Heavyweight boxing should be booming. We have an undisputed heavyweight champion in Oleksandr Usyk. We have a logical number one contender for the belt in Joseph Parker. We have the next contender after that with Agit Kabayel. The division also has a young phenom with Moises Ituma.
Why then, does there seem to be nothing booked of any great interest? We take a look at the heavyweight boxing scene and try to fix it.
Heavyweight Boxing – Booked Fights
This Saturday, WBO heavyweight interim champion, Joseph Parker will meet undefeated Brit, Fabio Wardley, who holds the WBA interim heavyweight belt. Although this fight does make some sense, Parker should be fighting for the undisputed belt.
He’s enjoying a six fight winning run, including taking on the feared Martin Bakole on a day’s notice when Daniel Dubois pulled out of the fight.
Agit Kabayel is set to return on January 10th in his home of Germany, however, his opponents hasn’t been announced yet.
Kubrat Pulev, the WBA ‘Regular’ champion (yeah, it’s hard to keep up with), will meet Murat Gassiev in December in a fight which has very little impact on the division.
Outside of this, nothing and nobody is currently booked.
Fights to Make
There are several logical fights that fans want to see in heavyweight boxing. Firstly, we want to see Oleksandr Usyk back in action. Whether it’s against Parker (if he beats Wardley) or Kabayel, if he beats his January opponent, it doesn’t matter. We just want to see the best heavyweight of a generation back in the ring.
Another logical fight to make is Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury. It isn’t a fight that anyone thinks has any relevance to the division. Both men are the furthest away from a world championship that they have ever been. Joshua has lost twice in convincing fashion to Usyk and lost his last outing via devastating knockout to Daniel Dubois. He’s been out of the ring since September 2024 and needs a big fight next. Fury, like Joshua, can’t get the better of Usyk. Two tries, two failures. It’s an all-British affair that every fan in Britain wants to see, would still sell millions of PPVs and certainly could be competitive. Book it.
Daniel Dubois is still ranked highly, despite coming off a one-sided loss to Usyk last time out. He needs a rebound fight and, as he’s so young, there’s a good chance that we see him in a title fight again soon. Frank Sanchez is the fight to make.
Moises Ituma. 13-0, 11 knockouts, aged just 20. Rumours of a Hughie Fury fight have swirled around, which is a fight that makes no sense and doesn’t do anything for Ituma. Coming off a first round knockout of the well-respected Dilian Whyte last time out.
Two options come to mind. Filip Hrygovic and Andy Ruiz Jr. Hrygovic fought on the same card as Ituma, going 10 rounds with David Adeleye. Hrygovic extended his winning run to two with his victory and is highly ranked with all the key players. Andy Ruiz Jr is a recognisable name for UK fans as he is the first man to hand Joshua a professional loss. Since then, he’s fought infrequently, only competing three times since losing the belt to Joshua in their rematch in 2019. There’s an opportunity for Ituma to defeat Ruiz quicker than Joshua… a nice carrot to dangle.
How would you match the key players in the heavyweight boxing division?
