Boxing

CRUCIAL. Mythical. Farcical.However you want to bill a boxing pound-for-pound list, fight fans still love to compile and compare them.
Tyson Fury just keeps winning but will his 6ft 9in, 268lb frame prevent him from being our P4P king?Credit: Getty
Oleksandr Usyk has now beaten Anthony Joshua twice as a heayweight despite his comparative lack of sizeCredit: Getty
If we rounded up all our elite fighters at one shared weight and put them in fantasy fights, who would reign supreme?
There are far too many variables, far too many questions to ever know.
For example, how much does Tyson Fury rely on his size?
After all, he’s 6ft 9in and most-recently tipped the scales at 268lb.

Could Japan pocket powerhouse Naoya Inoue take his KO prowess even higher?
Inoue most-recently beat Paul Butler to become undisputed bantamweight king.
Does Gervonta Davis need a bigger test?
You’d think so… the American is 27-0 with 25 of his wins coming via KO.
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Has two-time Olympic king and three-weight master Vasily Lomachenko lost his spark?
The Ukrainian won his last fight against Jamaine Ortiz to take his pro record to 17-2 but was pushed all the way and only scraped through via unanimous decision.
What these questions mean is this… none of us really know and we look silly when we guess.
But anyway, here’s our most-recent crack at a pound-for-pound top ten…
Oleksandr Usyk takes the top spot as he once again bested a much bigger, stronger fighter as he waltzed his way to a second-straight win over Anthony Joshua.
Tyson Fury comes second despite another impressive year. Having beaten Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora in 2022, you could argue he just needed that one big fight… Anthony Joshua, anyone?
Naoya Inoue racked up yet another win earlier this month as his sensational career goes from strength-to-strength. He gets our P4P bronze medal.
Canelo Alvarez slips down to fourth after a mixed year – following up his light-heavyweight defeat to Dmitry Bivol with a super-middleweight win over Gennady Golovkin.
Canelo Alvarez slips down to fourth on our list after a mixed bag in the past yearCredit: AP
Terence Crawford only fought once in 2022 – but retained his WBO welterweight title for a SIXTH time with a comfortable win over David Avanesyan. Cracks our top five.
Gervonta Davis beat Rolando Romero in May to retain the WBA lightweight crown and already has TWO fights early in 2023 on his calendar – against Hector Garcia and Ryan Garcia.. no relation. Deservedly takes sixth on our list.
Jermell Charlo fought just once this past year, winning his Brian Castano rematch, but it helped him retain his WBA, WBC, IBF, and The Ring light middleweight titles as well as get his hands on the WBO light middleweight title. Our No7.
Errol Spence Jr beat Yordenis Ugas in his first fight since 2020 in April to retained his WBC and IBF welterweight titles and also add the WBA welterweight title. Comes in eighth in our rankings.
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Dmitry Bivol moved to 21-0 after beating Canelo and Gilberto Ramirez in a productive 2022 and is still WBA light-heavyweight champ. No9 on our top ten list.
Vasily Lomachenko won his only fight this year against Jamaine Ortiz, but doesn’t rank any higher than tenth in our P4P rankings. More

ANTHONY JOSHUA insists a third world title reign remains his dream despite turning down a Christmas crack at Tyson Fury.After 33-year-old Olympic legend AJ suffered a second consecutive loss to Oleksandr Usyk, in August, mastermind WBC champ Fury made him a short-notice offer for a December showdown.
Anthony Joshua is the rebuilding phase of his career following defeats to Oleksandr UsykCredit: GETTY
AJ is currently a million miles from the world title pictureCredit: GETTY
Joshua is hellbent on becoming a three-time heavyweight titleCredit: REUTRS
Joshua wisely turned down the Battle of Britain – leaving the 34-year-old Gypsy King to batter stablemate and friend Derek Chisora toward retirement – to rebuild his career again.
The two-time heavyweight boss has been on another US tour looking for a new trainer and is expected to return in April against a couple of tune-up opponents.
After back-to-back defeats, the idea of a Spring stunner with American KO artist Deontay Wilder is utterly fanciful – even at this time of year.
But the Watford ace has at least promised a third world title run is his New Year’s resolution.
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“I like to see my name constantly mentioned amongst other fighters,” he said.
“The opportunities are always there for me, there are big opportunities to fight.
“I’ll fight whoever’s ready, I’m ready and we’ll get cracking in the New Year.
“I want to be consistent, be fit to fight, and everything comes off the back of that.
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“I’m dying for the world championship, 100 per cent. That’s all my heart and soul is leading towards.”
After the second Usyk loss, AJ grabbed the microphone and got about a decade’s worth of passion and emotion off of his giant chest.
In the post-fight press conference, he broke down in tears when trying to explain the pressure of carrying a nation’s expectations into the ring.
With Fury and Usyk now to clash to decide an undisputed ruler and a long list of mandatory lining up after that – which doesn’t include AJ – he has had to reevaluate his career.
“I lost a fight this year which took me out of the championship title race,” he said.
“So when you’re constantly fighting for championships after championships you’re constantly in the race for a long time.
“When I lost, I was finally out of the race and overcoming that was a new beginning, something I’ve been used to, being in the title race for seven years and then finally realising that this isn’t my norm anymore.
“It’s challenging to overcome that.
“I’ve always been a competitor, a challenge to me is just another obstacle that I can get over, and for some, I feel like it’s easier to knock them down and keep them down
“But as a competitor, it’s just something that you look at as another challenge that I can overcome.
Anthony Joshua was overcome with a wave of emotion after his defeat to Oleksandr UsykCredit: EPA
WBC heavyweight king Tyson Fury offered AJ a crack at his titleCredit: INSTAGRAM@TYSONFURY
But the domestic dust-up didn’t come to fruitionCredit: GETTY
“It’s going to take work, being in that race I’m used to being in that competitor’s mindset, but I’m overcoming it for sure.
Joshua was little more than a passenger when Ukraine icon Usyk outpointed him for the first time, in September 2021, at Tottenham.
But he put in a drastically improved performance in the Saudi Arabia rerun and restored much of his reputation by being aggressive until the final bell.
The London 2012 hero suggests it’s a new approach he will use on both sides of the ropes from now on.
He said: “If you’re someone that doesn’t like confrontation, but you know that being shy and timid doesn’t get you what you want, sometimes you have to be confrontational to get what you want.
“I am someone now, this year, that would go after what I want and to get what I want I need to be the person I need to be.
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“Being more confident in myself, being more confrontational with things, and being honest with people so they know who you are and what you stand for.
“Love me for it, or hate me for it, I’m quite content with who I am.” More

BOXING shot itself in the hand repeatedly in 2022 with some of the biggest fights collapsing long before the first bell.By far the biggest swerve came when Anthony Joshua refused to accept Tyson Fury’s heavyweight challenge.
Leigh Wood and Michael Conlan played out one of the great fights of 2022Credit: Reuters
Elsewhere, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence continued to dodge each other at welterweight.
On top of dodgy decisions and doping scandals, major fights collapsing over money and ego turn fans away from the sport on a monthly basis.
But, thankfully, plenty of heroes did step up to the plate last year to provide us some beautiful, brutal boxing.
SunSport takes a look at the five best fights from 2022…
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Leigh Wood vs Michael Conlan – March 12
Irish Olympic icon Conlan cannot say he was not warned by his featherweight rival.
The Belfast man taunted and teased Wood about his boxing ability in the build-up with a tongue as quick as his feet and hands.
But Wood quietly informed his foe that his freakish one-punch meant he would be a genuine threat even if 11 rounds down on the scorecards and heading for certain defeat.
When Wood was dropped in the first round, it looked like it would be an even more textbook win for Conlan.
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But the underdog rallied, dropped Conlan in the 11th and knocked him clean out of the ring with just a few seconds of the fight remaining for a fairytale win.
Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano – April 30
Ireland’s Olympic legend vs Puerto Rico’s seven-weight world champion at Madison Square Garden delivered an epic fight.
The two boxing nations already punch well above their weights and these two women did their nations proud.
Taylor emerged victorious and retained her title as the undisputed lightweight queen with a split decision.
But Serrano came closest to the stoppage and – having been a world champ as low as super-flyweight – she gained huge respect from the narrow loss.
Ireland’s Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano’s fight was a gruelling epicCredit: AP
Chris Billam-Smith vs Isaac Chamberlain – July 30
Bournemouth gentleman CBS took big-time boxing back to the South Coast and packed his local arena with 3,000 screaming fans.
Brixton’s Chamberlain should have been intimated by the scorching atmosphere and gone on the back foot but he stood and traded with his cruiserweight rival over 12 gruelling and bloody rounds.
Both men looked disfigured by the end but only the three scorecards – all of 117-111 – were ugly as it was a much closer contest.
CBS retained his cruiserweight and European titles and the bout exceeded all expectations.
Isaac Chamberlain was left almost unrecognisable as he showed off his ‘battle scars’ following his epic fight with Chris Billam-SmithCredit: Instagram / @chamberlain_
Jordan Gill vs Karim Guerfi – February 27
Peterborough featherweight Gill was behind on all three scorecards – going into the ninth round – after being dropped in the seventh and outboxed for most of the fight.
With a draw and a loss in his previous five fights, he was fighting for his career – and losing.
Round eight and the start of nine were hard to watch as the brave Englishman took a pasting and started to bruise and bleed.
Backed up into his corner and with his swollen right eye giving him problems and the referee inspecting the worsening wound, he looked finished.
Then he dug into his soul and pulled out a right hand that wiped the Frenchman clean out and secured one of the finest British comebacks of modern time.
Jordan Gill fought his way to an incredible, unlikely win over Karim GuerfiCredit: PA
Joe Joyce vs Joseph Parker – September 24
These two giants starred in a Manchester bloodbath that secured Joyce’s position at the front of the heavyweight world title chasing pack.
Kiwi former WBO champ Parker punched the Putney Juggernaut with every shot in the book but could not put a single dent in the undefeated amateur artist.
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After a trademark slow start, Joyce started slashing lumps and lacerations into Parker’s face, one particularly evil dig even sent blood spewing over the ringside photographers.
Parker’s spirit and chin were broken in the 11th round when Joyce unleashed a hellish left hook that sent him tumbling to the floor for the correct stoppage.
Joe Joyce scrapped his way to a remarkable win over Joseph Parker in SeptemberCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun More

ANTHONY JOSHUA has been warned off fighting Deontay Wilder next following consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua was bettered twice on the spin by Usyk, who won and then retained the unified WBA, IBF and WBO belts.
Anthony Joshua lost twice to Oleksandr UsykCredit: Getty
Deontay Wilder is linked with fighting Anthony JoshuaCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Meanwhile, Wilder, 37, knocked out Robert Helenius, 38, in round one of his October comeback fight.
His manager Shelly Finkel and trainer Malik Scott have both called for the American ex-WBC champion to fight AJ in 2023.
But boxing legend Roy Jones Jr insisted Joshua, 33, cannot jump into a fight of such magnitude and danger off the back of defeat to Usyk, 35.
He told iD Boxing: “He can’t go into a Deontay Wilder fight after losing two fights to Usyk. That doesn’t make any sense at all.
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“Now if you find someone who isn’t quite the puncher that Wilder is, get yourself back and back to winning.
“Then, you can get comfortable to the adjustments that your new trainer will make you make.
“Once you get comfortable with those adjustments then you fight Wilder because hopefully those adjustments have made you better and you’ve got confidence… then you can get in the ring with Wilder because you probably can beat Wilder.
“But if you’re coming off two losses to against Usyk with the confidence being down already… if Wilder hits you, you don’t know.
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“That’s going to be crazy. Wilder is a phenomenal heavyweight; Wilder is one the hardest punching heavyweights in fighting right now.
“Against Wilder, you’ve got to be mistake-proof, you make a mistake with Wilder, and it could be over.”
Joshua is set to return in the spring in a confidence-building comeback fight.
And he is Stateside on the hunt for a new trainer after splitting with Robert Garcia, a role Jones Jr is open to taking.
Roy Jones Jr pictured with Chris Eubank JrCredit: Instagram / @chriseubankjr More

TYSON FURY and Oleksandr Usyk face rematching WITHOUT all four belts on the line, revealed promoter Frank Warren. The two unbeaten champions are in talks to put every heavyweight title on the line for the first time in history.
Promoter Frank Warren with Tyson FuryCredit: Instagram / @frank_warren_official
But the WBA have already ordered Daniel Dubois, 25, to fight Usyk, while the IBF have done the same for Filip Hrgovic, 30.
The unification will supersede the pair of mandatory challenges, meaning the historic undisputed decider is on track.
Although Hall of Famer Warren admitted if Fury, 34, and Usyk, 35, are to rematch, it could be after relinquishing some of the gold.
He told talkSPORT: “I’m not sure [about the rematch].
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“I mean we haven’t got into that, but I probably think there would be [a rematch clause] because, God forbid, one of them gets a cut eye or anything goes wrong – anything can happen in boxing as we know – then there would be.
“The four belts are on the line, and the winner gets them.
“If there is a rematch, I don’t think then the four belts will be on the line for it cause I don’t think the governing bodies will allow it.
“I think they’ll just say ‘right, you’ve got to get on with your mandatories now.’”
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Talks between the opposing camps are continuing with the super-fight headed to the Middle East.
And a deadline of March has been imposed as Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum provided an update in negotiations.
Arum said: “Both fighters absolutely want it.
“The managers and promoters all want it, so we’re just getting it together and working out where we’re gonna put it on – that’s really the situation.
“It’s gotta go on by March and so we’ve gotta all move quickly so over the next couple of weeks we will or we won’t get it sorted out.
“But everybody wants to do the fight, absolutely want to do it.”
Oleksandr Usyk is in talks to fight Tyson FuryCredit: Reuters More