The year 2023 was an exciting one for boxing. Like Christmas, fight fans got some of the presents on their wishlist, but not the whole thing. For every Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford, there was the lost hope of a potential Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder fight.
Did Spence vs. Crawford live up to our expectations? A fight going through several years of boxing politics finally came to fruition. Unfortunately for Spence fans, it may have been booked too little too late since Crawford rolled through “The Truth” to become the undisputed welterweight champion.
Ryan Garcia vs. Gervonta Davis was a fight that many thought would take years to make. Instead, a whole host of A-listers were ringside to watch two young guns clash. Devin Haney had a busy year as one of the most gifted young fighters faced a former pound-for-pound king in Vasiliy Lomachenko. The list goes on and on.
Then, fights had questionable booking decisions, like Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo rather than David Benavidez. There was also Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, which once again delayed a fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. This also saw the end of Showtime in the combat sports business.
On this episode of Fightin’ Words, The Sporting News' Karisa Maxwell and Andreas Hale break down the year that was, along with the following topics:
- Andreas and Karisa look over the former’s “Naughty vs. Nice” boxing predictions from 2023
- A 2024 boxing wishlist, which includes heavyweight fights, Canelo vs. Benavidez, Haney vs. Davis, Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev, and Alycia Baumgardner vs. Claressa Shields
- Predicting what’s next for Terence Crawford
- What boxing’s 2024 New Year’s Resolutions should be
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