-Atlantic showdown with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.
Wilder has a relatively straight forward fight pencilled in for early 2017 but one would imagine he could fight three times this year – making a Fury fight more than possible for later in the year.
Stylistically I’d like to see how Wilder’s raw power stacks up against the cagey skills of Fury and with the two having famously met in an in-ring confrontation Stateside before, the fight would likely evoke interest in both the US and UK given both men’s colorful personalities.
Frampton vs Lomachenko
From a strictly sweet science perspective although it’s unlikely, one fight I’d really like to see too would be a potential Carl Frampton and Vasyl Lomachenko get together in 2017.
Granted, Lomachenko currently resides in the super-featherweight division but it would not be that hard for him to return to 126lbs you would imagine, a weight class he competed in not long ago.
Frampton first has a tall ask to look after in his Leo Santa Cruz rematch but what a showdown him and ‘Hi Tech’ would be in the lighter weights later in the year.