December of 2023 is a very rare month for heavyweight boxing these days, and if all the fights go off as planned it will be one of the biggest months of this century so far.
Given the messy state of the heavyweight boxing world—the endless inability to make top fights to unify the heavyweight title, new MMA converts holding their own with the consensus #1 heavyweight in the world, and as seen below, five of our top ten being "inactive" that is, not having a win in the last year—we need a month like this to get things kickstarted!
SportsRatings Heavyweight Top Ten for December 2023
| -3 Yr |
-1 Yr |
-6 mo |
Nov Rank |
Dec Rank |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | November results; •December schedule |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | TYSON FURY | 55.93 | 21-0-1 |  |
| 24 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | OLEKSANDR USYK | 42.10 | 5-0-0 | |
| 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ANDY RUIZ JR | 23.78 | 15-2-0 | --last rated win -14 months. |
| 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | ANTHONY JOSHUA | 20.66 | 19-3-0 | •12/23 vs. #20 OTTO WALLIN |
| 12 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | FRANK SANCHEZ | 20.63 | 7-0-0 | --last rated win -13 months; •12/23 vs. #125 JUNIOR FA |
| 40 | 83 | 9 | 6 | 6 | ZHILEI ZHANG | 20.17 | 7-1-1 | |
| 10 | 27 | 18 | 8 | 7 | EFE AJAGBA | 18.74 | 13-1-0 | TKO 4 #69 JOSEPH GOODALL |
| 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DILLIAN WHYTE | 17.81 | 15-3-0 | --last rated win -12 months. |
| 3 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | DEONTAY WILDER | 17.46 | 19-2-1 | --last rated win -13 months; •12/23 vs. #15 JOSEPH PARKER |
| 13 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | FILIP HRGOVIC | 17.35 | 8-0-0 | •12/23 vs. Mark De Mori |
But as we can see, four of the top ten have a fight scheduled in December, with most of the action on December 23 in Saudi Arabia:
12/23 #4 ANTHONY JOSHUA vs. #20 OTTO WALLIN 12/23 #5 FRANK SANCHEZ vs. #125 JUNIOR FA 12/23 #9 DEONTAY WILDER vs. #15 JOSEPH PARKER 12/23 #10 FILIP HRGOVIC vs. Mark De Mori 12/23 #23 ARSLAN MAKHMUDOV vs. #59 AGIT KABAYEL 12/23 #54 JARRELL MILLER vs. #63 DANIEL DUBOIS
A total of 11 rated fighters are on the card, including 7 guys in the top 25.
The best fight is probably Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker, a clash between guys who have both been in the top ten for years (in Wilder's case, most of that was in the top 5). A great opportunity for both to get their career back on track, the winner will move up to just outside the top five.
Not far behind that Is Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin. Joshua is continuing his comeback since losing twice to Oleksander Usyk, while Wallin needs a signature win on his résumé and this would be it for sure. He's most famous so far for almost getting a cut stoppage vs. Tyson Fury. A win would put Wallin into the top ten for the first time, while Joshua would fall out of the top ten for the first time in many years. Joshua needs a win to solidify his top five spot and set up a potential date with Tyson Fury.
And Arslanbek Makhmudov vs. Agit Kabayet is a battle of undefeated fighters. Makhmudov has been busy lately and has made his way up into the top 25 while Kabayel has played it safe with his "0", fighting only occasionally; beating Derek Chisora in 2017 is probably his most famous win. He could enter the top 25 win a win, while Mak is looking to make the top 15.
Is Daniel Dubois vs. Jarrell Miller only the 4th best fight on this card? A few years ago, this might have been a clash of top ten fighters but the stock of both has fallen a lot. Dubois due to his loss to Joe Joyce and shaky comeback since, and Miller because of multiple PED suspensions, the first before a scheduled title fight vs. Anthony Joshua. That was actually his 2nd PED incident as he had one in kickboxing, then had a 3rd incident in 2019. It's pretty remarkable that Miller is in a big fight again given all that, but apparently three strikes = a big fight!
#5 Frank Sanchez and #10 Filip Hrgovic have overmatched opponents, and really should be facing each other. Sanchez hasn't done anything since beating Efe Ajagba, and he's taking on Junior Fa who hasn't been spectacular lately.
You can't win them all! I'm not complaining about this card which is probably the best of the year among the heavyweights.
But that's not everything this month.
12/09 #33 MARK PETROVSKY vs. #96 LUCAS BROWNE 12/09 #37 DAMIAN KNYBA vs. #138 MICHAEL P COFFIE 12/09 #44 CALVIN BARNETT vs. Juan Reyna
On the 9th, Mark Petrovsky is up against former top ten Lucas Browne in Dubai. In a different card, Damian Knyba faces Michael Polite Coffie (and Olympian Richard Torrez Jr is on that card too, hoping to debut in our ratings). And Calvin Barnett is active as well.
12/01 #51 MIHAI NISTOR vs. #145 NATHAN GORMAN 12/02 #39 KRIS TERZIEVSKI vs. Alphonse Mchumiatumbo 12/02 #47 TROY PILCHER vs. Louis Marsters 12/14 #71 KUBRAT PULEV vs. Andrzej Wawrzyk
And in the early part of the month, Mihai Nistor takes on Nathan Gorman tonight, two more top 100 fighters are active Saturday, and former top five Kubray Pulev sees action on the 14th.
We had a good set of fights among the top ten in August, and the Tyson Fury undercard in October was pretty good, but even combined they don't match this month. Hopefully all the fights happen (or Sanchez and Hrgovic lose their opponents and agree to fight).
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