Boxing in 2023 brings unification bouts, but loses a major broadcast partner

The curtain dropping on an important viewing platform and the presentation of a much-demanded title fight highlighted boxing’s story lines in 2023.

Throughout the year, boxing landed successful shots with popular and needed bouts. Champions solidified their reigns and some earned crossover stripes.

But the sport also absorbed a huge blow after the Showtime network ended its 37-year run of televising fights on Dec. 16. As boxing attempts to emerge from niche sport status, losing an outlet like Showtime doesn’t help. Boxing had already lost previous broadcast support with HBO shutting down after a 45-year partnership in 2018 and Fox Sports also cutting the chord last year.

Before the stunning announcement by Showtime in October, boxing was riding a high. Unbeaten welterweight champions Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. finally fought on July 29, ending three years of teasing and frustrating the boxing public. In the days leading to the fight, boxing received much-needed attention.

Crawford proved why many consider him the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter when he stopped Spence in nine rounds. With the victory, Crawford became undisputed world champion in two divisions after he also accomplished the feat at super lightweight.

Crawford had company in champions consolidating the four major sanctioning body titles. And like Crawford, Japan’s Naoya Inoue has done it in two weight classes.

After a dominant stint as bantamweight titleholder, capped by undisputed champion distinction, Inoue moved to super-bantamweight and cleaned up the division in five months. Inoue stopped Stephen Fulton in eight rounds on July 25 to win two sanctioning body belts and became undisputed champion with a 10th-round knockout over Marlin Tapales on Tuesday.

The performances by Crawford and Inoue lifted both to pound-for-pound elite, but other fighters staked their respective claims to boxing supremacy.

Gervonta Davis is currently recognized as a second-tier champion by one of the alphabet soups, yet the unbeaten lightweight is ascending among the sport’s elite. Davis stopped previously unbeaten Hector Garcia and Ryan Garcia in his two bouts. The Davis-Ryan Garcia fight on April 29 also generated a reported 1.2 million pay-per-view buys.

Devin Haney successfully defended his undisputed lightweight title with a close, unanimous decision over former champion Vasyl Lomachenko on May 20 then won a lopsided decision against defending champion Regis Prograis to claim a super-lightweight belt Dec. 9.

Undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez remains the sport’s top attraction. Alvarez fought in his native Mexico for the first time since 2011 and convincingly outpointed John Ryder on May 6. Four months later, Alvarez won another lopsided decision against Jermell Charlo.

It took years for Crawford and Spence to fight, and similar anticipation is growing for the demanded unification bout between heavyweight titleholders Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury and Usyk will finally fight in February 2024 and both cleared the last hurdles with wins in their lone ring appearances. But Fury almost stained the bout’s appeal when he was knocked down by former UFC champion Francis Ngannou in their non-title match on Oct. 28. Fury escaped with a narrow split decision win.

Usyk, who holds three of the major heavyweight belts, had an easier time as he knocked out Daniel Dubois in nine rounds on Aug. 26.

Light-heavyweight champions Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterviev each made successful defenses but remain distant on a unification fight.

Beterviev retained his three belts with an eighth-round TKO over Anthony Yarde on Jan. 28 while Bivol easily outpointed Lyndon Arthur Dec. 23.

Bivol was part of a card in Saudi Arabia that also featured former heavyweight champions Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua in separate bouts. Their appearances were considered tune-ups to a bout between the ex-titleholders next year.

But Joseph Parker, also a former champion, derailed the plans, winning a lopsided decision against Wilder. Joshua fulfilled his end of the deal with a fifth-round knockout win against Otto Wallin.

In her first attempt at the super-lightweight belt, undisputed women’s lightweight titleholder Katie Taylor lost a majority decision against champion Chantelle Cameron on May 20. But Taylor won the direct rematch by a similar result five months later.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields retained her undisputed middleweight title with a lopsided decision over Maricela Cornejo on June 3.

With Showtime no longer available, ESPN is now the only network that frequently broadcasts fights. ESPN continues its deal with promotional company Top Rank.

Instead of broadcast options, boxing is now more dependent on streaming platforms. DAZN maintains its partnership with promoters Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions. Once its deal with Showtime ended, Premier Boxing Champions pivoted and reached an agreement with Prime Video to present fights beginning in March.

The local boxing scene had its peaks and valleys of activity during the year.

Although his recent shows lack the impact once linked to his run as boxing’s most powerful promoter, 92-year-old Don King presented four cards at Casino Miami Jai-Alai.

Bob Arum, another of the sport’s influential promoters, also brought a card to South Florida on Dec. 9. Arum, president of Top Rank, presented a show at the Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines.

The Top Rank card was headlined by a world title fight between defending featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba and Mexico’s Rafael Espinoza. In the first local world title fight since Feb. 2021, Espinoza dethroned Ramirez with a majority decision victory.

Sunrise resident and unbeaten junior middleweight Xander Zayas also fought on the card. The 21-year-old Zayas moved closer to world title contention after his fifth-round TKO win over Spain’s Jorge Fortea.