2024 has already been an historic year for boxing with longtime rival promoters on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean finally putting differences aside thanks to Saudi intervention, which is serving fans up with absolute crackers of fights on a more regular basis. The momentum for boxing is going to carry strongly through May, with the month’s action getting kicked off by none other than boxing’s biggest star Canelo Alvarez, as he takes on undefeated fellow Mexican, Jaime Munguia, on one of their country’s holiday weekends; Cinco de Mayo. Let’s look ahead to this massive fight, and some of the other top boxing clashes coming up in May:
May 4 – Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez(c) vs Jaime Munguia
WBC, WBO, WBA, IBF, (Undisputed) Super-middleweight World Championship
Las Vegas, Nevada – USA
Most boxing fans hoped Canelo’s May 4th date in Las Vegas would be shared with David Benavidez, but boxing’s most powerful star has instead opted to give the opportunity of a massive payday and shot at the super-middleweight undisputed title to compatriot, Jaime Munguia. Fans are justified in feeling slightly aggrieved with canelo’s snub of Benavidez. After all, Canelo did tell the pretenders to his throne at 168-pounds to fight one another in a process of elimination to get to him. That’s exactly what Benavidez did, running the gauntlet and beating David Lemieux, Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade in a run that can rival any three-fight sequence when compared with any other active fighter’s resume. We didn’t get Benavidez though, but thankfully promoters Al Haymon and Oscar De La Hoya were willing to work together to give us a really good second choice in Munguia. All Mexican fights are legendary in boxing, with perhaps the Marco Antonio Barrera vs Erik Morales trilogy fights being the best in recent memory. Whether or not Canelo and Munguia can mesh well enough to give us as an iconic a fight remains to be seen, but their style profiles certainly lend itself to an action-packed fight. Canelo throws singular punches these days, planting his feet and looking to hurt with powerful, loaded up hooks. Munguia fights like an out and out brawler, always willing to stand right there in front of his opponent and engage in a slugfest. Munguia’s major flaw is that while he lands plenty of destructive blows, he’s always on the receiving end of almost just as many. With Munguia there is no noticeable defensive strategy at play, he generally looks to out-brawl his opponents, and in forty-three fights that strategy has worked so far. But Canelo’s a step up from the already world-class level that Munguia has operated at. Canelo will look to land bombs around Munguia’s leaky defense but be shrewd enough not to stand and engage with the younger challenger for too long. Munguia will want to entice Canelo into toe-to-toe warfare and wear down the defending champion. It will be fascinating to see what pace this fight is fought at and that could be crucial to the outcome. Canelo faces a hungry young Prince attempting to usurp him as the Mexican King of boxing, but I feel there’s life in the old dog yet.
Verdict: Canelo PTS
May 12 – Vasyl Lomachenko vs George Kambosos Jr.
Vacant IBF World Lightweight Championship
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
When Devin Haney graduated up the super-lightweight division, he left his four world titles scattered, and old war horses Vasyl Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. have emerged as two fighters going head-to-head for the vacant IBF world title. Both have been on rebuilds since their respective losses to Haney and have come to meet at this crossroads. On paper it would seem that Lomachenko is definitely the more talented and complete fighter than Kambosos, but the Ukrainian’s career hasn’t quite materialized the way we imagined it might look on paper at this stage of his career. Lomachenko was anointed as a future all-time-great of boxing immediately after crossing over from the amateur ranks with a pedigree and reputation that already made him a legend to an extent within the sport. Orlando Salido, Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney are blemishes on Lomachenko’s professional record that evidently bother him and there is a feeling that despite all his prior achievements, were he to retire tomorrow, the consensus would be that he underachieved in the paid ranks of boxing. That appetite to achieve more is the reason he is making the trip down under to face former undisputed lightweight world champion, George Kambosos Jr. The Australian will be fighting on home soil and that could mean something. We have seen dodgy decisions in Australia before (see Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn). There’s no doubting that Kambosos does not poses the array of skills that his opponent does, nor does he compare in ring I.Q., or even power, at a weight class where Lomachenko isn’t even regarded as powerful. The problem with most of those comparisons is that they are made in a general sense, comparing Kambosos and Lomachenko on their careers work, rather than what they have left in their arsenal on Saturday night. In Kambosos’ losses to Haney, it just looked like a fighter who didn’t have any answers to Haney’s tactics. Haney had his number and that was that. Lomachenko’s losses have been more varied in their circumstances. Against Salido you could argue it was just too big a step too soon after the amateurs. The injured shoulder has been the company line as a reason for the Lopez loss, but after his own Haney defeat something felt different. Lomachenko has had a long boxing career since he first started as a small child in Ukraine and my fear is that he has finally slowed down and that he now struggles with a twelve round championship pace. What Kambosos may have to his advantage is stamina. Even though the Australian isn’t known for being a technical maestro or knockout puncher, he certainly sticks in until the end of the fights, grinding away with an energetic approach. Considering the context of this fight and the moment in time in which it is occurring, I think an upset could be on the cards.
Verdict: Kambosos PTS
May 18 – Tyson Fury(*C) Vs Oleksandr Usyk(C)
*WBC, WBO, WBA, IBF (Undisputed) Heavyweight World Championship
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
It feels like this fight has been forever in the making and we can still only hope for now that it will end up in the ring on May 18th. You can never be too sure with Tyson Fury. Both men carry undefeated records into this historic fight and even though Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua are both still operating, this battle between Fury and Usyk should determine who the true king of this era of heavyweights is. If Usyk goes onto achieve undisputed status at heavyweight having already accomplished that feat at cruiserweight, he will have to be propelled into the ‘greatest of all time’ conversation, if he’s not there already. But the fact he’s a graduate from the lower division is what finally may catch up with him in his sternest heavyweight test to date. Yes, Usyk has defied the initial doubts that he was too small to beat the top heavyweights and is currently the WBO, WBA and IBF unified world champion. However, Usyk’s wins have come against the aging Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora, along with two impressive victories over Joshua and a patchy yet victorious outing against Daniel Dubois. The Joshua wins were excellent performances, but Joshua is not Tyson Fury. Joshua is technically deficient and as a result couldn’t figure Usyk out for the most part over twenty-four rounds of boxing. Despite his fundamental limitations, Joshua still provided the Ukrainian with some scary moments, particularly in round nine of their rematch. Fury has technical prowess in abundance and is the true giant of the heavyweight division. His recent dud performance against Francis Ngannou was probably a blessing is disguise and presumably has eradicated any chance of complacency creeping into his camp in the build up to the Usyk fight. You can expect the Englishman to be far more fired up and be sharper on the night, both mentally and physically. Usyk showed in his successful title defense against Daniel Dubois in Warsaw, Poland back in August that there may still be some chinks in his armour at this advanced stage of career. Usyk has looked susceptible to body shots so expect Fury to take aim around the mid-section. I envisage Fury being too strong and dominant and as the fight wears on managing to put his weight on Usyk and grinding out an eventual knockout victory to become the undisputed heavyweight world champion.
Verdict: Fury KO
May 25 – Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall
Super-lightweight bout
Leeds, England, United Kingdom
In recent years this must be the grudge match that tops all grudge matches in boxing. Yes, we get plenty of trash talking in the sport and no shortage of outlandish antics at press conferences and weigh-ins, but as far as searching for a fight where the two boxers genuinely cannot stand one other, look no further than Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall. This is Scotland vs England, but this feud runs deeper than just a patriotism thing. This a rematch over two years in the making and so much mud has been slung between both fighters in the intervening time that the fact that this isn’t even a title fight doesn’t matter, pride trumps everything in this rivalry. Catterall and most of the world felt that he was robbed in the first fight in Glasgow and the chain of events that have ensued since have been unfortunate for him to say the least. This rematch with Taylor has been rescheduled a couple of times already and due to the various delays and both fighters had to get on with their careers until their schedules re-aligned. Sadly for Catterall ,we have now finally arrived at the juncture where he gets his long awaited rematch, but Taylor has either vacated or lost all four of his world titles. What was once an undisputed world-title fight is now just a domestic grudge match. Revenge will have to be incentive enough for the Manchester based fighter, and the hope that if he beats Taylor, a shot at one of the reigning world champions would be imminent. Two years is a long time in boxing and both fighter’s careers seem a little stuck in the mud. Neither have been able to move on from the scandal that was their first fight and they, as well as the boxing world, need some closure on the saga that has become their rivalry. Catterall was the clear and rightful winner of the first fight but the judges didn’t do the right thing, and now I fear that that fateful night in Scotland may have been his best chance to beat Taylor. There’s no doubt the Scotsman has looked poor in his last two fights, but I have a feeling he will find something within him in Leeds to legitimately triumph this time and break Jack Catterall’s heart again.
Verdict: Taylor PTS