Grading the top 12 fights of a ludicrously loaded February

The year 2025 is already more than two weeks old. Somebody should probably let the sport of boxing know.

Yeah, it’s been a slow January in our sport. Real slow. Like, Nicolay-Valuev-loading-up-on-an-overhand-right slow. Larry-Merchant-pondering-the-start-of-a-postfight-soliloquy slow. Ashton-Sylve-getting-up-from-that-Lucas-Bahdi-combo slow.

There haven’t been any fights to get excited about this month. The closest thing to a major fight was Naoya Inoue vs. Sam Goodman on January 24 … and Goodman dropped out. It’s been that kind of month for boxing fans.

But the instant that the calendar flips to February, good lord, do things pick up. It gets prime-Roy-Jones-throwing-a-triple-hook fast. Jimmy-Thunder-knocking-out-Crawford-Grimsley fast. Andrew-Lewis-rushing-from-the-ring-to-find-a-bathroom-that-one-time fast.

I don’t believe this is hyperbole: February 2025 is, on paper, the most stacked month of boxing I’ve ever seen in my nearly 30 years covering the fight game.

Here’s how loaded it is: In this article, I’m going to geek out over my 12 favorite fights of the month, and if we removed those 12 from the equation, the next 12 after that would constitute a decent month of boxing. Here’s what’s missing the cut for this article: Derek Chisora vs. Otto Wallin, Jesus Ramos vs. Jeison Rosario, Adam Azim vs. Sergey Lipinets, Elijah Garcia vs. Terrell Gausha, Seiya Tsutsumi vs. Daigo Higa, Tenshin Nasukawa vs. Jason Moloney, the just-added Oscar Duarte vs. Regis Prograis, and other bouts featuring Claressa Shields, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, Jared “Big Baby” Anderson, Bakhodir Jalolov, Xander Zayas, and Abdullah Mason. None of those fights — solid and compelling though they are — really merited serious consideration for the top 12 of the month.

(Nor did the bridgerweight title fight that’s on tap for February 22, but you already knew that.)

As for the dynamite dozen at the top of the heap, below I’ve grouped them into a few tiers/categories, and rather than ranking them 1-12, I’m grading each one on a scale of 1-100. Bear in mind, though, that they’re all excellent fights, so they’re all getting strong grades. In the typical American school system where anything from 90-100 is an “A,” nothing in my top 12 is getting lower than a “B+.” Still, using my numerical grades as a guide, you can deduce, more or less, my rankings.

On to the top 12 of a fabulous fistic February …

The Light Heavyweight Elite

David Benavidez vs. David Morrell, Feb. 1 (Grade: 100)

Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol II, Feb. 22 (Grade: 99)

The two most tantalizing fights of the month headline pay-per-views three weeks apart and take place in the same weight class. And the only reason I graded one of them a point higher than the other is because we haven’t yet seen Benavidez vs. Morrell.

Beterbiev-Bivol II, the finale of the overstuffed Riyadh mega-card on the 22nd, is the most significant fight of February, without question, as the lineal 175-pound championship is at stake. It could be a sensational fight. The evidence presented in their first bout, however, suggests it may merely be a very good and very close fight. When they met last October, Bivol dictated the terms for much of the first half, which is to say it was more chess than chaos. As the rounds wore on, Beterbiev did his best to inject chaos, and his assault was wearing on Bivol. In the end, it was tough to score, I thought Beterbiev eked it out — as did two of the judges — and the boxing world had been treated to a good, solid title bout that fell slightly short of bloodthirsty fans’ expectations for action.

So they’re doing it again, as they should, and we’re all fired up to see if either Beterbiev or Bivol can establish clear superiority this time.

But I’m more fired up to see what happens in Benavidez-Morrell, because I have no idea yet what it looks like.

Both were outstanding super middleweight titleholders who underwhelmed a bit in their respective light heavyweight debuts. Maybe it was a matter of acclimating to the weight class. Maybe it had to do with them both facing credible opponents — Oleksandr Gvozdyk for Benavidez, Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic for Morrell. Whatever the case, we know what beasts they both were at 168 and there’s every reason to think the winner on the PBC-on-Prime pay-per-view on the first day of February will emerge as the most attractive challenger to the Beterbiev-Bivol II winner.

Oh, and Benavidez is 28, while Morrell is 26. These are potential pound-for-pounders just entering their primes. This fight gets a perfect grade. These warriors are keeping it 100. (Someone half my age, please let me know if I’ve used that phrase correctly.)

Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker, Feb. 22 (Grade: 97)

Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel, Feb. 22 (Grade: 88)

There’s a significant gulf in quality between the two major heavyweight showdowns on the card dubbed “The Last Crescendo.” (On a related note: If you can’t think of a cool name for your fight card that at least makes a shred of sense and demonstrates an understanding of words and their meanings, it’s OK to just not give your fight card a nickname.) Both heavyweight tilts are intriguing and meaningful. But there is a gap between them, as indicated by the grades above.

Dubois vs. Parker is a tremendous matchup of the two hottest heavyweights on the planet not named Oleksandr Usyk, and the winner will have a logical mandate to challenge Usyk for the true title. It’s a close fight on paper; Dubois is about a 2-to-1 favorite. The only reason it’s coming up a few points short of a perfect grade is that Parker can, sometimes, against the wrong opponent, make for fights that aren’t terribly action-packed. Dubois is unlikely to be “the wrong opponent” in that regard. But you never know.

Zhang — who lost by debatable decision to Parker last March before getting back on track by splattering Deontay Wilder less than three months later — is even more prone to engaging in slogs than Parker is. That said, his bout with Kabayel is even closer on paper than Dubois-Parker. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Kabayel is a -138 favorite, and the Chinese behemoth is a +114 underdog. It’s a compelling heavyweight fight taking place one rung lower on the title-relevance ladder than Dubois-Parker.

If these were the only two fights on an HBO card in the ‘90s, we’d be raving over what a first-rate heavyweight doubleheader they’d put together. Instead, they’re two of the seven HBO-quality fights on a single absurd card in this upcoming absurd month. And, hey, if either fight gets dull for a stretch, it gives us more time to ponder what in the blue hell any of this has to do with a “last crescendo.”

Stephen Fulton vs Brandon Figueroa II, Feb. 1 (Grade: 96)

Junto Nakatani vs. David Cuellar, Feb. 24 (Grade: 91)

I hope I’m not being size-ist when I say this, but these featherweights and bantamweights give me none of the concern about a lack of action that I get from the heavyweights.

Fulton-Figueroa II, the co-feature on the Benavidez-Morrell PPV, is just about a sure thing. Their first fight, back in 2021, much like Figueroa himself, never stopped coming. It was 12 nip-and-tuck rounds of fast-paced warfare, and Fulton emerged with a majority decision that never sat right with Figueroa. In the time since, they’ve both been frustratingly inactive (one fight apiece each year), and “Cool Boy Steph” fell short in his shot at Naoya Inoue and is trying to rebuild. This rematch should propel the winner back to prominence.

Nakatani-Cuellar is less of a sure thing, as Cuellar is 28-0 against limited opposition and may be in over his head against borderline top-10 pound-for-pounder Nakatani. Still, any chance to watch the dynamic southpaw Nakatani ply his craft, even in a potential mismatch, is worth tuning in for.

Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov, Feb. 22 (Grade: 95)

Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, Feb. 22 (Grade: 93)

Denys Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis, Feb. 14 (Grade: 92)

Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield, Feb. 22 (Grade: 90)

Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith, Feb. 22 (Grade: 89)

Jack Catterall vs. Arnold Barboza Jr., Feb. 15 (Grade: 89)

Four of these fights are on “The Last Crescendo” (just vomited in my mouth a bit typing those words again), while Berinchyk-Davis headlines a Friday night ESPN show from the small room at Madison Square Garden, and Catterall-Barboza is in Manchester the next day.

All six of these contests feature at least one undefeated boxer stepping up and facing the biggest test of his career.

For the 26-year-old Ortiz, you could argue Madrimov represents a tie for his toughest test, after Ortiz got off the canvas twice to pull out a majority decision win over Serhii Bohachuk in August. FanDuel has Ortiz a slim -128 favorite over Madrimov, who very nearly shocked Terence Crawford last time out.

The 25-year-old Sheeraz is leaping up quite a bit as he squares off against arguably the top middleweight beltholder, Adames. But Sheeraz has made believers of the oddsmakers, who are tabbing him at -235 to topple the Dominican veteran.

Davis, also 25, is an even bigger favorite at -550 against Berinchyk — who is himself undefeated and scored an upset win over Emanuel Navarrete in his most recent fight. But make no mistake, Berinchyk is multiple levels above the best foe Davis has fought to this point. The odds are a testament to the undeniable talent and skill of the prospect/contender (and, next month perhaps, beltholder) from Norfolk, Virginia.

At just 22 years of age, Schofield is going not from the swimming pool to the ocean, but from a rain puddle to the bottom of the Atlantic as he challenges fellow unbeaten Stevenson. Shakur is a -1000 favorite, Schofield a +620 underdog. Mismatch? Perhaps. But the fact that Schofield was so eager to make this fight happen has me dying to see it.

Buatsi is a bit older than these other prospects at 31, but he’s still taking a step up against the veteran Smith — who has only ever lost to Beterbiev and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. It’s a tight one at the sportsbooks, with Buatsi favored at just -205 at FanDuel.

Barboza is the oldest of all the stepper-uppers at 33, and is a modest +200 underdog to top Catterall, who’s riding high off wins over Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis last year. This has all the makings — like so many of these fights — of a tremendous struggle where both men are pushed to the limits and the outcome is in doubt until the final bell.

If they’d given us Catterall-Barboza in January, it would be the fight of the month, by some distance. In February, it’s barely in the top 12.

So get your rest now, fight fans. February 2025 is the A+ month of mayhem you’ve spent your whole life waiting for.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at [email protected].