As boxing goes, 2024 was a pretty good year.
Some big fighters got together for some big fights, and they yielded entertaining results.
Which makes it easy to crave more of the same in the New Year.
The wall calendar in the B/R combat team office has flipped to 2025, so we've got a whole new wish list across multiple weight classes that we're hoping Fight Game Santa can deliver through the next 12 months rather than saving them all for late December.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.
Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua
It's been talked about. It's been written about.
Heck, it was even signed and scheduled at one point.
Still, a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua—who've always shared a home country and briefly shared the heavyweight championship—has never occurred.
But this is boxing. And now that they're both damaged competitive goods, maybe 2025 is the year it'll get done.
Joshua's career is down to its last strike after his shocking fifth-round KO loss to Daniel Dubois in September, and Fury is officially off the division's top tier after dropping a pair of close but justifiable decisions to Oleksandr Usyk in May and December.
It won't matter much in their native England, where fans will certainly turn out in big numbers to see the behemoths settle a longtime verbal beef, whether a title is on the line or not.
Promoter Eddie Hearn is on board.
"Joshua's done it all," he said. "If he gets Fury on his resume, he's boxed virtually everybody of his era."
Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford
Maybe it makes sense. Maybe it doesn't.
That depends largely on who you ask.
But one thing's for certain: A showdown between generational stars Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford would be a big event. As big as a calendar year could want.
Alvarez, for those somehow unaware, has been a pro since his teens, became a champion at age 20, and has spent the subsequent years—he's 34 now, by the way—compiling a Hall of Fame resume with title belts at 154, 160, 168 and 175 pounds and a list of high-end pay-per-view appearances that rivals anyone's in the sport's recent history.
Meanwhile, Crawford, unbeaten in 41 bouts and also a four-division champion, is angling for a career-defining challenge that'll surpass anything he's done from 135 pounds to 154.
Is Canelo too big? Is Crawford too skilled?
Not surprisingly, Alvarez suggests it's the latter.
"I'm in," he said. "Why not? Don't get me wrong, he's a great fighter but for me, in my weight class, it's an easy fight. Easy money."
Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani and/or Jesse Rodriguez
Sometimes, it's too hard to decide. Let's go ahead and get greedy.
That's where we are when it comes to Naoya Inoue in 2025.
The 31-year-old Japanese "Monster" has become as sure a thing as there is in boxing these days, with 25 KOs in 28 wins and title belts in four weight classes from 108 pounds to 122.
He's made four-belt undisputed claims at both 118 and 122 and has beaten so many opponents with such ease—nine title bouts since the start of 2020 have lasted an average of 6.9 rounds—that it's getting to be routine.
Which means it's time to up the ante.
Inoue's rescheduled title defense with Sam Goodman later this month won't move the needle much. But if he shares a ring with either Junto Nakatani or Jesse Rodriguez—or both—by the time this year is complete, his needle will be buried in the red for the foreseeable future.
Nakatani is 26 years old, is also a native of Japan, and has reigned just one division away from Inoue at bantamweight since February, running his record to 29-0 with 22 KOs.
As for Rodriguez, 24, he's the hottest young U.S.-based fighter, reigns in Inoue's old stomping grounds at 115 pounds, and has reached pound-for-pound radars with 14 KOs in 21 wins.
Go ahead, we dare you not to want it, too.
Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor III
Speaking of greedy, sometimes two isn't even enough.
The record shows that Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor have faced each other twice—once in 2022 and once this past November—and have combined for 20 rounds of unforgettably compelling combat, complete with blood, sweat, and, for Serrano at least, tears.
That's because the multi-division Puerto Rican champion has been on the short end of two highly debatable decisions (one split, one unanimous) though she landed more punches in 13 of those 20 rounds and both threw and landed more punches in each fight.
So why not keep going until they get it right?
There's no women's fight that carries more competitive weight than a third go-round between the two, and, given their track record of titillation, probably no fan that wouldn't stake out a spot by the TV to see them square off for another instant classic.
They've been a hit in New York, a hit in Texas, and a hit on streaming devices, too.
So, promoter Eddie Hearn suggests, maybe it's time for Europe.
"I think a third fight with Amanda, given the viewership on Netflix and the success of the first fight, would result in not just the biggest female fight of all time but one of the biggest fights of all time," he said.
Moses Itauma vs. Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Usyk has been an Olympic champion. He's been a cruiserweight champion.
By the time 2024 ended, he'd added two wins over Tyson Fury to cement yet another significant accomplishment—undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion.
So while the prospect of returning to 200 pounds to take on the likes of Jai Opetaia is interesting, we'd counsel Usyk to stay in the big-boy division this year to take on as compelling a foe as there is given the recessions of Fury, Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
His name is Moses Itauma. He's 11-0 with nine KOs. And he's angling for a chance to erase a record set by another guy named Tyson—Mike Tyson, that is—nearly 40 years ago.
"Iron Mike" became the youngest champion in heavyweight history when he vaporized Trevor Berbick in two rounds at the age of 20 years, 4 months, 23 days in November 1986. Itauma turned 20 three days after Christmas and could eclipse Tyson's mark if he were to win a heavyweight belt by May 20.
His first-round squash of Demsey McKean on the Usyk-Fury II undercard maintained top-10 contender status with the WBA and WBO, and, given Usyk's past run at cruiserweight and 5-0 record against Fury, Joshua and IBF champ Daniel Dubois, there's precisely no one with a more deserving resume—or a more interesting back story—in line for a springtime shot.
A new era in boxing or another bullet point on a Hall-worthy resume?
Let's find out.
Conor McGregor vs. Jake Paul
He's not fought in more than three years. He's not won in nearly five.
But Conor McGregor is still Conor McGregor.
And when it comes to the Jake Paul circus, there's no more appropriate guy with whom the "Problem Child" could share a big top in 2025.
The "Notorious" Irishman's name remains in the mouth of every combat athlete seeking a spotlight and Paul has gotten into the act from time to time since he debuted in 2020.
It's seemed likelier at some times than others, but it's rarely felt more possible than it is now—as Paul looks to till promotional ground in new and different spots on the globe.
McGregor, for anyone who's forgotten, reached Round 10 with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and generated more than four million pay-per-view buys in the reigning king of crossover bouts back in 2017. So if there's a bigger novelty out there, let us know. We'll wait.
According to Ariel Helwani, it's the dream of India's wealthiest family—the Ambanis—to host the event in south Asia.
"My understanding was the first choice is—(the family said) 'We want Jake Paul. We want to be in the Jake Paul business. We want a Jake Paul fight here in India,'" Helwani said. "And so, the top choice was Jake Paul vs. Conor McGregor."
Go ahead and say you wouldn't watch. And, no, we don't believe you.
