2018 a great year for the higher weights

[phillykid]

alot of unification fights on the horizon for light heavy, cruiserweight and heavyweight.

by the end of the year all 3 divisions will probly end up with just a single undisputed unified champion

i know i'm just stating the obvious, but it just dawned on me how important this year will be for boxing.

then by early next year we will hopefully have the welterweight unifications starting with spence-thurman.

we will be witnessing history-making stuff starting this year, with most of the fighters still in their prime.

might also even see a complete unification of the middleweight division if the winner of ggg/canelo goes on to face saunders.

[SenorPipino]

Hate to be a killjoy (sorta) but these undisputed champions always last a short time before 1 or 2 of the sanctioning bodies finds an excuse to strip them.

Or the champions can't possibly fulfill all the mandatory defenses ordered by the various sanctioning bodies and renounce a title or two.

Or the champions simply get fed up at the thought of paying sanctioning fees to too many crooked organizations and again vacate an alphabet title.

In other words, the excitement of having an undisputed champion is usually short-lived.

And before you know it, once again there are 30 or so world champions in the division.

[candyslim]

You had to go and piss on his chips didn't you?

I can't argue with what you said though.

Still, it is what it is, let's just enjoy the ride, it's going to be a great year for boxing .

[Enlightened-One]

alot of unification fights on the horizon for light heavy, cruiserweight and heavyweight.

by the end of the year all 3 divisions will probly end up with just a single undisputed unified champion

What light heavyweight unification fights are you referring to?

I mean, it's possible that the winner of Stevenson-Jack faces Artur Beterbiev later on in the year, but I don't expect to see Sergey Kovalev against any of the PBC guys on Showtime or vice versa. We may see Krusher face Dmitry Bivol though.

There’s one thing we know for sure, by the end of 2018, there won’t be a single fighter holding all four main versions of the 175lbs titles.

[ValMar]

You had to go and piss on his chips didn't you?

I can't argue with what you said though.

Still, it is what it is, let's just enjoy the ride, it's going to be a great year for boxing .

[ValMar]

alot of unification fights on the horizon for light heavy, cruiserweight and heavyweight.

by the end of the year all 3 divisions will probly end up with just a single undisputed unified champion

What light heavyweight unification fights are you referring to?

I mean, it's possible that the winner of Stevenson-Jack faces Artur Beterbiev later on in the year, but I don't expect to see Sergey Kovalev against any of the PBC guys on Showtime or vice versa. We may see Krusher face Dmitry Bivol though.

There’s one thing we know for sure, by the end of 2018, there won’t be a single fighter holding all four main versions of the 175lbs titles.

Unfortunatelly, you are right, but it would be great to see the undisputed champions at CW and HW............

[phillykid]

Hate to be a killjoy (sorta) but these undisputed champions always last a short time before 1 or 2 of the sanctioning bodies finds an excuse to strip them.

Or the champions can't possibly fulfill all the mandatory defenses ordered by the various sanctioning bodies and renounce a title or two.

Or the champions simply get fed up at the thought of paying sanctioning fees to too many crooked organizations and again vacate an alphabet title.

In other words, the excitement of having an undisputed champion is usually short-lived.

And before you know it, once again there are 30 or so world champions in the division.

Haha nah you're not a killjoy, you're right but as long someone wins all 4 belts they will be recognized as the top dog until they are beaten imo, even if they drop 2 of the belts right after winning them all.

You had to go and piss on his chips didn't you?

I can't argue with what you said though.

Still, it is what it is, let's just enjoy the ride, it's going to be a great year for boxing .

It will be a great year Indeed!

alot of unification fights on the horizon for light heavy, cruiserweight and heavyweight.

by the end of the year all 3 divisions will probly end up with just a single undisputed unified champion

What light heavyweight unification fights are you referring to?

I mean, it's possible that the winner of Stevenson-Jack faces Artur Beterbiev later on in the year, but I don't expect to see Sergey Kovalev against any of the PBC guys on Showtime or vice versa. We may see Krusher face Dmitry Bivol though.

There’s one thing we know for sure, by the end of 2018, there won’t be a single fighter holding all four main versions of the 175lbs titles.

Both the winner of Stevenson/Jack vs. Beterbiev and Kovalev vs. Bivol sound great to me
But yea i didn't hear of any specific light heavy unifications, just optimism on my part
I am however already starting to hear rumors of Kovalev vs Beterbiev but don't know how realistic that would be this year, but the other two matches sound great for now

[Enlightened-One]

alot of unification fights on the horizon for light heavy, cruiserweight and heavyweight.

by the end of the year all 3 divisions will probly end up with just a single undisputed unified champion

What light heavyweight unification fights are you referring to?

I mean, it's possible that the winner of Stevenson-Jack faces Artur Beterbiev later on in the year, but I don't expect to see Sergey Kovalev against any of the PBC guys on Showtime or vice versa. We may see Krusher face Dmitry Bivol though.

There’s one thing we know for sure, by the end of 2018, there won’t be a single fighter holding all four main versions of the 175lbs titles.

Both the winner of Stevenson/Jack vs. Beterbiev and Kovalev vs. Bivol sound great to me
But yea i didn't hear of any specific light heavy unifications, just optimism on my part
I am however already starting to hear rumors of Kovalev vs Beterbiev but don't know how realistic that would be this year, but the other two matches sound great for now

The only way we’ll get to see Artur Beterbiev share the ring with Sergey Kovalev, to unify both the IBF & WBO championships, is for the Canadian resident to break ties with GYM and Al Haymon… and employ the services of a promoter that works with HBO.

I know he’s trying to end his contract with his promoter, but he appears to want to retain the services of the PBC chief, especially considering his promise to guarantee him a minimum $250K payday every time he steps foot inside the ring, regardless the calibre of opposition.

If Beterbiev does end his business relationship with Yvon Michel, he’ll likely go to Top Rank, which won’t improve his chances of facing Kovalev, since that would result in an almost insurmountable ESPN vs. HBO obstacle, which is no better than his current Showtime vs. HBO situation.

I do appreciate that Artur Beterbiev actually fought on ESPN for his most recent outing though, but this was because GYM currently refuses to promote him due to the ongoing lawsuit, so they allowed him to compete on a Top Rank fight card.

The ideal situation is for Sergey Kovalev to allow his contract with HBO to expire, as he’ll be technically free to fight anyone, but his promoter, Main Events appears to work exclusively with that network… and HBO won’t allow Krusher to appear on Showtime or ESPN. So I don’t know how this could happen either.

I appreciate that all this stuff is incredibly boring, but this is the unfortunate current reality of our sport. It seems incredibly challenging, nigh on impossible in some circumstances, for certain promoters and TV networks to work with each other… and this is the main reason why some of the sports’ biggest fights either don’t happen at all or if they do, they take place far beyond their expiry date.