The year 2025 was tremendous for professional boxing with so many big names and bigger moments which was good for a sport that’s still recovering from the deleterious economic effects from that pandemic lockdown a few years ago.
Boxing is a spectator sport due to its reliance on optics and when there are no spectators, the sport suffers.
The fact that most of the big fights have lately been held in Dubai and Saudi Arabia is a telling factor of how the dynamics surrounding boxing promotional events have shifted.
SAVIOR. Thankfully, boxing still has its saviors and 2025’s fighter of the year indeed delivered.
He’s none other than Terence Crawford.
Yes, he fought only once but what he achieved was generational. He moved up in weight to defeat one of the biggest names in the sport in Saul Alvarez.
Though “Canelo” may not have been the fighter he once was, at the time he fought Crawford the red-haired Mexican legend was still in the top 5 of most pound-for-pound rankings.
STYLE. The way he did it, too was special. It wasn’t a stoppage victory but it was shocking to most of us who thought Canelo would be too big and too strong. He fought cautiously as a southpaw but eventually found a way to systematically break down Canelo to earn the victory.
What made it more momentous was that it made him the first fighter to become a three division undisputed champion in what is called the “four- belt era,” in reference to the alphabet organizations that give out championship belts.
RUNNER UP. In second place is Naoya Inoue who defended his undisputed junior featherweight belt four times. The only fly in the ointment for “The Monster” is that this year he had to go up against one of the greatest performances ever in a ring dished out by Crawford. Otherwise, his four victories albeit against lesser tier opponents would have been enough for Fighter of the Year honors.
HONORABLE MENTIONS. Are in order to Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez who went 2 for 2 against top-caliber opponents, David Benavidez who defended his light heavyweight title twice and Dmitry Bivol who was able to exact revenge against his rival Artur Beterbiev.
VERBATIM. “I want this fight with Deontay Wilder... I think Deontay too. Okay, let’s go.
-- Heavyweight champ Oleksander Usyk (www.theringtv.com)
THE LAST ROUND. It’s on Edwin Tero who recently celebrated his birthday. Cheers!