2017 shaping up as a great year for boxing

By James Slater - 12/19/2016 - Comments

James DeGale-Badou Jack, Carl Frampton-Leo Santa Cruz II, David Haye-Tony Bellew, Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia, Gennady Golovkin-Danny Jacobs, Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko. These are just some of the big and potentially great fights that have been officially confirmed for the boxing calendar in 2017.

If all these fights go ahead without a hitch (I.E: with no postponements due to injury and the like) we will have some year next year. With the possibility of other fascinating match-ups to be announced for 2017 – maybe Canelo Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Junior, Canelo-GGG! and maybe even Joshua-Deontay Wilder!! – fight fans just might get one of the best 12 months the sport has seen in a long, long time.

Some people (Oscar De La Hoya being one of them) have said that 2016 was a disappointing year for the sport, and it’s true we have not had the greatest of years (one thing fans have missed out on the most this year has been great heavyweight title fight action), but next year sure looks like it will make up for it.

A number of the fights listed above are not only title fights, some of them of the unification variety, they are not only match-ups between big names, but they are 50-50 fights – simply put, the best kind of match-ups.

Who wins between DeGale and Jack in their super-middleweight unification clash? This one could go either way. Haye-Bellew? This one has divided opinion in the UK and even those fans who strongly feel Haye demolishes Bellew agree how the action will be thrilling for however long it lasts. Thurman-Garcia? This welterweight unification clash has the potential to be The FOTY, and again, a great case can be made for either guy winning.

Joshua-Klitschko may or may not be a great fight, but it will definitely be one HUGE event. GGG might just have the toughest test of his dominant pro career against the blend of skill, speed, heart and power that “Miracle Man” Jacobs brings, while the winner against Canelo, in September, would be so much more than the icing on the cake of a great boxing year.

With more surprises to come (will we see more out of the blue catch-weight fight announcements!?) fans have every reason to get excited about boxing in 2017.