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.
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.
Browne spoke with us before that fight.
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.
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