With 2023 now safely upon us, we’ll take a look at the three boxing fights we NEED to see over the next 12 months.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury - Undisputed Heavyweight Championship

We’ll start off by having a look at one of the most highly anticipated fights in boxing history, let alone heavyweight boxing history. The battle to become the first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. 

Ukraine’s Usyk versus the UK’s Fury.

A fight that was originally touted to happen towards the end of 2022, Usyk has been faultless in his 20-fight professional career to date. After becoming undisputed champion at cruiserweight, he has claimed victories over Chazz Witherspoon, Derek Chisora and back-to-back wins over Anthony Joshua.

His potential dance partner for this fight, Fury, built on the momentum gained from his trilogy with Deontay Wilder by stopping both Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora last year in front of packed out Wembley and Tottenham Hotspur Stadiums. 

The chances of this fight actually happening are seemingly quite high. Both parties want it, the boxing world wants it and the ink on the draft contracts is barely dry so it’s looking good for a potential date at some point in April.

So where will this fight be won and lost? Well, as the saying goes, “A good big man always beats a good little man” but this fight is for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world and things aren’t quite as simple as that. Fury is the much bigger man but for his size, he is very slick and his hand speed is out of the ordinary for someone of his physique.

Usyk meanwhile is the much smaller man and has the advantage when it comes to footwork and lateral movement. The Ukrainian needs to be light on his feet, in and out of range quickly and target the body to make Fury plant his feet more.

The way Fury secures the win is by fighting dirty. He needs to get on Usyk’s chest and back, he needs to lean on him to make him feel every ounce of that 20 stone frame. This fight won’t just be a physical battle, it’ll be a mental battle and whoever comes out on top in the mind games inside and outside of the ring will be in pole position to win this fight.  

So who will become the first undisputed four-belt heavyweight champion of the world? Only time will tell.

Devin Haney vs Vasyl Lomachenko - Undisputed Lightweight Championship

In a packed out 135lbs division with the likes of Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and Isaac Cruz all fighting it out for a seat at the top table, all of the belts currently reside at the household of a certain Mr Devin Haney, and with the ball firmly in his court, there’s only one man he currently has his eyes on…

Vasyl Lomachenko.

After Loma relinquished his IBF, WBA and WBO belts to Teofimo Lopez in a narrow defeat, the belts then changed hands once again when Lopez came up short against George Kambosos Jr and then in another bizarre changing of the guard, Haney defeated Kambosos Jr twice to become the king of the crop at 135lbs.

Despite his defeat to Lopez, however, Lomachenko is still regarded by many as the best lightweight on the planet and that’s clearly an argument Haney wants to put to bed.

As it stands, the fight is almost a “done deal” with just the final contracts to be signed and location to be confirmed. With it now looking like a case of ‘when’ this fight happens, not ‘if’, one thing which is guaranteed is that this will be a legacy defining bout for both fighters.

How and where will the fight be won? Well, the biggest factor in this fight for both is Haney’s jab. Everything the American does well comes off that long, sharp and powerful jab. If he gets success with that early on, he will be in the driving seat.

However, he isn’t fighting any ordinary opponent. He will be up against someone often labelled as boxing’s answer to the matrix. If Lomachenko frustrates Haney by making him miss with that jab, it could come down to a mental chess match. Loma has the advantage of experience at this level with over double of the amount of world title fights under his belt compared to Haney, and that may well prove to be decisive.

Errol Spence Jr vs Terence Crawford - Undisputed Welterweight Championship

If you’d asked most boxing fans at any point in the past five years for a list of the fights they want to see, it’s almost a given that this bout would have been included every time. The two Prince’s at the top of the welterweight division fighting it out to become King.

After years of back-and-forth between the pair, they looked set for a winter showdown towards the back end of 2022 but after a disagreement between the pair’s representatives, the fight fell through with Crawford then going on to defend his WBO title against David Avanesyan, while Spence remained on the sidelines after a car accident.

‘The Truth’ has confirmed, however, that he is set to return in April and with Crawford now a free agent, it is a distinct possibility that ‘Bud’ will be facing him on that spring date. With the two men literally running out of opponents to face, it’s getting close to the ‘now or never’ stage for this fight, especially with the emergence of Vergil Ortiz Jr, Jaron Ennis and Rashidi Ellis.

This fight will be a war of attrition. Crawford has a tendency to start slowly so Spence will have to take advantage. He’ll be the much bigger man come fight night and if he is to win, he’ll need to stamp his authority on the contest by either hurting Crawford early or stopping him from getting into his stride with either long and powerful shots or by making it a dirty fight.

If Crawford does find his rhythm as the fight heads into the middle rounds, he will be a difficult man to deny.

Will the fight happen in 2023? Maybe. Does boxing need this fight to happen? Most definitely.