So as we start to look ahead to 2025, as is our yearly tradition here, we look back at the activity level of the sports elite. There used to be a saying that as, ''the heavyweights go, so goes the game of boxing." My belief is that nowadays the sport is really about how often the games stars perform.
The bottom line is that the modern day boxer -- from the four round to championship level -- fight much less than they did in the past. Rare is that world-class prizefighter who goes to the post more than twice in a calendar year.
There are many reasons why but it has to be asked: is it good for the long-term health of the business?
German Villasenor
If you look at Canelo Alvarez, who many consider the current 'face of boxing', he has 66 bouts under his belt (62-2-2, 39 KOs). Much of his popularity is about not just who he has faced (Floyd Mayweather, Gennadiy Golovkin and Miguel Cotto) but how often he's fought. Alvarez has become a known entity because of the sheer number of times he's performed throughout the years.
He hasn't just honed his skills, Alvarez has also raised his own profile. Ask yourself this, when he finally hangs up his 'Boxing is Life' gloves, who is ready to take his mantle as the games biggest star and pay-per-view franchise?
Can boxers who have less than 30 fights ever really be recognized by the general public?
Questions to ponder.
Just like previous years, I am using the Ring Magazing pound-for-pound list as a guide..
1- Oleksandr Usyk: 2 fights. Scored two 12 round decisions over Tyson Fury
2- Naoya Inoue: 2 fights. Stopped Luis Nery in six rounds, and then TJ Doheny in seven.
3- Terence Crawford: 1 fight. 12 round decision against Israil Madrimov.
4- Artur Beterbiev: 2 fights. Knocked out Callum Smith in 7, then decisioned Dmitry Bivol.
5- Dmitry Bivol: 2 fights. 6th round KO of Malik Zinad, lost 12 round verdict to Beterbiev.
6- Jesse Rodriguez: 2 fights. Stopped Juan Francisco Estrada in seven, and then Pedro Guevara in three
7- Saul Alvarez: 2 fights: 12 round decisions versus Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga
8- Gervonta Davis: 1 fight. Knocked out Frank Martin in eight.
9- Junto Nakatani: 3 fights. Scored six round stoppage of Alexander Santiago, first round KO versus Vincent Astrolabio, and six round KO of Tasana Salapat.
10- Devin Haney: 1 fight. 12 round loss to Ryan Garcia.
So that's 18 fights from the current Ring pound-for-pound list. Which is an improvement from 2023 when that current crop totaled 15 fights.
https://snac.com/blogs/k-9-kims-corner/2023-activity-report
And in 2022, the total was 14 bouts.
As you look at this year's list, three guys fought just once (Haney, Davis and Crawford). Haney got banged around by Garcia in his bout, and understandably took the rest of the year off. As for Davis and Crawford, this has been the norm. The last time 'Tank' fought more than once in a calendar year was 2021. While the last time 'Bud' fought multiple times was 2019.
German Villasenor
Junto Nakatani is the only guy to box three times in '24, but it has to be noted that Inoue was also slated to have three appearances before Sam Goodman had to pull the plug on their December 24 appointment. Also, if you go back to last December, both Bivol and 'Bam' Rodriguez were able to fit in three fights in less than 12 months.
Personally, I don't think we'll ever see a year like Oscar De La Hoya did in 1997 (where he got out there five times) but can we ever get to a point where the games biggest stars all get out there three times a year on a regular basis?
Or is it simply too much to ask, nowadays?
