The top five fights you would like to see in 2021 ?

[Lenny Cravats]

Canelo - Beterbiev
Joyce - Wilder
Fury - AJ
Spence - Crawford
Tank - Loma
Taylor - Prograis 2 (loved the first one. Absolutely fornicating loved it)

[gilgamesh]

Fury vs AJ
Wilder vs Usyk
Crawford vs a Live body
Canelo vs David Benavidez
Teofimo Lopez vs "Tank" Davis

In years past it would've been very easy for me to name 5 fights. I was kinda struggling on some of these.

[Finkel]

Arreola did well against Kownacki, far better than I expected, and that is the only reason I'm not denouncing the fight with Ruiz as a horrible and brutal mismatch.

As it is I could name a hundred fights involving heavyweights that would be more competitive and more interesting to me than Ruiz v Arreola and that is without naming any boxer more than once.

If there were no limit to how many times the same fighter could appear, then that list could grow from 100 to at least 1000 maybe significantly more.

To illustrate the point, these are some of the potential fights involving Andy Ruiz Jnr. that would interest me more than Ruiz v Arreola : Joshua, TFury, Whyte, Wilder, Usyk, Parker, Povetkin, Pulev, Ortiz, Hunter, Rivas, Joyce, Miller, Wallin, Kabayel, Kownacki, Sanchez-Faure, Helenius, Martin, HFury, Yoka, Hrgovic, Chisora, Bakole-Ilunga, Gassiev, Breazeale, Takam, Jennings, Bryan, Shaw, Washington, Makhmudov, Dubois, Ajagba, Polite-Coffie, Sirenko, Kossobutsky, Majidov, ...

The list of fighters I'd rather see Arreola fight instead of Ruiz : As above starting with Povetkin with the addition of a number of other prospects.

Fighters I'd like to see fight Arreola as opposed to just being less undesirable than the Ruiz fight, as above starting with Breazeale with the addition of Chaney, Franklin, Davtaev, Romanov, Balolov, Kean, Miljas, Ahio, Babic, McKean, Huni, Anderson, Conto and so on and so forth.

Very fair points.
Mine was more that by using this to headline a PPV they are advertising this as one of the top fights that could be made this year. But that is completely unearned, and makes a mockery of what a top fight is or at least should be.

Some argue that Povetkin v Whyte 2 should not have been PPV, but the outcome of the first fight justified interest at a certain level.
Same goes with Whyte v Chisora 2, but the first fight was amongst the best of the year, so again interest was justified in the rematch.

But this fight? They are drumming up interest in the PPV based on the question:
How fat with Andy Ruiz Jr. be?

[candyslim]

Rumour has it he'll be a little more streamlined than we're accustomed to seeing. Extremely overweight insread of grossly overweight perhaps

[Enlightened-One]

But this fight? They are drumming up interest in the PPV based on the question:
How fat with Andy Ruiz Jr. be?

Arreola and Ruiz Jr. are both durable fleshy Californian-Mexican heavyweights with crowd-pleasing fighting styles.

Both men are large, physically strong, aggressive "stalk-‘til-they-can't walk" fighters deemed as big punchers.

People will watch the fight (especially those of Mexican descent), because it'll be entertaining (while it lasts) and action-packed, so it'll do well commercially.

It's a bit of a hometown derby!

I suspect many mainstream casuals prioritise entertainment over sporting justification, because they're less concerned about resumes.

And to be perfectly honest with you, I've seen lots of novices compete on the Street Beefs backyard brawling YouTube channel, where their bouts are far more exciting to watch than some top-tier world title fights (i.e. Johnny Nelson vs. Carlos De Leon and Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran III).

So I can understand the reason why some people are willing to pay to watch certain unimportant bouts than those with titles on the line, because it's all about being entertained.

And let's not forget that 14 fighters are appearing on this fight card. And most of them have Mexican blood or speak Spanish.

So the PBC are obviously catering for a certain demographic.

[candyslim]

Oh I'm all about unimportant bouts, the crucial ingredient is when you know a bit about both boxers but you still haven't a clue about who is going to win. I get the Tex-Mex angle completely but it's the predictability of it where for me it all breaks down.

[Finkel]

But this fight? They are drumming up interest in the PPV based on the question:
How fat with Andy Ruiz Jr. be?

Arreola and Ruiz Jr. are both durable fleshy Californian-Mexican heavyweights with crowd-pleasing fighting styles.

Both men are large, physically strong, aggressive "stalk-‘til-they-can't walk" fighters deemed as big punchers.

People will watch the fight (especially those of Mexican descent), because it'll be entertaining (while it lasts) and action-packed, so it'll do well commercially.

It's a bit of a hometown derby!

I suspect many mainstream casuals prioritise entertainment over sporting justification, because they're less concerned about resumes.

And to be perfectly honest with you, I've seen lots of novices compete on the Street Beefs backyard brawling YouTube channel, where their bouts are far more exciting to watch than some top-tier world title fights (i.e. Johnny Nelson vs. Carlos De Leon and Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran III).

So I can understand the reason why some people are willing to pay to watch certain unimportant bouts than those with titles on the line, because it's all about being entertained.

And let's not forget that 14 fighters are appearing on this fight card. And most of them have Mexican blood or speak Spanish.

So the PBC are obviously catering for a certain demographic.

Yeah, you are correct. I should acknowledge they are basing it on what they believe a Mexican fan base will be willing to pay to support/see two Mexican heavyweights go at it.

But as CandySlim suggests, he is expecting a one-sided fight. And honestly, this will be a disaster for Ruiz Jr if he loses.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

But this fight? They are drumming up interest in the PPV based on the question:
How fat with Andy Ruiz Jr. be?

Arreola and Ruiz Jr. are both durable fleshy Californian-Mexican heavyweights with crowd-pleasing fighting styles.

Both men are large, physically strong, aggressive "stalk-‘til-they-can't walk" fighters deemed as big punchers.

People will watch the fight (especially those of Mexican descent), because it'll be entertaining (while it lasts) and action-packed, so it'll do well commercially.

It's a bit of a hometown derby!

I suspect many mainstream casuals prioritise entertainment over sporting justification, because they're less concerned about resumes.

And to be perfectly honest with you, I've seen lots of novices compete on the Street Beefs backyard brawling YouTube channel, where their bouts are far more exciting to watch than some top-tier world title fights (i.e. Johnny Nelson vs. Carlos De Leon and Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran III).

So I can understand the reason why some people are willing to pay to watch certain unimportant bouts than those with titles on the line, because it's all about being entertained.

And let's not forget that 14 fighters are appearing on this fight card. And most of them have Mexican blood or speak Spanish.

So the PBC are obviously catering for a certain demographic.

What is your buy rate prediction?

[keirw]

just living in fantsy land for a day...

Spence vs Crawford
Inoue vs garry russel Jr (126)
Canelo vs Babic (heavyweight)
GGG vs Jaime Munguia (160)
Gassiev vs wilder (heavyweight)

don't really know whos favourite in any of them.

Bit of a curve ball choice that one.

But f**k it, I'd pay to watch it

[margaret thatcher]

id f@cking love ggg vs munguia, would be fun as fiddling f@ck

[funso banjo baby]

fury v joshua
Joshua v Whyte
Wilder v Whyte
Parker v Joyce
Anderson v coffie

[gilgamesh]

just living in fantsy land for a day...

Spence vs Crawford
Inoue vs garry russel Jr (126)
Canelo vs Babic (heavyweight)
GGG vs Jaime Munguia (160)
Gassiev vs wilder (heavyweight)

don't really know whos favourite in any of them.

Bit of a curve ball choice that one.

But f**k it, I'd pay to watch it

Who the f*ck is Babic?

[candyslim]

Babic is Alen Babic a protege of Dillian Whyte. He is a very confident, extremely aggressive Croat and basically a cruiserweight. His style is to keep throwing punches until the other guy drops - absolutely no pretence of finesse.

I keep thinking he's going to come unstuck against the first fighter he cannot destroy in five rounds but so far we are still waiting. He is fun to watch though, I won' t miss any fight he's in if I can possibly help it.

[Perkin Warbeck]

Spence-Crawford
Fury-Joshua
Wilder-Ruiz Jr
Hrgovic-Hunter
Whyte-Makhmudov

[f read]

Fury-Joshua for Great Britain an absolute superfight of the greatest importance and magnitude and for the sport of boxing as well
Shakur Stevenson vs Lomanchenko see how good Stevenson is
Andy Ruiz vs Deontay Wilder can Wilder redeem himself with a victory over a top opponent
Lomanchenko vs Teofimo Lopez will the rematch be different
Errol Spence vs Terrence Crawford make it happen