2021 - 5 who will, 5 who won't

First topic message reminder :

Welcome to 2021 - here's hoping it will be a much better year for all, and Boxing will be back - with crowds! Time to do the usual who will/who won't predictions.

5 who will:

1. Ryan Garcia. Genuinely believe that this kid has it all. Yes there's a lot of hype but he's proved it with every obstacle thrown at him. I think he will walk through Luke Campbell.

2. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Continues to beat all in front of him. Picks up the IBF belt by practically decapitating Caleb Plant.

3. Tim Tszyu. Gets his WBO shot late in the year and obliterates Teixeira. Definitely a chip off the old block. Wants to set up a unification bout with Jermell Charlo.

4. Josh Taylor. Gets his meaningful 4 belt fight against Ramirez and continues to impress, beating him in a lopsided UD. Hopes for a huge fight against Teofimo Lopez in 2022.

5. Artur Beterbiev continues to chase belts in the Light Heavyweight division and goes after Bivol. Doesn't get him, but knocks out mandatory Fanlong Meng and Deines in brutal fashion. Edit: once he's recovered from Covid!!

5 who wont

1. Andy Ruiz Jr. Has had his moment of glory. Has a couple of fights at close to 280lbs against no-hope opposition. Nobody cares. His trainer leaves him because Fat Andy won't train.

2. Billy Joe Saunders. Makes another stupid video in the build up to a potential Canelo fight - he then doesn't get the fight.

3. Gennadiy Golovkin. Continues to rack up meaningless IBF contender defences. Charlo and Canelo are not interested.

4. Carl Frampton. Quickly realises that he's out of his depth against Jamel Herring and his corner retire him after 8 rounds. Announces his retirement shortly afterwards.

5. Gervonta Davis. On the cusp of landing a superfight against Lopez, gets arrested for starting a brawl outside a bar. Legal issues keep him out of the ring for several months.

Hallucinating now are you? Schizophrenia is it? I’ve never once nor would ever trivialise such a horrible condition


Makabu is not a bigger risk than Andrade. Only a mug would think that

And you’re asking Andrade to up his competition when Charlo is blatantly ducking him, I give up

Anyway Eddie’s written to the WBC asking for the good of the sport to order that fight. But hey when did the WBC ever put the good of the sport before money?

Herman Jaeger wrote:Hallucinating now are you? Schizophrenia is it? I’ve never once nor would ever trivialise such a horrible condition


Makabu is not a bigger risk than Andrade. Only a mug would think that

And you’re asking Andrade to up his competition when Charlo is blatantly ducking him, I give up

Anyway Eddie’s written to the WBC asking for the good of the sport to order that fight. But hey when did the WBC ever put the good of the sport before money?

I'd call that trivialising mental health myself and it's quite disappointing to see.

Makabu is a far bigger risk than Andrade, he's a heavy handed Cruiserweight compared to a decent Middleweight puncher. Are you capable of trying to make a point without spewing insults left, right and centre?

The world doesn't revolve around Charlo for Andrade, he could step up to 168lbs to fight any of the world level contenders there or he could do that at Middleweight. Instead however he's happy fighting Quigley and Williams, he's not being ducked, he just doesn't want to put himself in any meaningful fight.

Definite wokeist, seeing something that isn’t there

Makabu doesn’t have the hand speed to catch Canelo you’re so wrong again aren’t you? Makabu is meat and drink to Canelo

You’re very disrespectful to Williams who’s a good solid lower world class operator. Quigley broke his jaw first round didn’t he but anyway your argument stinks because Andrade is trying to fight his main rival and the best possible opponent (except Golovkin who doesn’t seem to want any part of him) in his division

Get it? He’s try to get a fight with his main rival in his division

Do you get it?

Or are you not just thick but actually retarded?

If his main rival is backing out, by the process of elimination he’s the one who deserves the Canelo fight

Herman has completely lost the plot, been watching too many videos on Youtube again?

Which fight of Makabu would highlight this lack of handspeed? The fact he's 40lbs heavier than Andrade is seemingly irrelevant but please do continue throwing insults around it makes you look perfectly normal, do you think i'm at all bothered by your jibes?

Andrade isn't trying to do anything, he's content to sit with his WBO belt beating domestic level boxers because it's easier than getting in the ring with actual talent, this apparent fixation with Charlo doesn't excuse the fact his career has been stagnant for eight years now. Martirosyan is the only genuine world level fighter he's ever faced and that dear Herman is a fact.

As I thought, defending Charlo’s ducking

A couple of questions

Who has Andrade ever actually fought and what performances of his were you most impressed by?
What Makabu fights highlight his lack of handspeed?

Defending the indefensible. I’m done

It's a simple pair of questions to answer, stop diverting.

Nah, I’m good

Can you 2 just jump into bed and get it over with. As someone with a slew of mental health issues (i'm here ain't i ;-) stop using that as an excuse to bash each other.

as for Canelo well he's stepping up 2 weights is it or whatever to get another title, Manny did the same, noone cared. Let him do that if he wants, is he really ducking. Not really sure he is as he exudes confidence. As for the rest of boxing, we know it's a shambles it has been for years and will continue to be that.

Jump into bed with him? Not my scene I’m afraid, Derby

If it’s a keep busy fight while they set up Benavidez for Cinco de Mayo then fine

If not then he’s avoiding the real dangermen

An all-American undefeated unification and he’s defending those hustlers over there at the PBC

It’s definitely not going to happen. Same old routine, whenever they don’t want a fight they wheel out Ellerbe. It’s not just Charlo losing it’s losing to Eddie Hearn. It’s another fight lost to boxing

George Kambosos sensational beats Teofimo Lopez to become unified lightweight champion. Kambosos dropped Lopez in the first round. Lopez dropped Kambosos in the tenth round. Kambosos outworked Lopez and was the correct winner.
Split decision for Kambosos 115-111 115-112 113-114

As Kambosos was IBF mandatory and this went to purse bids, no rematch clause for Lopez.

In the great Olajide and Bramble tradition...Slick counter puncher is not so comfortable making the fight..

Well done Kambosis and humble pie for Lopez Sr writing checks the kid can't cash.

Too many trainers think it's about them now and can't help to say something stupid. Lopez is good but the talk surrounding him was way over the top considering Lomachenko aside he's not done a lot.

I wonder if this was a classic case of "I'll look past this guy to the next bigger fight"?

Fair play to Kambosos - he toughed it out and shocked the boxing world. Bit of humility will probably make Lopez a better fighter eventually.

I can understand Lopez dropping the ball here. The fight got postponed three or four times. Supposedly he and the wife aren't exactly on best terms. He struggled to make weight, and he had a juicy fight with Haney lined up next. Kambosos got through this fight by the skin of his teeth, and I think in a rematch he'd lose... but there is no rematch clause, so he can move on and fight Haney, who could also find himself the victim of an unexpected mugging, because I'm not sure he has the work rate to beat Kambosos outright.

They're just excuses though Raf, he got beaten by the better man on the night and that's all there is it. If you're fighting at the elite level, you should be good enough to overcome outside distractions. The fight postponements and future unification would also have been on the the mind of Kambosos.

Talk of the lightweight division being reminiscent of the four Kings was always premature. None of them have fought enough to really gauge a true idea of their levels. Ryan Garcia for instance looks like an accident waiting to happen, he doesn't appear to have the greatest chin.

Lopez claiming he won and scored the fight 10-2. Uh-huh. Give Kambosos some credit, this wasn't a robbery - it was a close fight with both hitting the deck.

Sounds to me like he underestimated his opponent, believed his own hype and figured he would win whatever happened, and was then looking for excuses after losing.

Great effort by Kambosos and a deserved win in my opinion - there were a couple of swing rounds and no doubt that he was affected more by Lopez's power than vice versa, but across the twelve rounds he was certainly the more consistent fighter.

I did say at the time that Lopez's win over Lomachenko, while an absolutely fantastic result for him and the correct decision, maybe just flattered him slightly as I think Lomachenko underperformed on the night yet still managed to dominate the latter stages, and also because Lopez looked so much bigger once that bell rang. But Lopez is still far from talentless in his own right, so I was a little shocked to see how poor he looked at times here.

He fought like an idiotic amateur, especially early doors. Clearly didn't give Kambosos enough respect and thought he could just blast him out without having to set anything up. Even once the fight had settled down a little in the middle rounds, he was wading forward without throwing shots and letting Kambosos take the initiative in the exchanges - if he wasn't getting off first, he wasn't getting off at all for the most part. Left hand too low, poor work rate, hardly any head movement and no jab. He went to the body well a few times but was inconsistent with it.

To cap it all off, when he did have Kambosos down, hurt and looking like he was ready to go in round ten, he couldn't / wouldn't follow it up and let him off the hook. The less said about his old man in his corner the better, but suffice to say for a lot of fans this will be a satisfying upset win with the smug and cringeworthy individual / team getting a deserved reality check from the likeable underdogs, much like Broner-Maidana or Chavez Jr against Fonfara a few years back.

Lopez will be back and he's a much better fighter than he showed here - I'd take him to win a rematch for sure if he actually bothered to apply himself properly, assuming he could still squeeze himself down to 135. But all credit to Kambosos. He did some very cute stuff in there, had a clear game plan and obviously put everything he had into this. He's certainly a better fighter than I thought and I hope his next move is a smart one.

Soul Requiem wrote:They're just excuses though Raf, he got beaten by the better man on the night and that's all there is it. If you're fighting at the elite level, you should be good enough to overcome outside distractions. The fight postponements and future unification would also have been on the the mind of Kambosos.

Talk of the lightweight division being reminiscent of the four Kings was always premature. None of them have fought enough to really gauge a true idea of their levels. Ryan Garcia for instance looks like an accident waiting to happen, he doesn't appear to have the greatest chin.

Well, yeah, they are excuses, but I think the champ is more likely to be looking past the challenger than vice versa. I think between getting Covid, marital problems, the many postponements, and difficulties making weight, there is a valid reason for him not performing to his level. Kambosos was of course part of that too, and deserves his credit, but Lopez stopped a Commey who had previously not even really been hurt, and then he beat a previously unbeaten Loma. He's a better fighter than he showed on Sunday.

Saying all that, Kambosos fought well, and in reality, he should be undisputed. I think he loses to Loma, probably loses a rematch to Lopez, but I think he beats Haney and Garcia.

Think you may be forgetting that Lopez is at home counter punching and he did the leading for much of the fight..

Salvador Sanchez was one of the greatest counter punchers in history but against guys like Cowdell he didn't look great.

Ali wasn't great against Bugner or Lyle forcing either.

Think the styles make fights element is at play somewhat.

Lomachenko's team claimed that Loma had a shoulder injury entering into the Lopez fight but threatened to retire if his team withdrew him.  It was claimed that Loma believed he could beat Lopez with one good arm / shoulder.  After the fight against Lopez he had shoulder surgery.  Some claim this was just excuses from the Loma team.

Joe Smith Jr will defend his WBO light heavyweight title against British slugger Callum Johnson in January.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Joe Smith Jr will defend his WBO light heavyweight title against British slugger Callum Johnson in January.

Could be entertaining and likely to be the best chance Johnson will have at getting a title - Beterbiev is WAY better than Smith and Johnson had him on VERY unsteady legs after knocking him down. Think this will be a fire fight.

Yeah I was a little surprised that Johnson didn't really jump on Beterbiev and push for a finish after dropping him. I think Beterbiev had probably just about recovered and the fight would likely have ended in a similar fashion. But you never know, would have been interesting to see how it would have unfolded if Johnson had thought to himself, 'Right, this is my only chance, I've got to try and end it right now' and just let it all hang out, even if it meant risking walking onto something huge himself.

Johnson-Smith will likely be a decent fight while it lasts albeit not a pretty or skilled one. Smith is one of the most limited world title holders in the sport, but he's huge at the weight, very hard to deter and has a heavy overhand right (you may remember that he genuinely hurt Bivol right at the bell in one of their late rounds - again, that would have been interesting to see what had gone down if there'd been another thirty seconds left).

Ultimately though in a scrap between two sluggers I'm inclined to go with the bigger, more durable guy in Smith, who has also faced the better opponents in general. I think he stops Johnson in the middle to late rounds. Arum was talking about Smith-Beterbiev earlier this year, another supposedly 'Soon to be Announced!' big fight down the toilet.

WBC ordered Beterbiev to defend against Browne, they rejected Arum’s unification fight.

Golovkin-Murata unification delayed due to Japanese restrictions on foreign arrivals due to new covid variant.

Sorry to see Taylor v Catterall getting made....Reminds me of Curry v Stafford..

Shorter Southpaw.. With average power... Wide open when he punches.....Taking on a guy who is most likely one of the best three fighters in the game.

Needless exercise for sure..

It looks like the WBC have finally decided that Whyte is their mandatory for Fury after all, and negotiations will apparently have to begin for a fight between them scheduled for around April. It's the WBC though, so you can naturally expect a U-turn at any moment.

Joshua has been hinting that he might step aside and take a pay off to let Usyk and Fury fight for undisputed, with a view to facing the winner further down the line. If the WBC hold firm on this, however, they might make up his mind for him, and force him to go with the Usyk rematch. Unless Fury vacates the WBC (which isn't that outlandish, to be fair) then the Whyte issue will probably tie him up until the very back end of 2022 given how infrequently he fights. I can't see Usyk wanting to tread water for that long, and in this scenario Joshua wouldn't really have a good reason for not taking that rematch. At least not a reason which can help him save face, anyway.

It may be a moot point, but what are people's thoughts on Joshua and Hearn's hints that they may be interested in passing up the rematch for the right money? Certainly a departure from their early stance immediately after the Usyk loss, when they said it wouldn't even cross their minds and all they were interested in was avenging the defeat. So far the reaction from fans (and their reading of what it means re: Joshua's mindset these days) has been very much split.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Sorry to see Taylor v Catterall getting made....Reminds me of Curry v Stafford..

Shorter Southpaw.. With average power... Wide open when he punches.....Taking on a guy who is most likely one of the best three fighters in the game.

Needless exercise for sure..

Unfortunately Catterall is a mandatory (I forget which one) so Taylor's got no option unless he gives up a belt. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the IBF mandatory he had before he fought Ramirez. That was an utter farce.

Chris I wonder if Joshua is having a confidence crisis? Something was clearly not right with him in his fight with Usyk, be it rubbish advice from the trainer, AJ having his eye on the Fury fight down the road, or whether he's just not believing in himself any more? Maybe he's got a long-term injury that nobody outside his camp knows about? Personally I hope we get to see the Fury-Whyte fight first, if only for the likely highly entertaining build up and press conferences.

88Chris05 wrote:It looks like the WBC have finally decided that Whyte is their mandatory for Fury after all, and negotiations will apparently have to begin for a fight between them scheduled for around April. It's the WBC though, so you can naturally expect a U-turn at any moment.

Joshua has been hinting that he might step aside and take a pay off to let Usyk and Fury fight for undisputed, with a view to facing the winner further down the line. If the WBC hold firm on this, however, they might make up his mind for him, and force him to go with the Usyk rematch. Unless Fury vacates the WBC (which isn't that outlandish, to be fair) then the Whyte issue will probably tie him up until the very back end of 2022 given how infrequently he fights. I can't see Usyk wanting to tread water for that long, and in this scenario Joshua wouldn't really have a good reason for not taking that rematch. At least not a reason which can help him save face, anyway.

It may be a moot point, but what are people's thoughts on Joshua and Hearn's hints that they may be interested in passing up the rematch for the right money? Certainly a departure from their early stance immediately after the Usyk loss, when they said it wouldn't even cross their minds and all they were interested in was avenging the defeat. So far the reaction from fans (and their reading of what it means re: Joshua's mindset these days) has been very much split.

Hearn did an interview earlier saying Joshua wants £40m to step aside. Basically meaning no hope in hell that will ever happen.

Warren has been negotiating with Whyte’s camp but the purse split is the hold up.

According to WBC rules, a unification between full title and interim title holder should be 55/45 - which is what Whyte has been fighting for.

Top Rank submitted a request for 80-20 purse split. WBC seems likes it’s edging towards 70-30 for Fury.

Remains to be seen what Whyte will do if it’s a 30/70 split.

If the fight is done by Top Rank, Fury is guaranteed a minimum £16m. But Arum wants the last fight of his deal with Fury to be the undisputed one.

Yeah I've seen the £40m figure being bandied around, Jeff. Suspect that's largely hot air and posturing from Hearn (remember, it's only two months ago they said they'd never even entertain the idea of stepping aside) and a deal could be reached for a much lower sum if Joshua did decide to go that way. Around the time of the fight reports were indicating that Joshua's purse for Usyk, after PPV revenue was calculated, ended up being around £13-15m so I doubt either he or Hearn genuinely thinks any step aside arrangement is going to effectively treble a fight purse as big as that. But of course Hearn is going to overstate figures and try to squeeze every penny out of it he can for his guy, which is fair enough.

This stuff is why I alluded to Fury potentially relinquishing the WBC belt - I wouldn't be all that surprised if he did. All things being fair, does Whyte deserve 45% against Fury based on the usual factors which determine this kind of thing? Not really. But at the same time you can't begrudge him pushing for what, under WBC guidelines, should be his. He'll know that even 30% of a Fury purse is going to yield more for him than 75% against the second-tier guys that he can dictate terms to, though, so if the WBC end up ruling that it's 30% or nothing I don't think he should walk away, providing Fury actually signs.

But unlike Joshua, who has said repeatedly that the final goal is to become undisputed and be the first Heavyweight four-belt champion regardless of who he has to collect them from, Fury on the other hand has said that for him the belts are more incidental and it's all about the bigger fights and challenges now for however long he's got left in the sport (obviously in an ideal world, chasing the belts and chasing the biggest / hardest fights would lead largely to the same opponents, but we know this isn't always the case). I think if Joshua agreed to sit on the side lines and Usyk was amenable to a fight in the coming months, Fury would give up the WBC to make it happen. With or without the WBC, the winner of that bout would essentially be undisputed anyway and everyone would know who the king of the division was.

If we go by the 45% that Whyte reported wanted, determined by Fury’s £16m deal with Top Rank, Whyte is looking for around £7m. That’s wishful thinking if we are being brutally honest. I’d assume Warren would probably offer £3m?
But Whyte did previously reject £4m to rematch Joshua.
So I’ve got no clue how this will play out.

How are we not talking about the HUGE news that Tommy Fury has pulled out of the Jake Paul fight citing a cold.

Okay it's not exactly Pro boxing but i am wondering what the likes of Trussy and Chris think of this as he's been slated on social media and to me it's looking like he's getting the flack he would have got if he'd lost.

Can Tommy come back from this?
Does he want too?

Are we going to start to see this celeb boxing with youtubers get bigger as they do seem to take it quite serious (whether it's fair or not is a moot point as it makes a lot of money).

And would you be more happy with it if they had better undercards with more up and coming fighters?

Sadly I think there's definitely going to be more of this kind of crud over the coming years, Derbymanc. There's nothing to prevent it. Guys like Warren and Hearn pretend to object to it and act as if they only get involved in it under duress, but truth is they're instrumental in both bringing it about with their awful match making and deliberate splintering of networks, stables etc. and then promoting when it happens because, as Hearn himself said, "you can't ignore the numbers whether you like it or not".

Mayweather's little (well, it should have been little) joke fight against McGregor was an absolutely awful thing for the sport and has opened the floodgates. Sadly once these things gather momentum it's hard to stop them, at least for a good while, and with a lack of an overall governing body, fan disillusionment with the multiple world titles on offer and the infrequency of meaningful fights, boxing is absolutely ripe for this kind of thing to take hold.

I couldn't care less about Tommy Fury, to be honest. He was going to fight an e-celeb wannabe boxer...Well I'd say Tommy's only half a step above being that himself and I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd lost here given there's no real evidence, other than his surname which he's milking for all he can, that the guy can even fight worth a damn himself. Who knows, he might have some talent there. But the fact that at such a young age he's already intent on who*ing himself out to the reality TV and online mob suggests to me that he's not serious about boxing, and knows he's got little else other than gimmickry to make some money with.

People are talking about Fury like he's a Canelo level draw, lmao. He's been a loss-making excursion for ESPN, and if the fight sells, Whyte would logically have to be part of the reason it sold, because you couldn't pay people to go watch Fury vs anyone but Wilder.

AJ going to the States, giving weird interviews where he seems to break character, changing coaches etc to step aside would be hilarious though. Don't know why he would. Fury's motivation waxes and wanes, while Usyk has said before he wants to become undisputed and retire. If he really wants the belts, i don't see how he doesn't fight Usyk and have his destiny in his hands, because there is absolutely no guarantee whoever wins doesn't turn around and retire after the fight.

kingraf wrote:People are talking about Fury like he's a Canelo level draw, lmao. He's been a loss-making excursion for ESPN, and if the fight sells, Whyte would logically have to be part of the reason it sold, because you couldn't pay people to go watch Fury vs anyone but Wilder.

AJ going to the States, giving weird interviews where he seems to break character, changing coaches etc to step aside would be hilarious though. Don't know why he would. Fury's motivation waxes and wanes, while Usyk has said before he wants to become undisputed and retire. If he really wants the belts, i don't see how he doesn't fight Usyk and have his destiny in his hands, because there is absolutely no guarantee whoever wins doesn't turn around and retire after the fight.

Some good points...Fury suffers from a couple of problems..

1. He generally isn't exciting to watch and if he can phone it in he will...Joshua hasn't got his defensive skill but has more power so on paper there is more chance of an exciting fight.

2. Whatever I think of Hearn he is terrific at selling a fighter..

3. Fury isn't active enough...Joshua like Tyson and Louis (obviously couldn't hold their jockstraps) is more fan friendly as he fights more regularly.

However I do think Fury could fill a Stadium against various opponents but I don't think Trialhorse Whyte could unless it's AJ or Fury himself.

The universally accepted Heavy championship title does sell..Fury is a Top 10 p4per.. and he hasn't been outclassed by AJ or been in life and death fights twice with 11 defeat Derek.

As such he deserves more than 55-45..

Interestingly what happens if Fury does the unthinkable and relinquishes his title?

Top 3 behind Whyte in the WBC rankings are Wilder, Ruiz and Joyce. I think Whyte beats Fat Andy if he's still training at Taco Bell. Joyce ram-jabs him half to death and it remains to be seen how long Wilder rests for. I'd watch the Ruiz and Joyce fights that's for sure.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Fury duck Whyte, too much risk for not enough reward.

Keith Thurman Jr will make his long awaited comeback in January 2022. Some 29 months after he lost to Manny Pacquiao.
Remains to be seen what Thurman has left to offer.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Keith Thurman Jr will make his long awaited comeback in January 2022. Some 29 months after he lost to Manny Pacquiao.
Remains to be seen what Thurman has left to offer.

At 33? I suppose he hasn't been in too many wars, and if he's had injuries they've hopefully had a good rest and cleared up. Thurman never really seemed to bother pushing himself too much, concentrating on "doing enough" so he might have a few years left. However, based on his last showing does he have anything to trouble Spence or Crawford? Doubt it. He's also not a particularly big guy for a welter, so I doubt he'll go to 154. Hard to see where he's aiming for.

He wants Spence he’s made that plain and simple, the problem is Spence ducking

It’s a great fight but Spence will duck him till the end of time


PBC protecting Spence, protecting Tank Davis, protecting Charlo, protected Adonis Stevenson. Total cancer to the sport of boxing

They want to turn Davis into a mainstream star by refusing to fight his main rivals, how does that work smh? Already gone ghost on Prograis. Ok the weight. But no excuses not to fight Lomachenko etc. at lightweight. The time is right, he has to start fighting the other stars now

Prior to the injuries Thurman was the best welterweight in the world, unifying two of the major titles. Good wins against Porter and Garcia. Whilst he didn’t beat Manny, he wasn’t disgraced.
If he gets back to somewhere near his best he’s a problem for Crawford and Spence.

Luckily for Thurman, Crawford's career plateauing and Spence's own inactivity mean that the Welterweight division hasn't completely moved on since he last fought. One win against a journeyman to shake off some ring rust and he'll probably be right back in there as a big name opponent at 147.

Not sure what he'll have left to offer, mind you. On the one hand he hasn't been in too many really punishing fights and although 33 is still certainly getting on a bit, it's not quite the grand old age it once was in boxing. On the other hand he's had injury problems and said himself that he blew up to almost 14 stone after the Pacquiao loss, citing depression and a lack of motivation. If he hasn't been living the life during his spell of inactivity it may well catch up with him sooner rather than later.

I'm guessing there would have also been issues which weren't boxing-related which might have impacted his mental state in the past couple of years, but he actually had nothing to be ashamed about with the Pacquiao loss. He had a nightmare first four or five rounds which effectively put the fight beyond him before he'd even got going, but once he'd settled down into his boxing after that he was the better man from that point on and only ended up losing by a point or two on my card, albeit some of that appeared to be down to Pacquiao tiring a little late on as you'd expect a 40-year-old to do. But Thurman did box well during the second half of the contest and landed that right hand a lot, both leading and countering.

Not a great fan of CompuBox or whatever each network calls it, but I seem to remember in that fight the 'stats' showed that Thurman (albeit narrowly) landed more punches overall, which felt about right. But Pacquiao certainly landed the harder, more damaging ones.

With so few bankable names...Josh Taylor is undisputed and I imagine no one has heard of him outside the UK (Boxing's fault not Taylor's)...Thurman would be silly not to come back and make some money..

Might give Spence problems but Crawford is a bridge too far.

However from 147-154 any Champ defending against Keith would certainly be worth watching.

You are a long time retired. Good luck to him.

Spence is bigger, stronger, faster and probably hits harder than Thurman. And he does it all from a southpaw stance. Thurman would be easy money.

Thurman does have the two most watched bouts of the century, when PBC thought they could make money with fights on basic cable, so he does have brand recognition. Good for him for trying to cash in while he's still got som juice. But two and a half years on from his last fight, I'm not sure Thurman-Barrios is a PPV-worthy fight.

Chris Algieri main eventing at 147....A pillow puncher at 140 that beat the worst Champ in history and lost to everything decent he fought after....His only notable win in the last few years the trialhorse Tommy Coyle...and he couldn't finish him..

How does he beat Benn ??

Is Benn going to fight anybody at world level..

Forget about Khan and Brook....Time to earn a living.

It's on the BBC Website that if Benn beats Algieri (which is likely unless Benn has a brain-fart), Hearn says they're going after Broner. Now I think Broner is a hugely overrated doorknob, but he does know how to fight. That might be an interesting one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/59585213

I don't mind Benn biding his time, he's not ready for the top table so the Algieri's and Vargas' are adequate at the moment.