AS 2024 whizzes into the rearview mirror, punching pundit Carl Frampton has been busy focusing on 2025. With a growing trend to make the biggest fights possible between the biggest names, there might be a slight cause for optimism as fans chase those Las Vegas nights. Speaking to Northern Ireland’s Sunday Life newspaper, the two-weight world champion and former Fighter of the Year from Belfast revealed his ones to watch and fights to get made for the new year.
There were little surprises when the Tigers Bay man picked his three fighters to watch in 2025. On the cusp of world title success, Hamzah Sheeraz who was last seen smashing away European champion Tyler Denny and is ready to battle WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames.
There was also a mention of Moses Itauma, who is the name on the lips of most fans of heavyweight boxing. Moses is barely out of his teens, busy chasing down Mike Tyson’s record of youngest heavyweight champion and destroyed Demsey McKean at the tail end of 2024. Galal Yafai became WBC Interim flyweight champion in November by upsetting Sunny Edwards. He was the third name mentioned.
Frampton’s three big hopes for 2025 included “keeping the mega fights” coming, hot off the back of a year that featured two Usyk-Fury battles plus Beterbiev-Bivol.
“A push for one champion in each division”, with mentions of the IBF’s decision to strip Usyk of his title and “another big year for Anthony Cacace”, who will look to build on his wins over Joe Cordina and Josh Warrington.
Carl picked his three prospects for 2025, with former Team GB standout Pat Brown joining Jamie Moore-trained Cameron Vuong and Joe Ward on the list. At 31, trudging through a career beset by setbacks and injuries, some may be surprised at Ward’s inclusion. However, the Irishman is due for a breakout year according to ‘The Jackal’, who tips Joe to finally showcase his movement and power to the wider world.
And finally, the three dream fights were Canelo vs Terence Crawford (not Benavidez, interestingly), Daniel Dubois vs Moses Itauma, which is maybe a little too much in the dream category given the current positions of their respective careers and Shakur Stevenson vs Vasyl Lomachenko at lightweight.
