1 Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford
It took a while to get there but finally the two best welterweights in the world, Spence and Crawford, will meet at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 29 to settle a long-running debate. Unlike other great superfights left too late, this one was made right in the nick of time.
2 Stephen Fulton vs Naoya Inoue
Just days before Spence and Crawford collide in Las Vegas, WBC and WBO super-bantamweight champion Fulton, another of America’s best fighters, will travel to Japan to defend his belts against the fearsome Inoue on July 25. This is about as good as it gets in the lower weight classes.
3 Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith
There are few fighters as feared as IBF light-heavyweight champion Beterbiev right now, yet Britain’s Smith, a former super-middleweight belt-holder now campaigning at 175 pounds, must confront and conquer the Russian in Quebec on August 19 if he is to become a two-weight champion.
4 Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez
Two men who know only one way to fight, aggressive punchers Navarrete and Valdez will lock horns on August 12 in Glendale, with Navarrete’s WBO junior-lightweight title at stake. That was a belt he won in a thriller against Liam Wilson in February.
5 Eimantas Stanionis vs Vergil Ortiz Jr
This battle of unbeaten welterweights should be a good one on July 8 in San Antonio, Texas, with Stanionis and Ortiz bringing to the ring a combined 33-0 pro record. Stanionis, from Lithuania, will start the fight as WBA welterweight champion, but Ortiz is a man of whom great things are expected.
6 Zhilei Zhang vs Joe Joyce II
Following Zhang’s upset win over Joyce back in April, when a damaged eye forced “The Juggernaut” to surrender in round six, the two heavyweights will do it again on September 2 in Wembley. This time Joyce will be better prepared for Zhang’s southpaw trickery, yet Zhang, as he proved first time around, is no fool.
7 Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois
While on paper a mismatch, given the levels at which both have to date competed, the August 26 heavyweight title fight between Usyk and Dubois nevertheless carries some intrigue on account of Dubois, a Brit, possessing fight-ending power. He will need every ounce of it when up against Usyk in Poland.
8 Jaron Ennis vs Roiman Villa
Unbeaten in 30 pro fights, with 28 of those wins coming inside schedule, Ennis can clearly punch yet clearly also needs to start testing himself against the elite. Until then, on July 8 in Atlantic City, he will come up against Colombia’s Roiman Villa, 26-1 (24), someone just as heavy-handed and even more unproven.
9 George Kambosos vs Maxi Hughes
Back in 2021, George Kambosos had three world lightweight titles to his name and was very much on the rise. However, following back-to-back defeats against Devin Haney, he now looks to rebuild on July 22 in Shawnee against Maxi Hughes, Britain’s very own Cinderella Man.
10 Alycia Baumgardner vs Christina Linardatou
In what will be a good measure of Baumgardner’s improvements, the current women’s super-featherweight champion will, on July 15 in Detroit, defend her belts against Linardatou, the only woman to have beaten her as a pro (via a split-decision over eight rounds back in 2018).
