A Year In Boxing: 2024

List of contents

1. Test Your Knowledge
2. PrizeFighting Boxing Awards Extravaganza 2024
3. Predictions
4. 2024 Boxing Statistics
5. Le Blog

Before we get started, would you like to play a game? Here's a challenge for you:
Name as many of boxing's "world champions" from this year as you can.
By "world champion" I mean any man who held either a WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, or Ring title in any of the 17 weight divisions in 2024. No regular, silver, interim etc or secondary titles of any kind, the lineal champs all appear one way or another.
And to make it a little easier, just surnames will do.
A few nicknames are acceptable answers as well.

Scores
0 – You're winner.
Less than 20 – People's champ.
20-35 – A cut above the rest.
36-55 – Undefeated.
56-69 – It's pronounced 'tu-bu-lar'.
70-88 – Most impressive.
100% – For the love of Jah, please spend more time outdoors.

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PrizeFighting Boxing Awards Extravaganza 2024

It feels wrong to call these awards without offering anything besides recognition. Therefore, any winners are eligible to receive a free poem or nickname imagined by me (offer valid until December 31st, 2025).

Fight of the Year

Oleksandr Usyk UD Tyson Fury (May 18th)
I already wrote a lot about this fight. Maybe it feels like a given to say this was the best fight of 2024 because it was the best possible fight on paper but consider the following, this fight could've been bad. It could've been 12 rounds of holding and defensive fighting. It could've been a controversial DQ or referee stoppage. There's any number of ways that it could've gone wrong. There were even several moments where it looked like it would never happen. Instead, we got the kind of fight that lived up to the reputation of what a heavyweight title fight should be. The history books and the fans will look back fondly on this one.

Knockout of the Year

Daniel Dubois KO 5 Anthony Joshua (September 21st)
There have been some great knockouts this year but this was something else. There have been questions about Anthony Joshua's chin for a while now but they were usually in hushed tones because of the circumstances. He was knocked down by Wlad Klitschko, but came back to win by knockout. He was stopped by Andy Ruiz, but was on his feet when the referee waved things off. He was rocked by Oleksandr Usyk, but did not touch the canvas. But against Daniel Dubois? Joshua had seven bell's knocked out of him. The image of him trying to fling his body upright to beat the last count is a desperately sad one, especially after awkwardly hitting the ropes on his way down, though on the ever facetious worldwide web it quickly became meme fodder. The world can be cruel and boxing is the cruelest sport. Dubois was mocked for quitting against Usyk but came back strong in 2024, his February fight with Joseph Parker should be entertaining too.

Fighter of the Year

Oleksander Usyk
When boxing's last undisputed heavyweight champion was crowned; 'Smooth' was top of the Billboard charts, 'Pokémon: The First Movie' was top of the box office, and Busta Rhymes was presumably prepping for the apocalypse. A lot of time has passed since then and a lot has stayed the same, including the continuation of boxing's self-imposed decline. But in 2024, after years of alleged near-misses, the stars aligned for one man to write his name into the history books and he did it. The unfortunate rematch clause was invoked and he proved himself again. But in addition to his actions inside the ring, he's also game showman with a team that understands the pageantry side of the sport. It's been a good while since a boxer was last associated with a theme song so strongly. Hopefully he has a reign as undisputed champion and builds a name for himself beyond his countrymen and boxing fans, it'd be a shame for him to retire.

Upset of the Year

Bruno Surace KO 6 Jaime Munguia (December 14th)
This was going to be Tszyu-Fundora, though Tszyu's dramatic loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev made me reconsider if Tszyu was perhaps being oversold. But my worries about having to make a choice were put to bed by Jaime Munguia, who went 12 rounds with Canelo in May, getting absolutely rocked by Frenchman Bruno Surace, who had only recorded 5 knockout victories in his previous 27 bouts. Incroyable. Insult on top of injury for Munguia to get knockout in hometown of Tijuana.

Robbery of the Year

Dmitry Bivol losing to Artur Beterbiev (October 12th)
I'm a Beterbiev supporter and do not hide that I am no fan of Bivol. That said, bias has to be put aside if you're scoring fairly. It was a classic styles-make-fights contest and there were some close rounds. But what made this fight a robbery is that despite outworking and outboxing Beterbiev in at least seven rounds of the contest, none of the three judges gave Bivol the fight, the closest being a 114-114 card from Spain's Manuel Oliver Palomo. The robbery was such a surprise that Bivol's ex-wife Ekaterina (who accused him of domestic abuse) could not believe he lost during a live reaction to the fight and called the decision 'карма' (karma).

Lighthearted Chuckle(s) of the Year

Terence Crawford at the final Madrimov press conference (August 1st)

Shakur Stevenson pronouncing 'meme'

Worst Content of the Year

Anthony Joshua giving the most Anthony Joshua answer

Bum of the Year

Floyd Mayweather Jr.
More on that some other time.

Political Cartoon of the Year

Poem of the Year

'The Trainer' - by Alton Merkerson
Coach Merk, formerly of the United States Olympic team and the professional corner of Roy Jones, appeared in a well-hidden YouTube video earlier this year. This one still hasn't gotten to the fabled 301+ views but those who watched it got an insight into his life and career up the present day, where he revealed that he is also writing poetry that I will reshare here.

"Promoters, managers, and spectators too,
do you know what a trainer has to do?
I am a trainer who takes pride in all things.
Especially those things that are done in the ring.

I look at my boxers as though they're my kids,
and I also watch spectators placing their bids.
As my boxers receive blows - one, two, and three,
the same blows they receive are punishing me.

As I twist in my chair and shuffle my feet,
I witness some boxers that rise to the beat.
But those that can't hear the sound of my feet,
they simply fall down and suffer defeat.

O, this is a feeling they cannot explain.
Do you know how it feels to lose a big game?
I wish as a spectator you could feel what they feel,
then you would know that the game is for real.

So I just keep on hoping, and pray for the best,
and Almighty God will sure do the rest."

If you have boxing poetry (or art/prose) of your own, I'd recommend submitting it to the free fanzine 'The Spit Bucket'.

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Predictions

And now to mark my own homework and see how good my predictions have been. With a modicum more effort throughout the year, this would've been less annoying to tally by the end of it. But we move.

The annoying thing I've alluded to previously is that it is nigh impossible to keep up with all title fights even when actively seeking them out. And it is at this point, that I must unfortunately reveal that the following fights slipped me by completely.

• Oscar Collazo vs. Reyneris Gutierrez (WBO 105lbs, Jan. 28)
• Oscar Collazo vs. Gerardo Zapata (WBO 105lbs, Jun. 7)
• Melvin Jerusalem vs. Luis Castillo (WBC 105lbs, Sep. 22)
• Inoue Takuma vs. Tsutsumi Seiya (WBA 118lbs, Oct. 13)
• Nishida Ryosukeda vs. Anuchai Donsua (IBF 118lbs, Dec. 15)
• Erick Rosa vs. Neider Valdez Aguilar (WBA 108lbs, Dec. 19)
• Panya Pradabsri vs. Carlos Cañizales (WBC 108lbs, Dec. 26)

There were a few bridgerweight bouts too that received none of my attention but I'm still not buying into it. And looking back over things, the March madness really got to me. Mendoza-Bohachuk wasn't even a """real""" title fight in the end and I forgot to pat myself on the back for calling Gonzalez-Santiago right. I don't feel like giving myself extra or fewer points for calling the right or wrong method so this is purely based on picking the right winner. Fights which were later ruled No Contest have been excluded.

January - 4 out of 4 fights, 100%
February - 4 out 6 fights, 80%
March - 9 out of 11 fights, 82%*
April - 1 out of 1 fights, 100%
May - 5 out of 10 fights, 50%**
June - 7 out of 10 fights, 70%
July - 5 out of 7 fights, 71%
August - 2 out of 4 fights, 50%
September - 6 out 7 fights, 86%
October - 12 out of 13 fights, 92%
November - 5 out of 6 fights, 83%***
December - 3 out of 4 fights, 75%

End of Year tally: 63 out of 83 fights called correct, 75.9% accuracy.
Slightly above the midway point between 50/50 guesswork and complete clairvoyance. I'll take it.

*The Martinez-Cordova saga ended with Martinez winning the decision but failing a drug test, his win was changed to a No Contest.
**I called two fights wrong on purpose and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
***I said Barrios would win but it ended up being a draw. He retained his title though.

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2024 Boxing Statistics

Like this very article being last-minute, this is another one of those 'leaving it to the end of the year was a mistake' ideas. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. There were 95 championship fights in boxing this year. Here they all are in a neat (hopefully legible) table. Despite my justified resentment I'm including bridgerweight here for the sake of historical accuracy.

• Out of the 95 title fights, 5 were undisputed bouts.
  • Canelo-Munguia (super-middleweight, May 4)
  • Inoue-Nery (super-bantamweight, May 6)
  • Usyk-Fury (heavyweight, May 18)
  • Inoue-Donehy (super-bantamweight, Sep. 3)
  • Bivol-Beterbiev (light-heavyweight, Oct. 12)
• 50 fights ended with decisions and 43 fights ended by KO/TKO, 2 fights were later declared no contests
  • However, the most common result was TKO (narrowly edging out UD) and the most common round that fights ended with was 9.
• The most common location for title fights was Tokyo (19 title fights), followed by Riyadh (13 title fights) and Las Vegas (11 title fights)
  • The continental imbalance continues. Asia and North America each saw 41 title fights, Europe staged 8 title fights (3 of them being bridgerweight fights), and Australia hosted 3 title fights.
• Watching every single title fight of 2024 takes 19 hours, 45 minutes and 44 seconds (excluding the one-minute rest between rounds and waiting for referees to announce a decision) - roughly the equivalent of 12 association football matches or 5 American football games.
• The shortest fight was Jonathan Gonzalez quitting against Princesa after getting a cut from an accidental headbutt in the first round. The next shortest was Nakatani Junto knocking out Vincent Astrolabio with a straight left hand to the body in the first round.
• Here's how many title fights each belt-giving body was involved with out of the 95 world title fights in 2024. (note: only the WBA & WBC have created bridgerweight belts)
  • World Boxing Association - 34
  • World Boxing Council - 29
  • International Boxing Federation - 29
  • World Boxing Organization - 29
  • The Ring Magazine - 15
  • There were 19 unified title bouts (of which only 6 were unification bouts)
• How were the fights spread out across the year?
  • January to March - 23 fights
  • April to June - 25 fights
  • July to November - 19 fights
  • October to November - 28 fights
  • The month with the fewest title fights was April (only 2), the month with the most was October (15 total).
    • Between October 12th and October 14th, Japan alone had 8 world title fights.

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Le Blog

2024 has been the most I've followed boxing since very closely following it from 2009 to circa 2018. I used to write about the sport back then too but that was for other people's websites and other people's editorial tastes, mainly news-of-the-day type slop. There are pros and cons to the level of freedom I have now and they largely balance themselves out. Writing has provided the impetus for thinking more thoughts, and being forced to think about things has demanded that I do more research and reading. It's been pretty enjoyable.

Now after a quarter century has passed since the end of the 1900s, I still find it hard to imagine that boxing will survive into the next century. Especially with the endlessly confusing number of champions and how difficult it is to find basic information about fights. We should also not shy away from the fact that it is a dangerous and sometimes deadly sport. I sometimes wonder how often other boxing fans step back and consider how cruel it is to celebrate men knocking each other unconscious for money. Maybe enjoying this sport is a mistake that must be overcome? It's nothing short of miraculous that so many people enjoy it despite the best efforts of its custodians.

Earlier this year, I was writing a mission statement for the site where I would explain my goals and such but I deleted it after never getting past a couple of sentences. I suppose the only real goal is to write something I felt like writing. The reader learning something, elevating discourse around boxing, supporting various stakeholders in their efforts to manage the sport etc are all incidental if they do happen. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next year.

BONUS! - Petty nitpicks and pontifications

• Boxing is too expensive. Watching a mere fraction of these fights would've cost hundreds of smackaroons in PPV and subscription costs. Never mind the fact that tickets to live events are many times more expensive before you even begin to factor in travel.
• In addition to being too expensive, boxing remains needlessly inaccessible. I tried to keep up with a seemingly simple challenge of 'every title fight', i.e. every fight that supposedly matters, and was not able to do it. The media output from self-styled reporters and journalists is as splintered and ineffective as the promotions and broadcasters themselves.
  • Yes, I'm aware you could argue that I'm part of the problem by making Yet Another Website. But that wouldn't be very nice of you. This site is more supplemental than competitive.
• I was going to throw in a 'Promoter of the Year' award and there was only one person who would've won, but he fumbled right at the end of the year.
• Podcasts were a mistake. The Alton Merkerson interview I mentioned earlier was a gem but it was also longer than the summer blockbuster 'Godzilla vs Kong'. Editing feels like a lost art in this 'content is king' era. And it's doubly unserious to expect people to spend hours listening to audiovisual content on top of spending hours watching sports. In other sports, you can read about what happened (and easily find it because most online discoverability still relies on written words).
• A few months ago there were rumblings that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) was going purchase a stake in DAZN but those were quickly shut down. "Various media outlets have reported that PIF is in talks to acquire a stake in DAZN. PIF is not currently engaged in discussions with DAZN on this matter and has no current plans to invest in the company," a PIF spokesperson said. Though British tabloids continue to suspect it will happen.
  • DAZN is of course still posting massive losses and putting out a laughably bad product. Most recently, they've been issuing refunds for the Usyk-Fury rematch because people who had paid to view the heavyweight championship of the world got to watch a black screen instead. Having just spent almost $1bn to host the 2025 Club World Cup, a tournament that will be missing globally popular teams such as Barcelona and Liverpool, it's hard to avoid wondering if DAZN is not long for this world.
  • Queensberry recently made the jump to DAZN which also begs the question of how long TNT Sports will stick with boxing. BOXXER, the next biggest promoter in the UK, works with Sky at the moment but is almost at the end of the 4-year deal they signed in 2021 and no renewal has been announced yet. With British boxers now preferring to fight in Saudi Arabia, will British broadcasters call it a day on the sport?
• It would be nice to see the abolition of rematch clauses. After two big names have fought each other their next step could be to have two big individual fights which helps introduce other names into the mix, but the usual move is a rubber match for the sake of the loser. Usyk didn't need to immediately rematch Fury for the same reason he didn't need to immediately rematch Joshua, what was the point? In four calendar years, Usyk has only faced three opponents. It's hard to build sustained international excitement in these circumstances.
• Did you see the record-keeping news? FightFax finally joined the digital playground this year and because it was supported by the WBA, BoxRec pettily deleted the WBA from its records. Boxrec has always been terrible so it's no great loss that they're confirming it again. But after so many years in the making, the FightFax website is a bit of a letdown.
  • On FightFax there's no mention that weight divisions used to be different so Rocky Marciano is listed as having fought at "Over 224lbs" despite never fighting at more than 200lbs, their search function is unruly and old fighters get digitally-"enhanced" photographs. The Elo rating system looks a fool's errand too, apparently the 49 year old Sergio 'Maravilla' Martinez is the best middleweight in the world in December 2024. Fingers crossed that the upcoming Ring Magazine re-relaunch will include a simple and direct way to see records and the history of title fights.
• 95 title fights in one year equals just under one every four days. Think about it though, those are only title fights. A world championship bout is supposed to be as big as the finals of other major sports. The soccer World Cup would be a lot less special if it was every 4 days instead.
• Steve Bunce was alright in my books after his suprisingly sensible takes on the cyberbullying that took place during the Olympics. For international readers and future generations who may not be familiar with Bunce's oeuvre, he's not exactly one to choose his words carefully. But his take on Fury-Usyk II was the straw that broke the camels back for me.
• The fighters I'm most looking forward to seeing in 2025 are, in no particular order; Gervonta "Tank" Davis, Teraji Kenshiro, Zhilei "Big Bang" Zhang, Melela Cafu, Anthony "Princesa" Olascuaga, Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, Nakatani Junto, Seigo Yuri Akui, Terence "Bud" Crawford, and Bakhram Murtazaliev.

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There's not much more to say besides thank you for reading. I hope it's been interesting, entertaining, and/or enlightening. Wishing you all a wonderful 2025, stay gold!