I don't recall January 1st being a big day for boxing...ever? And the month of January has been dreary for heavyweight boxing for some time now. For example, looking through our database for recent years, the month of January had exactly one significant HW bout this January (2021), and for the previous years the figures were: 1, 4, 3, 7, 11, 3, 8, 6, 9, 7, and 13. That's going back to 2010. The average month sees about 10 significant fights per month over this time period and January has matched that twice out of the last 12 years.
The total number of notable fights might not exceed 10 this January but certainly January 1st, as a particular day, will have a lot to offer and will pretty much redeem the entire month. There are five scheduled heavyweight bouts on New Year's Day so, even if 2022 isn't a great boxing year, it will at least kick off on a good note. Here's the rundown:
- #6 Frank Sanchez (19-0-0) vs. #155 Christian Hammer (26-8-0)
Originally it was #100 Carlos Negron facing Sanchez, but Hammer stepped in on very short notice which might (or might not) make this fight more interesting than it seemed previously. The problem with Hammer, though, is that he hasn't beaten anyone noteworthy in three years since giving Michael Wallisch his first loss. Since then he's lost to Luis Ortiz, Tony Yoka, and Hughie Fury, with all three losses being essentially shutouts on the scorecards. Hammer retired with a bicep injury vs. Fury, but he was on his way to a 119-109 style decision loss. Sanchez is coming off a strong showing against Efe Ajagba and seems hungry to make quick progress, which makes us think a 100-90 card is in the works. If Hammer had been showing any signs of life we'd keep the prospect of an upset open, but these are fighters going in different directions in terms of their motivation. - #58 Luis Ortiz (32-2-0) vs. #80 Charles Martin (28-2-1)
This is the headliner, but in our rankings Ortiz has slumped due to inactivity and Martin has just stayed inside the top 100. Ortiz has only lost to Deontay Wilder, which is nothing to be ashamed of, but his quality wins are few and far between, especially now. You have to go back to March of 2019 where he beat Christian Hammer—now on the card vs. Frank Sanchez—to find a solid win, after which he suffered the 2nd Wilder KO. Since then he KO'ed Alexander Flores in the first round more than a year ago. At Ortiz's age—officially 42 but some believe him to be much older—there's always the question of when he starts to really slow down. Martin is younger by at least 7 years and is most famous for losing to Anthony Joshua in 2016. After that he lost a close fight to Adam Kownacki and only recently made a comeback with a solid win over Gerald Washington (also on this card). With Ortiz so inactive and Martin coming off his best win in at least 5 years, we see Martin as a live underdog, the result depending on whether Ortiz is still sharp at 42+. In terms of boxing skill there's no comparison, which is why Ortiz is about a 4 to 1 favorite. - #59 Jonathan Rice (14-6-1) vs. #63 Michael Polite Coffie (12-1-0)
This fight's a rematch of an upset, and you can tell by their records who upset who. Last July 31st Rice didn't take the journeyman fall, instead controlling the fight and winning in a 5th round stoppage over the previously unbeaten Coffie. Coffie had prepared for Gerald Washington (these same names keep popping up) until a week before and as we pointed out in the Hammer vs. Sanchez preview, substitutions often equals chaos. Rice's career until that point had been highlighted by a win over Rodney Hernandez and subsequent bigger paydays vs. Tony Yoka, Arslanbek Makmudov, Demsey McKean, and Efe Ajagba, all undefeated at the time. This certainly gave the impression that he was cashing in to be record-building fodder for stay-busy fights. But he went the distance with Yoka and Ajagba, and lasted until the 10th with McKean in a fairly close contest. Meanwhile Coffie's résumé is pretty thin: recent stoppage wins over Joey Abell and Darmani Rock were impressive, but he's clearly inexperienced after just 13 fights following a career in the Marines. Seeing how Rice dominated the first fight makes him the favorite to repeat it. It probably won't be as easy this time as Coffie will prepare for Rice and work to correct his mistakes from the first go-around, but he might lack the boxing experience to solve problems this quickly. Look for the fight to go the distance this time, but Rice to end up on top again. Coffie needs this one to keep his career going, but we've seen this before with johnny-come-latelies to the sport—it usually doesn't end well. Both fighters stand 6-5 so it's a battle of giants like many heavyweight bouts these days. - #67 Ali Demirezen (14-1-0) vs. #126 Gerald Washington (20-4-1)
Demirezen's sole loss was a wide UD to Efe Ajagba where he wasn't able to mount much of an attack against Ajagba's 85" reach. Washington isn't quite as imposing but still will have a bit of height and reach advantage. Demirezen, who had a solid Olympic-level amateur career, responded reasonably well to his loss with three wins including solid journeyman Kamil Sokolowski but Washington will be the Turk's toughest fight since his loss. Washington's up and down career saw him lose 3 out of 4 fights at one point—to Deontay Wilder, a PED-powered Jarell Miller, and Adam Kownacki—before he revived his career with an 8th round KO of Robert Helenius in July, 2019. His followup didn't go as well and he lost to Charles Martin vs. 6th round TKO last year. Washington is the wild card here, and Demirezen's methodical (some would say boring) style probably doesn't allow much room for an upset. Demirezen's a 2 to 1 favorite and we think it should be a bit wider. Demirezen doesn't look like he should be very good and he wins ugly but he wins, unless clearly outclassed. Can Washington rise to that challenge? - #38 Victor Faust (8-0-0) vs. #154 Iago Kiladze (27-5-1)
We normally use fighters real names but we're calling Victor Vykhryst by his nickname Victor Faust for obvious reasons (you try typing that one correctly). He's 8-0 with 6 KOs and taking on Iago Kiladze, whose best result is a split draw against the previously unblemished Robert Alfonso. Just previous to that he'd lost to Adam Kownacki, Michael Hunter, and Joe Joyce, so he's another example of a journeyman-in-the-works who upset the cart once and is getting good work in return. He lost to Efe Ajagba following the Alfonso bout, getting KOed in the middle rounds as he did in his other losses, but he had his most famous moment in that fight with a flash knockdown of Ajagba in the third round. Don't look for this one to go the distance; if Faust is going to live up to his billing as the next great Ukrainian heavyweight post-Klitschko brothers then we'll see a 4th or 5th round stoppage in the 8-round bout. But Kiladze has shown he can throw a few surprises into the mix here and there, so this will be some good early work for Faust's burgeoning career.
Between college football bowl games and some good basketball too, New Year's Day has a pretty full sports schedule so this card is probably a tough sell on Fox Sports PPV, but these are some pretty good fights. Back in the day this kind of stuff would be on free TV but alas, those days are gone and now every bout is for sale. Cards like this might help promote the sport back to its glory days if it were on regular cable but it seems like that ship has sailed. It is quite a bit cheaper than most fights ($39.99) but that's still quite a lot for non-title fights.
On a positive note, it's good to several ranked heavyweights willing to mix it up on the same card—that's the first step to getting the fans back.
