As it always goes in boxing, there were many unanswered queries across the weight classes as the previous year closed down. The top boxing fights in 2022 may answer some of them. It was a time when Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury's potentially legendary match did not happen, and maybe it may never happen again. Oleksandr Usyk took the belts from Anthony Joshua nearly half a year ago. He must have also predicted that a potential rematch would happen in the near future. This rematch would postpone the match between Fury and Joshua further down this year. The trilogy between Wilder and Fury was one of the debates settled for some time now. But it is still not completely clear where the latter will go for his next match. It could be long before the fans can see a unification match between Joshua and Usyk.
When the fans search for the main victors of the previous year, a few of them will lurk around in the heavyweight division. The year was a great one for Canelo Alvarez. He is now the undisputed king at the super-middleweight division. Very few people could have predicted George Kambosos Jr finishing the year as the WBO, WBA, and IBF champ in the lightweight division. If everything goes well, this year is going to be even bigger. There are some great championship matches scheduled for this year as well. A great time is coming for the women's division also. This division will see a few of the biggest matches in its history in the upcoming months. Without further ado, let's check out the top boxing fights in 2022 that is going to happen.
Savannah Marshall is going to face Claressa Shields. Marshall remains the sole woman to have defeated Shields. But that match had happened at the amateur level. Their professional match against each other has been many years in the making and would be the top grudge match that has ever happened in the women's professional division. But Shields had first to defeat Ema Kozin to get there. Her WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight defense matches were postponed for this year. The WBO title belt holder Marshall was injured toward the end of the previous year. But they are going to fight against each other at some point in the next month. It is among the best boxing fights in 2022 for the women's division.
In the view of several boxing fans around the globe, Terence Crawford is ranked as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers on the entire planet. But he still needs to go against his long-standing opponent Errol Spence Jr to check all the boxes as the WBO welterweight title belt holder. The only thing against his record is that his present outing has been against boxers in the later end of their careers. This includes the now-retired Shawn Porter and Kell Brook. But fans should not expect the match between Spence and Crawford anytime soon. This is because Spence is going to go against Yordenis Ugas next month. So our dream match could happen at the end of this year.
The WBC made Dillian Whyte the mandatory challenger to fight against Tyson Fury. It was a simple path for the latter to defend his title before going against the victor of the match between Usyk and Joshua. Since then, Dillian has been forced to go out of the match against Otto Wallin. But that was not going to stop his match against Tyson Fury. But there may be another dampen down the line. This is because the camp of Tyson Fury is saying that he can vacate the WBC championship title in the near future. Promoter Bob Arum said that the deal between Fury and Whyte would not be finalized soon. This could permit Deontay Wilder to get another chance to get his old title back from Dillian.
Having defeated Miriam Gutierrez on the fight card of the knockout win of Jake Paul over Tyron Woodley, Amanda Serrano is now going to go against Katie Taylor. As predicted, the latter defeated Firuza Sharipova, and the undisputed lightweight titleholder will not get much higher tests than Serrano. She was defeated only once in more than forty matches. It is going to be one of the biggest matches in the history of boxing in the women's division.
In the previous year, Canelo Alvarez became the first undisputed super-middleweight champion when he defeated Caleb Plant. This has leaned itself to rumors that he may be making a shift up a division again. It looked like he was going to fight against Ilunga Makabu at the cruiserweight division. But Canelo did not have much credence to these rumors, so his next rival was still unknown for some time that followed. There were speculations that it could be Jermall Charlo, Artur Beterbiev, or David Benavidez. But the real clamor from the fans was for the completion of the trilogy against Gennady Golovkin. The latter was supposed to be going against Ryota Murata near the end of the previous year. But that has now been postponed, and there is no new date. Canelo is now rearing to go against Dmitry Bivol.
In his first interview after losing his championship belts against Oleksandr Usyk in the previous year, Anthony Joshua said that he is going to abandon the sweet science when they meet again for their future rematch. The British heavyweight boxer had a huge gap to fill after their initial match when he was defeated convincingly. The power of the boxer will also be a major concern for Usyk. The latter is facing his second match since making a move up from the cruiserweight division. Anthony Joshua has triggered the clause for a rematch. But the final details have not yet been ironed out. He said, "I'm done with f***ing losing. I'm done with trying to learn sweet science. In the next fight, he might get thrown on the floor because this is war. It's just straight war. I'm annoyed. I'm boiling up even when speaking about it – it's that passion to win." Fans are eagerly waiting for one of the top boxing fights in 2022.
Joseph Parker had no choice but to get a comprehensive win against Derek Chisora. The ex-WBO champ got the win he wanted, despite all the complaints regarding the former British heavyweight holder's officials. So what is going to happen now? He still does not have the backing to go against the elite fighters sitting at the top of the division. But he can have a go-around in the ring against Joe Joyce. The latter is keen to make the match happen too. This is because it is a natural progression from his previous couple of rivals – Carlos Takam and Daniel Dubois.
For the boxing fans in Britain, the chance of Joshua and Fury going through the ropes after a long time is something that they have been eagerly waiting for. But it is not easy to see how it is going to happen unless Joshua can defeat Usyk comprehensively. Because if that is not the case, Fury will have many challengers lined up to face him and at any cost. The main reason for their much-awaited previous match is to find out this era's main heavyweight. Joshua was completely outsmarted by Usyk in their match, and that silenced his claim to be the top boxer without Fury even having to touch him. But there is no question that it is going to be one of the top boxing fights in 2022 if it takes place.
Conclusion:
There are some great boxing fights in 2022, which has kept many fans excited and waiting. Most of these matches have been confirmed. But some matches have still not been confirmed yet. This is because the boxers either have to cross another hurdle first or have not finalized their contracts for the match. Either way, with the number of great boxing fights in 2022, it is going to be a great year for boxing fans around the globe.