The Boxing Truth®

December 2024 in Boxing has seen the focus firmly planted on the Heavyweight division. With the highly anticipated rematch between undefeated unified WBO/WBA/IBO/WBC Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk and former champion Tyson Fury still to take place on December 21 in Saudi Arabia, the month of December has seen potential challengers for whomever should emerge from that fight victorious, angling for position. We have seen former two-time world title challenger Kubrat Pulev take his next step by scoring a convincing twelve round unanimous decision over longtime contender Manuel Charr. Now, another former world title challenger looks to make his argument as longtime contender Dillian Whyte will return to the ring on Sunday, December 15th in Gibraltar at the Europa Point Sports Complex to face  contender Ebenezer Tetteh.  The scheduled ten round Heavyweight bout, which can be seen worldwide on digital subscription sports streaming network DAZN , will be Whyte’s third bout...

Saturday, December 7th saw two interesting bouts take place that shined the spotlight on Boxing’s European scene. In the long term, each outcome could also lead to something significant for the winners in terms of the world rankings in 2025. The first of these two bouts took place in Sofia, Bulgaria where top Heavyweight contenders Manuel Charr and former two-time world title challenger and hometown favorite Kubrat Pulev met in a scheduled twelve round bout where an Interim/Regular championship designation in the WBA Heavyweight ratings was at stake. Outside of the designation, what looked over this fight in reality was an opportunity to become a mandatory challenger in the WBA ratings, which could lead to an opportunity to face the winner of the upcoming rematch between Unified World Heavyweight championship Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, which will take place in Saudi Arabia on December 21st.  While this fight was fought in relatively close quarters as both fighters were content...

The month of December has been looked forward to by Boxing fans due in large part to the much anticipated rematch between undefeated unified WBO/IBO/WBA/WBC Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk and former two-time World Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. A rematch that could in some ways signal the end of an era, or perhaps potentially lead to a third chapter between the two future Hall of Famers. While there is still much to be resolved between Usyk and Fury as well as unanswered questions as to what may follow after that fight, it is worth remembering that the politics that be in the sport is one reason why that second bout between Usyk and Fury is for a unified portion of the World Heavyweight championship and not the Undisputed championship, which was determined in their first fight earlier this year. Such political aspects also inevitably also create scenarios where others in a division are looking to maneuver themselves into position to potentially face the winner of a rematch...

  Longtime Heavyweight contender and former world title challenger Dereck Chisora avenged a split decision loss six years ago to former world title challenger and top contender Kubrat Pulev in a rematch by scoring his own twelve round split decision on Saturday night at the 02 Arena in London, England. In contrast to the first fight where Pulev was able to keep Chisora on the end of his punches with his longer reach for the majority of the fight, this time Chisora had head movement in his favor working from the outset and that allowed him to get in close and launch a consistent attack to the body of Pulev.   It was this consistency that carried the fight. As the fight progressed, Pulev was able to have periodic success in landing his right hand on Chisora, but in the middle and late rounds, Chisora began to land regularly with his own right hand to the head of Pulev. This was no doubt was a result of the body work that Chisora kept landing on Pulev throughout. Wi...

If one is a student of Boxing they are likely familiar with the idea that in just about every division there are always a short list of fighters that end up being associated with the era they fought in for their ability to remain in the discussion of fringe and top contenders for many years. While such fighters are not always defined by the world championships they are able to obtain during their careers, others are defined by being contenders who may have come up short in challenging for world titles. Two such fighters are longtime Heavyweight contenders and former world title challengers Kubrat Pulev and Dereck Chisora. Two fighters that have spent most of the last decade at or near the top of the contenders pool of the Heavyweight division. Both men, former European Heavyweight champions are also no strangers to each other. For it was in May 2016 when the two met for the then vacant European Heavyweight championship.  On that evening, it was Pulev, who put on a disciplined Boxin...

  One of the most common storylines that is associated with the sport of Boxing and by extension all combat sports that most can identify with is one of a former world champion trying to re-emerge into competition after a lengthy absence. A storyline is most commonly known as “A Comeback.”     While there are certainly no shortage of comeback stories that range from highly successful to at times tragic in the sense of the outcome of a planned return, each comeback story has its own unique circumstances. In the case of former three-time World Light-Heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, his career has seen several highs and lows that often come with a long career in the sport. In his last bout in November2019, Kovalev's third reign as a Light-Heavyweight world champion came to an end when he was knocked out by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for the WBO world championship in eleven rounds. Since then, Kovalev has been inactive due in part to testing positive for banned substances...