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In an age when the sport is too often ridiculed for rarely pitting its best fighters up against each other, 2023 will perhaps go down as a breakthrough year for modern-day boxing.
While the wait for an undisputed heavyweight champion goes on – albeit hopefully not for too much longer with Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk penciled in for February – boxing fans have been treated to more elite-level matchups over the past 12 months than they have for quite some time, which can only bode well for the future.
Earlier this month Devin Haney and Regis Prograis brought the curtain down on an epic year which also gave us Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford, Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez vs Josh Taylor, Haney vs Lomachenko, Katie Taylor vs Chantelle Cameron (twice), Canelo Alvarez vs Jermell Charlo and many, many more.
The best finally seem to be fighting the best, with Fury and Usyk poised to crown the first true heavyweight king since 2000 early next year – but what other super-fights are there to be made in 2024?
Dailymail.com has picked out five bouts we want to see happen next year, and how likely they are to go ahead.
Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia was one of many elite-level boxing matchups in 2023
Chantelle Cameron and Katie Taylor also enjoyed two memorable battles this year – so what big fights can we expect in 2024?
Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury
After more than six years of waiting, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder were finally primed to meet in the coming months. That was until Joseph Parker set those plans ablaze with a sensational victory over Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
Now, it seems, Joshua-Wilder will join the long list of mouthwatering fights that fans will never see. But Joshua’s emphatic victory over Otto Wallin, when he looked back to his best, has put AJ right back in the hunt for the heavyweight titles.
He is now towards the front of the queue to face the winner of February’s undisputed showdown between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian has already beaten AJ twice – robbing him of the heavyweight title in the process.
But Fury-Joshua is another mammoth showdown that has eluded us for too long. The British rivals signed a two-fight deal in 2021, only for an arbitrator to force Fury into a third bout with Wilder. There was talk of a meeting in December 2022, too, but that never materialized, either. Maybe, just maybe, 2024 is the year they finally collide.
CHANCES OF HAPPENING – 7/10
Could British heavyweight rivals Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury finally collide in 2024?
Gervonta Davis vs Shakur Stevenson
Once good friends and sparring partners, any feeling of brotherhood between Davis and Stevenson is now gone as the pair head towards a potential unification bout at lightweight next year.
After his catchweight victory over Garcia in April, ‘Tank’ is still on the hunt for his next opponent as he looks to head back down to 135lbs and defend his WBA ‘regular’ strap. Stevenson, meanwhile, now has a seat at the big table as a lightweight after picking up the vacant WBC title in a less-than-impressive win over Edwin De Los Santos last month.
All roads seemingly lead to the two putting their respective belts on the line in a mouthwatering clash of styles in 2024. Davis, one of the most devastating knockout artists the sport has to offer, up against a pugilist as slick as they come in former featherweight and super-featherweight chief Shakur is a truly intriguing matchup.
And there is a backstory to go with it, too.
Former friends Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson could collide in a lightweight unification
Davis is WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion and one of the most explosive punchers around
Stevenson got his hands on the WBC title in a less-than-impressive win over Edwin De Los Santos last month
‘He throws shots, then want to be buddy-buddy,’ Davis said about his relationship with Stevenson earlier this year. ‘Saying all this stuff on Twitter then running into my locker room and wanting to take a picture and all that type of stuff. He’s got to stand on that.
‘We ain’t cool no more. That’s why I’m in this mode. I ain’t got no friends in this.’
In more ways than one, Davis vs Stevenson is one of the most compelling fights to be made in 2024. Yet whether both men are prepared to take the plunge and risk their unblemished records in a genuine 50-50 remains to be seen.
CHANCES OF HAPPENING: 6/10
Devin Haney vs Teofimo Lopez
After moving up to 140lbs and dethroning WBC champion Prograis in dominant fashion, Haney will be looking to claim another big scalp in 2024 and cement his status as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.
And a grudge match with Lopez, who picked up the WBO and Ring Magazine crowns by toppling Scotland’s Josh Taylor back in June, would give him the chance to do exactly that.
The two exchanged unpleasantries and threatened to inflict damage on one another for years on end down at lightweight, and having been followed by his rival to the next division Teofimo recently threw down the gauntlet for them to settle their feud up at super-lightweight.
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‘Let’s make the fight happen so the world can see who is about that action,’ he wrote to Haney on X back in July. ‘You will not be on the A-side. I hold the king title of the division as well! So don’t run away!’
A super-lightweight clash between Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez makes sense for both
Lopez and Haney both find themselves in the same division again after previously discussing a potential fight at 135lbs
Both men have wins over the great Vasiliy Lomachenko on their CVs, although Haney’s proved much more contentious. Lopez, on the other hand, followed up his crowning moment by losing to George Kambosos Jr, the Australian fighter Haney has since handled with ease on two separate occasions.
Their potential grudge match therefore provides plenty of fascinating narratives, and each fighter has shown they have no problem in taking on the biggest challenges. Plus, there aren’t too many alternatives for them at 140lbs right now.
Here’s to hoping…
CHANCES OF HAPPENING: 7/10
Terence Crawford vs Errol Spence Jr 2
Crawford and Spence finally locked horns in the summer after years of demand, but a matchup billed as boxing’s greatest since Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao in 2015 instead proved a surprisingly one-sided affair.
In a dominant performance, Crawford dismantled long-time rival Spence to become undisputed welterweight champion and the only fighter in history to claim all four belts in two different weight classes. It was a breathtaking display from the Nebraska native, who dropped his arch-nemesis three times before the stoppage came in round nine.
Spence, who held three of the four welterweight titles heading into this generational encounter, was a shadow of his former self as he stumbled around the ring taking punishment he had never before been subjected to in 28 fights.
Terence Crawford destroyed Errol Spence Jr to become undisputed welterweight champion
The arch-rivals are set to run it back in 2024 after Spence activated his rematch clause
Four years after he was involved in a near-fatal car crash, the 33-year-old has been urged by some to bow out with his faculties intact and avoid any further damage in a rematch with Crawford.
Though according to the latter, Spence has already exercised his contractual right to a return bout. ‘We signed to do a rematch and that’s what it is,’ Crawford said last month.
While an announcement is yet to come, Crawford vs Spence 2 is expected to take place early next year. So can Errol exact revenge?
CHANCES OF HAPPENING 9.5/10
Canelo Alvarez vs David Benavidez
Fresh from an emphatic win over former middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade this month, 168lbs monster Benavidez wasted no time in calling out Mexican rival Canelo.
‘I think I solidified myself as the dominant performer I am,’ he said during his post-fight interview. ‘Now just give me the fight that everyone wants to see.
‘Who wants to see David Benavidez vs Canelo?’
Canelo Alvarez can no longer sidestep an all-Mexican showdown with David Benavidez
Ask any die-hard boxing fan for a list of fights they hope materialize next year and Canelo vs Benavidez will likely be one of those at the very top of it.
For Canelo, a routine win over Britain’s John Ryder and a more farcical one in September’s mismatch with super-welterweight king Jermell Charlo represents an underwhelming year on his part.
An all-Mexican war with Benavidez, a natural super-middleweight and perhaps the best in the division right now after claiming 24 of his 28 straight victories inside the distance, is his only logical next move.
At the age of 33 and without a truly convincing win in over two years, it is a frightening proposition for Canelo. But if he still has ambitions of reclaiming the pound-for-pound throne, he can no longer sidestep the Monster in his way.
CHANCES OF HAPPENING – 9/10
