2025 Boxing is already looking star-studded, but there are 5 fights that fans are desperate to see this year.
Joshua Vs Fury-
The first and most important fight we need to see in 2025 is Anthony Joshua Vs Tyson Fury. The biggest commercial boxing fight in history. This needs to happen in 2025 or, more than likely, it will be added to the long list of almost happened bouts. Even though the records may not reflect this, it might be the perfect time. Both are coming off a loss, Joshua to Dubois and Fury to Usyk. Both have no real obvious next step in their careers and have the biggest payday in their hands.
Despite Joshua’s unbelievable commercial value against anyone, his in-ring results have taken the sting off his boxing presence. Losses to Dubois and Uysk mean no clear title route. Even though a much-anticipated fight with Deontay Wilder would be interesting, it’s not quite the same level as a fight with Fury.
Tyson Fury is in a more dominant position than Joshua, with only the two losses to Uysk blemishing his record. Joshua doesn’t have many more viable opponents. Fury could take on the winner of Dubois and Parker, but with Uysk looming for the winner, it’s unlikely Fury would be able to sneak into a title fight. It’s not likely Fury would come back to fight an up-and-coming fighter like Kabayel or Ituama, with the risk vs. reward being too big.
So the roads have led up to here where the two are both in need of each other. UK boxing could finally, albeit a little late, see the biggest fight in British boxing history.
Eubank Vs Benn-
The next bout comes from a similar vein to Joshua Fury. Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr came even closer to happening in previous years. The two came days away from facing off at a sold-out O2 arena back in 2022 but even after abnormalities in drug tests from Benn’s side, the fight was cancelled. The two could now arguably sell out Wembley with the fight being bigger than ever. The abnormal tests are a piece of a massive growing story.
Conor has come off a massive layoff and has been arguing a case with the British Boxing Board Of Control which has kept him out of a British ring for nearly 3 years now. The Destroyer hasn’t had many stand-out wins since the Eubank fight was cancelled in 2022. Despite him being adamant he wants the WBC title this year a fight with Eubank makes more financial sense.
Eubank Has Options-
Eubank Jr has more options. If reports are true a fight with Canelo Álvarez was in negotiations, and a fight with Erislandy Lara is also an option for Chris if he wants to chase belts but we know Eubank Jr is a prizefighter and loves a money bout. Knowing this, only Canelo would be a bigger financial fight than Benn but with the money splits being in Canelo’s favour hugely it could even benefit Eubank Jr to take on Benn. If you pair that with a weight advantage, it seems like Benn Vs Eubank Jr is even more enticing.
The history between both of their fathers is an obvious factor of why the first fight brought so much hype. Now you add the beef between the two sons and the multiple coming together since It looks like one of the biggest fights of 2025 and it has to happen.
Azim Vs Dalton Smith-
An all-British bout that needs to happen in 2025 is Adam Azim Vs Dalton SmithIt came close in 2024 but promoter Ben Shalom refused to negotiate a fight between the two claiming it was not the right timing for Azim causing it to be sent to the shelf. If both come through their next bouts at the end of January it surely means a scheduled summer fight is in the works.
Azim has come through his first 12 fights looking like a massive star with 9 KOs and wins against Ohara Davies and Enock Poulsen have only helped in Boxxer’s bid to create a star. Azim has looked brilliant in every test so far of his career. Two bouts against Ohara Davies and Sergi Lipinets since the Smith negotiations fell through. Finally looking like Adam Azim could be ready for the massive domestic dust-up.
Dalton Smith has experience on Azim with 4 more fights and his recent bout against Jose Zepeda showed Smiths maturity as a fighter. Smith now headlines in Nottingham on January 25th and if all goes well, a fight with Azim would help his profile and raise it to another level.
Both have World Title aspirations but with less and less emphasis on records and more emphasis on 50/50 fights, I could definitely see Smith Vs Azim on the undercard of one of the above fight cards or headlining a Wembley Arena or even O2 Arena in 2025.
Garcia Vs Haney 2-
Taking a trip overseas now to the land of the free but nothing will be free in this bout. There is huge money to be made with Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney. Last year’s fight was one of the biggest of the year creating a huge buzz especially outside of the hardcore boxing audience. Just like with Benn Vs Eubank Jr the controversy surrounding this fight has just increased the entertainment value of a second.
Ryan Garcia has been in limbo since his suspension with rumours of a Manny Pacquiao exhibition and now the scheduled exhibition with Rukiya Anpo. It seems like he wants to keep busy and cash in on his popularity. When Garcia returns to the professional ring he has a plethora of options with many lining up to cash in on his value but the one that makes the most sense is Haney. Redemption is what Garcia needs as he looks to confirm he is the better boxer than Haney without the weight advantage or the peds.
Devin Haney on the other hand is looking to move on from Garcia and fight Adrian Broner in March. Kanye will have this fight loom over him for the remainder of his career after Garcia dropped him. Haney needs to redeem himself, no matter what the record books say Haney will need to face Garcia to confirm to fans it was a fluke due to the weight and drug discrepancies.
Whatever way you look at this fight, whether you see Garcia as a cheat or not, this fight has the opportunity to make a fortune for both fighters and will have an even more personal build-up.
Teofimo Lopez Vs Jack Catterall
Lightweight is absolutely stacked to the brim all around the world as a division. This could have been William Zepeda, Shakur Stevenson, Gervonta Davis or Richardson Hitchins. I’ve chosen these two for very specific reasons on a balance of most likely to fight vs excitement factor.
Teofimo Lopez arguably needs this fight. After two lacklustre performances from Lopez in his fights against Ortiz and Steve Clagget, Lopez needs a big name to bring back the excitement factor for his bouts. Add this to a struggling PBC promotion that can’t seem to compete against Matchroom for PPV value or price, Lopez is a massive name that needs to break into the mainstream audience more and a performance against Catterall would help.
Catterall on the other hand needs this for many reasons. The first was his lack of title shots after the first controversial Josh Taylor fight. Catterall would’ve beaten Regis Prograis, Josh Taylor and Jorge Linares and not even had a sniff at a full world title. The next reason is his story, to come back from the original decision to lose to Taylor and then go out to America and avenge Taylor’s only other loss rightfully taking the place he deserved to be in three years ago is almost poetic.
The lightweight and super-lightweight divisions top to bottom are one of the most exciting in the world so you could put the top ten in a raffle and pick names out to fight and it would create unbelievable fights but I think this one makes the most sense for both, providing Jack Catterall comes through his test against Arnold Barbosa in February.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
