A lot of ignorant sports fans will say things like, "Boxing is dead", or "I use to love boxing back in the day, when there was more talent." These phrases couldn't be further from the truth as boxing is in a great place when it comes to the amount of talent in the sport and the amount of eyes watching the sport.
Just in the month of April we have had several big names get in the ring and we have much more to come. On April 9th, Gennady "GGG" Golovkin defeated Ryota Murata to unify the IBF and WBA Middleweight titles and now GGG is set to face the biggest star in boxing, Canelo Alvarez, later this year if Alvarez wins his fight against Dimitry Bivol on May 7th. Now you could say, that doesn't prove anything as GGG is now 40 years old and on his way out of boxing, soon. That is a fair statement, so I will respond to that by talking about one of the brightest young stars in the sport, Ryan Garcia.
The 23-year old Garcia, defeated Emmanuel Tagoe on April 9th. He was making his return after more than a year off and plans on being very active from this point forward. There are a lot of talented lightweights for King Ry to fight. He may fight against Isaac Cruz who defeated Yuriorkis Gamboa on April 16th. Garcia could also fight other lightweights including: Vasyl Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez, or Gervonta Davis. If Garcia is able to beat two of those names I mentioned, he may find himself in the running to fight the winner of Devin Haney vs George Kambosos Jr for the undisputed lightweight crown next year.
On April 16th, Errol Spence Jr defeated Yordenis Ugas to become a three belt holder in the welterweight division. Now the fight that all boxing fans have been asking for, looks to be on the horizon as Spence should fight Terence Crawford for the undisputed crown later this year. We don't have an official date yet but every report and comment from the fighters is trending towards the fight happening.
On April 23rd, WBC Heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury retained his title with a dominant performance against Dillian Whyte with 94,000 fans watching at Wembley Stadium. Fury has stated that this was his last professional fight. I surely hope not, as there is a major fight that could be made in the near future. There is a rematch that should happen later this year between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk for the other three heavyweight title belts. Fury going against the winner of that fight for the undisputed crown would be an amazing fight.
April 30th is a major day for boxing as one of the bright young stars of the sport, Shakur Stevenson, is taking on Oscar Valdez in a unification title match for the WBC and WBO Super Featherweight titles. Both of these fighters are undefeated and looking to become superstars. This is the fight where one of them takes a major step in becoming part of the pound for pound conversation.
Also on April 30th, we have the biggest fight in women's boxing history as Amanda Serrano takes on Katie Taylor for the undisputed lightweight championship. This is the equivalent of Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao, in my opinion. Amanda Serrano has been a champion in seven different weight classes reminding boxing fans of Pacquiao. Taylor is the undefeated smooth boxer reminding of us Floyd Mayweather.
As a boxing fan I do recognize that the sport is far from perfect. There are too many places to watch for fans. On any Saturday, you may have fights on ESPN, DAZN, Showtime and other platforms like Thriller, when "back in the day" we knew that all the major fights were on HBO and sometimes Showtime.
I think the effort that is needed to catch all the action is worth it, when you look at just this past month and what is coming soon in boxing. The sport is in a great place and its the perfect time to become a fan or to start watching again.
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