The alphabet soup of boxing titles offered by the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO can be difficult for the average boxing fan to follow.
In 2016, it’s been a relatively quiet year in terms of big international fights, but some of the big names have still been active.
American light heavyweight Andre Ward (31-0) maintained his unbeaten record with three wins. His most recent was a narrow, contentious points win over Russia’s Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1). It was the first loss of Kovalev’s career, and sets up a potential rematch in 2017.
Kazakhstan middleweight Gennady Golovkin (36-0) continued his amazing KO record, winning two fights inside the distance in 2016. The most recent was against England’s Kell Brook (36-1), who stepped up in weight to take the fight. It was Brook’s first loss, and the 33rd KO of Golovkin’s career.
Golovkin is struggling to find opponents, though a fight that everyone would like to see made for him in 2017 is with Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (48-1-1).
Alvarez has had two fights in 2016, winning both by KO, including a high-profile bout against England’s Amir Khan (31-4), who stepped up to middleweight to take the fight.
Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2) also won both of his fights in 2016. The first, against American Tim Bradley (33-2-1) was supposed to be his last fight before retiring, but boxing retirements are notoriously fickle. He continued on and beat American Jessie Vargas (27-2) in November.
English heavyweight Anthony Joshua (18-0) continued his winning ways, with three KO victories in 2016. All of his 18 career victories have been by KO, and he has set himself up for a massive payday in 2017 against Ukrainian legend Wladimir Klitschko (64-4) in England next April.
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Klitschko hasn’t fought since he was upset by England’s Tyson Fury (25-0) in late 2015. Fury was stripped of his world heavyweight titles after being unable to defend them due to health issues.
New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (22-0) has put himself in the international mix by winning the WBO version of the world heavyweight title against American Andy Ruiz Jr (29-1). It was the first loss of Ruiz’s career.
In terms of Australian fighters who have made a splash on the international stage, the year kicked off with our own heavyweight Lucas Browne (24-0) upsetting Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Chagaev (34-3-1). Browne was behind on points but came back to KO Chagaev in the 10th round.
The win should have made Browne the first Australian to win a version of the world heavyweight title (WBA), but his victory wasn’t recognised due to him failing a drug test. Browne was subsequently cleared of deliberately taking a prohibited substance before that fight, but was still not awarded the title. He has since failed another drug test, putting his immediate future in doubt.
Jeff Horn (16-0-1) has also continued his impressive rise up the world welterweight rankings. He had three wins inside the distance this year, after overcoming a throat injury sustained in sparring. He is in line to fight Tim Bradley or Jessie Vargas next, with a fight against Pacquiao a possibility if he continues his winning form.
Horn spoke with us earlier in the year before his fight with former world champion, America’s Randall Bailey (46-9). Horn won that bout when Bailey retired on his stool at the end of the seventh round.