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David Benavidez is the name being touted by most fans as the one they want to see next for undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Aside from Benavidez, there is also intrigue for a clash between Alvarez and undisputed welterweight king Terence Crawford, who has stated he would be willing to jump up three whole weight classes to take on the Mexican icon.

In a recent interview with ESNews, Benavidez broke down a potential clash between Alvarez and Crawford, and admitted he believes his rival “is just too big.”

The WBC interim champion also implored Canelo to fight someone “in the same weight class.”

Terence-Crawford and Canelo Alvarez

There have been accusations from some people in the sport that ‘Canelo’ and his team have been ducking a fight with Benavidez, though a meeting in the first half of 2024 would put these accusations to bed.

‘The Mexican Monster’ must first get past two weight world champion Demtrius Andrade in November, however, if he is to land a career high pay day against Alvarez.

The launch press conference for Benavidez vs Andrade took place this week, and the winner would almost all be guaranteed a shot at ‘Canelo’ at some point.

Few people spoke much about Zihlei Zhang until his back-to-back wins over Brit Joe Joyce, but now he is a popular figure who is very much in the heavyweight picture with some of the biggest names in the sport.

Both of those wins over the formerly unbeaten and often immovable looking Joyce have come this year – the first fight was stopped due to the damage Zhang’s ram-rod left hand had caused to Joyce’s eye, and the second was a much cleaner and quicker knockout in the third round which leaves Joyce a long way out of the picture and Zhang very much in it.

The hard-hitting Chinese fighter now has many options. He is hugely popular back home and would represent a good scalp for any of the division’s top dogs should they dare to take him on.

Anthony Joshua

Speaking to Inside Boxing Live, Southpaw Zhang was asked for one-word answers about a range of his fellow heavyweight contenders. When it came to Anthony Joshua, he didn’t hesitate.

Because of that and the size of Joshua’s profile, a fight between him and Zhang would surely do huge numbers out in China as well as representing a great matchup for boxing fans.

Instead, Zhang has called out Tyson Fury several times while also retaining his WBO mandatory challenger status to Oleksandr Usyk’s belt.

Joshua, meanwhile, continues to be linked with a fight with Deontay Wilder which would be just as interesting although nothing has yet been officially announced.

Gervonta Davis believes legal orders are preventing him from progressing in his boxing campaign.

Following a career-best win over Ryan Garcia in an extremely lucrative cross-promotion, the 28-year-old knockout artist looked certain to keep rising in the sport.

A court sentencing in May halted that, with Davis receiving a home detention order and community service stemming from a November 2020 hit and run case.

In June, he was ordered to spent the remaining period – 44 days – in a Baltimore City Jail due to a breach of the conditions, namely moving from the agreed address to a luxury condo.

He was released mid-July, but is apparently struggling with the remaining conditions.

Gervonta Davis

In a now deleted post, the undefeated star who this year proclaimed himself as ‘the face of boxing’ said:

Davis has been strongly linked to a rematch with Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz as his comeback bout, although no firm details have been released. It’s understood his ring return will fall in early 2024 regardless of opponent.

Cruz is just the second man from 29 to take ‘Tank’ the distance, although he lost on the cards 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112.

A stoppage win in a second fight would be an impressive way to build on the Garcia win and set Davis up for a crack at a lightweight world title, likely to be vacated by Devin Haney – who is moving up a division – in due course.

A big fight with Shakur Stevenson remains the most intriguing option for the Baltimore puncher at 135.

Curmel Moton has the type of talent that makes you stop and stare. The way he fights, you’d find it hard to believe that he’s only 17 years of age. That shock factor, however, dissipates once you realize that he’s been training alongside Floyd Mayweather and his entire team since he was roughly eight years old.

Whenever he entered amateur tournaments, he was likely to win it all. With over 130 wins under his belt and nearly 20 National Titles, Moton could have opted to sit back and lay out his competition. Instead, he believed that the amateur game had nothing left to offer him. The pros, on the other hand, were a different story.

So after talking things through with Mayweather, Moton decided to move on. He officially made his pro debut just a few weeks ago on September 30th, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

His opponent, Ezequiel Flores, was 10 years older and presumably had his man strength already. None of those factors stopped Moton from running right through him.

Curmel Moton

It was a brutal beatdown, one that made Bozy Ennis do a double-take. It may have been just one fight but the famed trainer is already sold.

“I think he put on a spectacular performance,” Ennis told YSM Sports Media recently. “He looked sharp.”

Like Ennis, Mayweather loves his young fighter. So much so that he was willing to throw him in with Leigh Wood, the current WBA featherweight champ.

Those plans, of course, never amounted to anything. Mayweather’s ambitious attitude, by and large, isn’t over the top or something that could ultimately backfire.

Ennis sees something special in Moton as well. He doesn’t exactly know how far his talent will take him but if he had to guess, Ennis assumes that it could be to the top.

“I think he’s gonna be something to be reckoned with.”

Former unified welterweight champion, Errol Spence Jr, was on the wrong side of one of the performances of the year when he lost his belts to Terence Crawford.

Now, his defeat to the potential pound-for-pound number one has had a big impact on his rankings with each of the sanctioning bodies.

Spence was stopped in the ninth-round of the all-American showdown with his long-term rival, arguably losing every round of the clash. As a result, his WBA, WBC and IBF titles were taken from him, as well as his undefeated record.

In the latest rankings update, the WBC has added to the whispers of a move up in weight, removing Spence from its welterweight rankings and placing him at #3 on the super-welterweight ladder.

Terence Crawford

Meanwhile, the WBA makes the 33-year-old southpaw its #5 welterweight, the WBO have him at #4 and the IBF took him out of the top five to #6.

Of course, none of these rankings may matter to Spence, who has a contractual rematch with Crawford. He activated the clause for the second fight at the beginning of September, and it’s understood that conversations are ongoing.

Recent reports suggest the fight will take place in February of next year, but the weight is yet to be agreed.

Spence was clear in his hopes that it would be up at 154lbs during the post-fight press conference, but despite Crawford’s initial openness, the champion has since said that since nothing formal has been requested he expects it to be at 147 for the undisputed title.

Should it not come off for whatever reason, Spence is expected to move up in weight anyway, and is well-placed within the WBC rankings to do so.

John Fury doesn’t think a fight between WBA, WBO and IBF champion Oleksandr Usyk and former WBC champion Deontay Wilder would last very long at all.

Wilder has fought only once since the third and final fight in his historic trilogy with Tyson Fury. After a controversial draw in the first meeting, Wilder took two bruising and back-to-back knockout losses. He eventually got back into the ring in November 2022 for a one-round blowout of Robert Helenius, and since then has been strongly linked with fights against Andy Ruiz Jr and Anthony Joshua, although neither has yet materialised.

In the same time period, Usyk stepped up to heavyweight, took three belts from Anthony Joshua, defended them against the Brit, and then knocked out Daniel Dubois in a second defense of his titles.

Speaking to Daily Mail Sport Boxing, Fury explained that he didn’t see a fight between Usyk and ‘The Bronze Bomber’ lasting long.

Should Tyson Fury also be able to beat off the challenge of Usyk when the pair eventually meet later this year or early next, he would surely have the best CV of all the current heavyweights.

The whole boxing world is excited by the prospect of Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury facing off and Claressa Shields is the latest to offer her view, saying she thinks it’s going to be an ‘interesting fight.’

Shields calls herself the GWOAT, or greatest woman of all time, on account of having held world championships in multiple divisions. They include the undisputed female light middleweight title she currently holds, as well as the undisputed female middleweight title from 2019 to 2020 and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018.

She is the best-ranked female pound-for-pound so knows a thing or two about high-level match-ups like the one between Usyk and Fury, which will be the first undisputed heavyweight bout in 24 years.

Speaking to Fight Hype, Shields gave her view on the upcoming fight and came down on the side of the bigger man.

tyson fury and oleksandr usyk

Over summer, Shields attempted to goad former welterweight champion Keith Thurman into an unprecedented cross-gender fight while also successfully defending her titles against Maricela Cornejo in her last fight back in July.

Many would like to see her rematch Brit Savannah Marshall in the MMA cage after both signed up with MMA promotion, the Professional Fighters League, following their first match-up in the squared ring late last year.

Andy Ruiz Jr will forever be the man who snatched Anthony Joshua’s undefeated record along with his unified world heavyweight titles.

That night in New York back in 2019 represents one of the biggest heavyweight upsets in the sport, and many feel it affected Joshua as a fighter even despite him comfortably winning the rematch less than six months later.

Since then, the Brit has lost his belts to Oleksandr Usyk conclusively, unable to do the same in their second fight. He has found himself on the comeback trail and, for him and his team, all roads apparently lead to Deontay Wilder.

Despite positive talks earlier in the year, an offer from Saudi Arabia to stage the fight has recently been taken off the table and the contest is up in the air.

Ruiz Jr believes it won’t happen – not because of the business side of things, but because his former foe is scared. He told Fight Hub TV he backs Wilder to win should it ever materialise.

anthony joshua and deontay wilder

Ruiz has been angling for his shot at the hard-hitting ‘Bronze Bomber’ for some time now, but he has been accused of demanding too much money.

It’s something he disputes as he continues to push for the fight, but Wilder’s team claim there’s little chance of it happening.

The two former champions represent a frustrating stagnancy on the heavyweight scene, and fans would like to see them out regardless of who fills the opposite corner.

Former cruiserweight and heavyweight champion, David Haye, has disclosed some behind the scenes details from a sparring session between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

The two Brits have been linked to a historic clash ever since ‘The Gypsy King’ returned to the ring in 2018, although to the frustrations of fans, the bout has failed to materialise on a few occasions.

The vast majority of the boxing world now has Fury has a strong favourite should it happen, given he has remained an undefeated champion whilst Joshua’s campaign faltered in the form of two losses to Oleksandr Usyk.

However, in a resurface interview with The Sun, Haye said that he believes Joshua to be the only man capable of dethroning the 35-year-old and that when the pair sparred in the past it was ‘AJ’ who enjoyed more success.

Back in 2010, even Tyson Fury admitted that he was surprised by the skill of the then 20-year-old Joshua, who had been told he could keep Fury’s Rolex if he could knock him out, admitting that ‘AJ’ gave him a ‘beating’ for three rounds.

Unfortunately, sparring stories are as close as fans will get to the fight, at least for now.

In the meantime, Fury will attempt to do what Joshua couldn’t against Oleksandr Usyk. Should he win he will become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.

The fight will take place in Saudi Arabia, with a date to be announced.

It’s been a while since Gervonta Davis was released from prison. The fighter spent a total of 44 days behind bars after he failed to comply with the court’s home detention orders. The court sentenced the fighter to a 90-day home detention at his trainer, Calvin Ford’s house. However, as per records, he moved to a luxury hotel and to a new home, prompting him to spend the rest of his sentence at the Baltimore jail.

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Ever since his release, the fighter has embarked on a journey of healing and building back what he lost.

Gervonta Davis Back to the Horizon, Fans Concur

Amidst his strenuous court hearings, ‘Tank’ Davis undertook the most important fight of his career to date. In his bout against Ryan Garcia at the T-Mobile Arena of Las Vegas, he emerged victorious through a scathing knockout. However, this April fight of his was the last. A fighter in his ultimate prime disappeared from the ring, and the realm was not happy.

Gervonta-Davis

Now that Tank’s sentence in the case has elapsed, a new uproar echoes through the boxing world: questions about his return to the ring. As conjectures surface, the fighter said, “Trill never changes, that’s why I learned to embrace it..Revenge how I show my anger, my facial expression ain’t changin!” His ability to bounce back from his legal shortcomings has instilled a sense of resilience in him. His post etched with these words featuring him in the backdrop of his car has sparked a conversation among well-wishers.