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The Big Boxing Fights of 2018

  2017 produced two memorable fights in the Gennady Golovkin vs Canelo Álvarez draw and Anthony Joshua getting the better of Wladimir Klitschko. Can 2018 deliver the same level of excitement? Here are four bouts that we are looking forward to in the coming weeks.

Anthony Joshua Vs Joseph Parker

At the Principality Stadium, Cardiff on 31st March, Anthony Joshua will take the first step towards unifying the heavyweight section when he takes on Joseph Parker. Parker is putting his WBO belt on the line, while Joshua will be defending his WBA and IBF titles.

Sportsbetting expert Stakers.com makes Joshua the overwhelming favourite for this bout. Parker may be undefeated, but he has yet to meet a fighter who punches as hard as Joshua, and he hasn’t been involved in a fight of anything like this magnitude so far in his career.

However, if he can weather the early storm, Parker has a chance of causing an upset. His mobility could cause Joshua a few problems, and although no one can be sure what his chin will be like against this opponent, he has shown that he can take a good punch. Joshua is likely to be keen to make a statement, but Parker has the boxing skills to prolong the fight into the second half, and the longer it goes on, the more confident he will be.

Victory for either man would almost certainly lead to a bout with WBC title-holder Deontay Wilder and a unification of the heavyweight division, producing the world’s first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999, and potentially returning the division to public prominence.

Dmitry Bivol Vs Sullivan Barrera

This bout takes place on 3rd March at Madison Square Garden and is the co-feature of the Sergey Kovalev Vs Igor Mikhalkin fight, but it has the potential to be the more interesting contest of the two. Dmitry Bivol had a great record last year, recording knock-outs against Trent Broadhurst, Cedric Agnew, Samuel Clarkson and Robert Berridge, and heads to New York in supremely confident mood to put his WBA light heavyweight title on the line.

However, this will be a different kind of challenge to any he has faced so far. Sullivan Barrera has a 21-1 record, suffering his only defeat against Andre Ward, the former title-holder. The Cuban also enjoyed a successful 2017, stopping Paul Parker in the spring before beating Joe Smith Jr and Felix Valera to set up this title bout.

Barrerra may be slower than his opponent, but he is ranked number one in the division by the WBA, has the edge on experience, and will provide a stern test. Whoever prevails in this bout sets up a potential unification fight with WBA and IBF title-holder Kovalev later in the year.

Scott Quigg Vs Óscar Valdez

A week after Bivol takes on Barrerra, on 10th March, the featherweight world title-holder Óscar Valdez takes on the main contender in the division, Scott Quigg, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, in what could be a spectacular fight.

Valdez will be defending his WBO title for the fourth time and has an extremely impressive 23-0 record, but this fight represents a step up on the level of opposition he has faced to date. He came out of a tough fight last September against Genesis Servania, which turned out to be one of the best contests of 2017. Quigg brings a three-fight unbeaten streak to this bout, having knocked out Oleg Yefimovych in November, and having moved up from super bantamweight in 2016 is bidding to become a two-weight world champion.

Both men are aggressive sluggers who will look for the knock-out blow, which could ensure that this bout turns into an explosive classic, and it could be one of the fights of the year.

Billy Joe Saunders Vs Martin Murray

This all-British fight at The O2 in London on 14th April promises to be an interesting one. Saunders is defending his WBO Middleweight belt for the fourth time, having won it back in 2015 when he beat Irishman Andy Lee. He passed two big tests last year, outclassing Willie Monroe Jr at the Copper Box Arena and then producing a career-best effort in demolishing David Lemieux in Montreal.

Having already beaten Lee, Spike O’Sullivan, Chris Eubank, JR., Nick Blackwell and John Ryder, Murray is the only major British and Irish middleweight yet to fall to Saunders. Murray has recorded creditable performances against Felix Sturm and Sergio Martínez, and in 2015 became the first man to take Gennady Golovkin past ten rounds. This will almost certainly be his last shot at a world title, but he will be a tough opponent, and with a potential meeting with Golovkin or Álvarez to come for the winner, there is plenty riding on this fight.

This year will have to go some to match 2017 for thrills, but if the quality of the fights lined up so far for 2018 is anything to go by, boxing fans could be in for a treat in the next few months

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