It's been a very slow year so far. There were hardly any significant matchups in heavyweight boxing in January or February of this year, but if everything goes as planned we're in for quite a show in March. There are three matchups between boxers in the SportsRatings top 12, the most since May of 1983.
The SportsRatings top 15 for March, 2018
| -3 Yr |
-1 Yr |
-6 mo |
Feb Rank |
Mar Rank |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | February results; •March schedule |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | TYSON FURY | 52.04 | 15-0-0 | --last rated win -27 months. |
| 33 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ANTHONY JOSHUA | 43.51 | 13-0-0 | [interim HW champion] •3/31 vs. #6 JOSEPH PARKER |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ALEX POVETKIN | 36.18 | 27-1-0 | •3/31 vs. #134 DAVID PRICE |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | DEONTAY WILDER | 29.97 | 15-0-0 | •3/03 vs. #7 LUIS ORTIZ |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 28.88 | 42-5-0 | --last rated win -34 months. |
| 23 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | JOSEPH PARKER | 24.66 | 13-0-0 | •3/31 vs. #2 ANTHONY JOSHUA |
| 35 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | LUIS ORTIZ | 20.96 | 12-0-0 | •3/03 vs. #4 DEONTAY WILDER |
| 16 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | KYOTARO FUJIMOTO | 19.37 | 10-1-0 | --last rated win -13 months. |
| 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | KUBRAT PULEV | 18.35 | 17-1-0 | |
| 13 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | LUCAS BROWNE | 18.28 | 10-0-0 | •3/23 vs. #12 DILLIAN WHYTE |
| 65 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 11 | JARRELL MILLER | 16.41 | 6-0-0 | |
| 36 | 20 | 18 | 12 | 12 | DILLIAN WHYTE | 15.83 | 8-1-0 | •3/23 vs. #10 LUCAS BROWNE |
| 41 | 24 | 21 | 14 | 13 | DOMINIC BREAZEALE | 14.64 | 9-1-0 | |
| 12 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | CHARLES MARTIN | 14.52 | 5-1-0 | •3/03 vs. tba |
| -- | -- | -- | 19 | 15 | FILIP HRGOVIC | 14.39 | 2-0-0 | UD 8 #66 SEAN TURNER |
First, a preview of this month's action. Above is this month's top 15 with scheduled bouts noted. The highlights:
- #2 Anthony Joshua vs. #6 Joseph Parker. This one comes at the end of the month and will determine the Interim Heavyweight Champion, a title Joshua currently holds. It's also for most of the alphabet titles: the IBF, WBA, and WBO, as well as the IBO rankings.
- #3 Deontay Wilder vs. #7 Luis Ortiz. In just a few days we will (hopefully) get the fight that was scheduled months ago, but fell through. The winner gets the WBC belt currently held by Wilder.
- #10 Lucas Browne vs. #12 Dillian Whyte. Neither fighter holds a belt but Browne is undefeated and Whyte has only lost to Joshua. The winner will end up somewhere between #5 and #8 depending on how all the other fights play out.
That's three intra-top 12 bouts, the most impressive total we've seen in over three decades. In addition, #3 Alex Povetkin faces David Price at the end of the month, and Charles Martin is scheduled to be on the Wilder undercard (a matchup with Curtis Harper fell through). If all of this happens, that will be 8 fighters active in the top 14 within the same month? When was the last time that happened?
The answer is May of 1983. In that month there were an incredible 4 intra-top-10 fights:
| -3 Yr |
-1 Yr |
-6 mo |
May 1983 |
June 1983 |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | May 1983 results |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | LARRY HOLMES | 87.32 | 27-0-0 | SD 12 #9 TIM WITHERSPOON |
| 9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | MICHAEL DOKES | 40.24 | 17-0-2 | Draw 15 #5 MIKE WEAVER |
| 17 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | GREG PAGE | 33.07 | 14-1-0 | UD 12 #3 RENALDO SNIPES |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | MIKE WEAVER | 31.57 | 11-4-1 | Draw 15 #2 MICHAEL DOKES |
| 31 | 25 | 14 | 10 | 5 | ST GORDON | 27.35 | 4-0-0 | UD 10 #4 TREVOR BERBICK |
| 6 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | JOHN TATE | 23.15 | 18-2-0 | |
| 60 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 7 | RENALDO SNIPES | 21.73 | 11-3-1 | L UD 12 #6 GREG PAGE |
| 27 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | TREVOR BERBICK | 20.04 | 13-4-1 | L UD 10 #10 ST GORDON |
| 3 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | GERRIE COETZEE | 19.43 | 21-3-1 | |
| 7 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 10 | GERRY COONEY | 18.19 | 12-1-0 | --last rated win -24 months. |
Above is our chart for the rankings for June of 1983, after the fights had happened. As you can see, the following results all occurred in the month of May:
- #1-ranked Champion Larry Holmes scored a split decision win over #9 Tim Witherspoon, who fell out of the top 10.
- #2 Michael Dokes fought to a draw in his rematch with Mike Weaver, who moved up from #5 to #4 as a result; Dokes remained at #2.
- #6 Greg Page won a 12-round decision over #3 Renaldo Snipes; Snipes fell to #7 while Page jumped to #3.
- #10 S.T. Gordon beat #4 Trevor Berbick, dropping Berbick to #8 while Gordon moved into the top 5.
That's quite an amazing array of fights within a month, especially by today's standards. What's more amazing is that the first three fights listed above were all on the same card on May 20th in Las Vegas! Think about that: there were three heavyweight title fights for different organizations on the same card. Holmes defended the WBC title, Dokes retained the WBA title, and Page took the USBA title.
And they were good, close fights too, with loads of controversy. Dokes and Weaver fought furiously from the start and most of the crowd thought Weaver had won. The Holmes fight was controversial, too, as many thought Witherspoon had beaten him; as it was, 2 of 3 judges thought Holmes had done enough. The Page/Snipes fight went to a unanimous decision, as did Gordon's win over a lackluster Berbick on the 28th.
After so many barren months (see January and February of this year!) and so many cancelled fights (see Wilder/Povetkin, the previous Wilder/Ortiz, Lucas Browne's drug issues, and Tyson Fury's endless inactivity), it would be a pleasant surprise if all the scheduled fights happen.
If they do, it should give heavyweight boxing quite a boost, and point the way toward a truly unified belt as the winners of the various fights line up to fight each other. Though the March 2018 schedule can't match the four top-10 bouts of May 1983, in this month's matchups there are a total of FIVE undefeated fighters; after the bouts there will be at least two, and no more than three; the rest of 2018 should have some great matchups, too.