Throughout the long and storied history of the heavyweight division, there had, prior to 2024, never been a heavyweight champion who could lay claim to all four sanctioning bodies’ belts simultaneously.
For much of that history, this was a good thing, because until extremely recently the very notion of there being up to four competing claims to one championship would have seemed utterly absurd. But we live in the world we have to, not the one we might want to, and so there was a true significance to the meeting in May between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk to crown a truly undisputed heavyweight champion.
Even without the belts, this would have been a major event. Fury was recognized as the true, lineal heavyweight champion – and had been, a 30-month spell in the wilderness aside, since overcoming Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015.
Usyk, meanwhile, had accumulated all four belts at cruiserweight before joining the truly big boys, and wins against Derek Chisora, Daniel Dubois, and, most notably, twice over Anthony Joshua had established him as the Gypsy King’s leading contender.
Both men were unbeaten, but although Fury was the favorite and, at roughly the halfway point of the contest, seemed on course to retain his crown, the Ukrainian proved relentless. As Fury mugged for the crowd, Usyk maintained his focus, and in the ninth round he broke through, staggering Fury into the ropes for an eight count and standing on the verge of a stoppage victory.
In the event, he secured a split-decision win, and although one of the sanctioning bodies decided to give their belt to Dubois, boxing had a new, undisputed champion in its flagship division.
One hundred and eight million. That, according to Netflix, was the average minute audience of Jake Paul-Mike Tyson in November. That would have been a spectacularly high number even in boxing’s heyday, but in its present incarnation as a boutique freak show, it’s barely comprehensible. What boxing event has generated even a fraction as much interest and attention, to say nothing of the Monday-morning quarterbacking and straight-up conspiracy theorizing that ensued?
Much of the credit goes to Paul, a competent boxer and an exceptional self-promoter, but the star of the show was the 58-year-old Tyson, who remains arguably the sport’s most captivating figure despite a rape conviction and the fact that he was shot as a fighter two decades ago.
The pre-fight naysayers who argued that this was closer to elder abuse than an actual fight were, of course, proven correct, as a confused-looking Tyson watched and chewed his gloves as Paul spent eight abbreviated rounds circling him. Fortunately, the card also included Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano II and Mario Barrios-Abel Ramos, ensuring that the millions and millions of global viewers also witnessed some genuinely skilled, meaningful, and exciting boxing.
Crowning a new heavyweight champion was certainly more meaningful. But in terms of eyeballs, attention, and magnitude, nothing in boxing has come close to this for years.
Where to begin with this one? Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia meeting for the former’s 140lbs belt would have been a compelling and significant match-up without any extraneous elements – but extraneous elements were what we got.
First, Garcia’s social media feed in the weeks building up to the fight suggested a young man who was perhaps more in need of counseling than physical combat, and led to plenty of calls for the fight to not go ahead. When the time arrived, Garcia weighed in three-and-a-half pounds overweight, generating further concerns, and then Garcia went out and kicked Haney’s ass, dropping him three times en route to a clear decision.
“Aha!” came the cries from certain quarters. Garcia wasn’t crazy – he was crazy as a fox, and his strange comments and social media postings were simply ways to get in Haney’s head and promote the fight. Except that they continued post-fight, as Garcia shone ever more daylight on whatever demons he was battling; and then Garcia tested positive for ostarine. He had cheated once by missing weight, and twice by ingesting PEDs. The fight was declared a no-contest, and Haney – who might still have been able to win had he attempted to block Garcia’s left hand even once – filed a lawsuit for battery, fraud, and breach of contract. Oh, boxing.
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