By Norm Frauenheim-
A promising year ends, but the promise will go as stale as cheap champagne if fights we talked about in 2017 don’t happen in 2018.
Here are just four on a wish list that will make the New Year one to celebrate or just another one to forget:
Terence Crawford versus Keith Thurman, or Errol Spence, or Shawn Porter, or Kell Brook.
Crawford, the vote here for the Boxing Writers Association Fighter of the Year, jumps from 140 to welterweight in the most intriguing move in a New Year.
After a likely shakedown cruise in his division debut against Australian Jeff Horn, Crawford becomes a threat to anybody at the top of the division.
Guess here: He’s better than anybody at 147 right now. That’s also a reason to be cautious about whether any welterweight fight on this wish list actually happens. Thurman, Porter and perhaps Brook will find ways to avoid the feared Crawford. The biggest bout at welterweight in a long time looks to be Crawford-Spence, but Spence, 27, appears to be a year from his prime. Check back 12 months from now. Crawford-Spence might at the top of the wish list for 2019.
Vasiliy Lomachenko versus Mikey Garcia
I keep hearing all of the reasons why this fight won’t happen. Please, if it doesn’t, it is just a further condemnation of a business still ruled more by ego and grudges than good sense.
Top Rank continues to express resistance to the fight, presumably because it is still angry at the way Garcia left the game’s promotional giant. But the good news – and Garcia’s best friend in all of this – is Lomachenko himself.
Throughout last year, Lomachenko has never backed away from his desire to fight Garcia. Invariably and repeatedly, the fight the forthright Ukrainian says he most wants is Garcia. In an ongoing effort to win over boxing’s key demographic, Lomachenko understands he needs to fight the Mexican-American.
But there’s something else, too. It’s also a fight that has been in the forefront of the public imagination for at least a year. It matches Lomachenko’s many-angled creativity against Garcia’s fundamental efficiency. Make the fight, please.
Anthony Joshua versus Deontay Wilder
If the heavyweight division comes back, it’s a sure sign that the business is back and healthy.
In one corner of the world, heavyweight boxing is rock concert-like show. Joshua and his dramatic victory over Wladimir Klitschko played out before 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in London last April. Can the UK enthusiasm go global? Yeah, it could with Joshua against American Deontay Wilder.
Pieces for Wilder-Joshua later in 2018 are falling into place with talks for Joshua-versus-Joseph Parker and Wilder-versus-Luis Ortiz, both in March. A reason for caution, however, lurks in Wilder-Ortiz. It could undo any chance at Joshua-Wilder.
The clever Ortiz is a threat to Wilder’s unbeaten record in a dangerous fight. Then again, they’re all dangerous for Wilder, who has flaws in his fundamental skillset. Yet, Wilder’s big right hand and overall athleticism are an equalizer that is as powerful as it is unpredictable. Entertaining, too.
Gennady Golovkin versus Canelo Alvarez
The rematch has to happen, right? It ended in a draw in May. It was controversial in some corners. Mostly, it was an unsatisfying end to a bout that had been preceded by a drumbeat of hype that promised definitive drama.
Maybe, there was drama. But there was nothing definitive about it. For Canelo, a rematch is another opportunity to correct mistakes from an uneven performance, one booed by many of his Mexican fans.
For GGG, it’s a chance at delivering some proof. He was angry after the scores to the May draw were announced. He said he won. In a rematch, he can do exactly that.
A reason for caution is that a deal has yet to be done. Neither middleweight has anywhere else to go. GGG and Canelo have unfinished business. Finish it in 2018, or the public just might be finished with them.
