The Best Fights Of 2017

I hope you all had a good Christmas and a happy new year. I think we can all agree that 2017 was another great year for boxing filled with shocks, rivalries been settled and boyhood dreams coming true. So I thought we’d start this year by looking back at some of the best fights from last year.

10. Daniel Jacobs V Luis Arias: 12th November

Daniel Jacobs came into this fight having lost last time out to Gennady Golovkin and it was considered a must win fight for him and he didn’t disappoint. From the first bell he took the fight to Arias and made him work for every minute of every round. Throughout the whole fight I only gave Arias one round and that was been kind. It was a punch perfect boxing master class that saw him win a very wide unanimous decision, after he put Arias on the canvas in the 11th round.

9. Deontay Wilder V Bermane Stiverne: 5th November

Now I know what you’re thinking why did this fight make my list it lasted less than a round. It made my list for 2 reasons 1 it was a highly anticipated rematch and everyone including me were expecting a close hard fight just like the 1st fight. However what we got was something completely different which is the 2nd reason it made my list, Wilder made a statement that night and he is now clearly in line to fight Joshua next.

8. Ryan Burnett V Zhanat Zhakiyanov: 21st October

This was a close hard fight the kind that boxing fans love. The fight started close but towards the second half of the fight Burnett’s class and boxing skill started to shine through. It was a career best performance from Burnett as he not only unified the titles but he made history as Islands first ever unified world champion.

7. George Groves V Fedor Chundinov: 27th May

For most people 3 is their lucky number but not for George Groves. In front of a packed out Bramall Lane he finally became a world champion at the 4th time of asking. He fought one of the best fights of his career, landing a number of hard combinations and Chundinov seemed to have no answers. He fought the whole fight like a man on a mission and nothing was going to stop him. Until he finally scored the stoppage In the 6th round to make his boyhood dreams come true.

6. Orlando Salido V Miguel Roman: 9th December

Now this fight was just an all out war between these two Mexican legends, from the first bell the punches were flying Salido started the fight well hurting Roman in the first round. However Roman came back strong and he would go on to knock Salido down 3 times in the fight. However Salido seemed to run out of Steam in the second half of the fight. He went down again in the 8th and with just under 2 minutes gone in the 9th the referee stopped the fight with Salido no longer coming back with anything. After the fight Salido retired but then surprised the world just days later by coming out of retirement.

5. Anthony Crolla V Ricky Burns: 7th October

For the second year running Anthony Crolla makes my list. Although we all love a good world title fight sometimes the best fights are just two men fighting for pride and that’s exactly what we got in this one. Two warriors fighting to prove who’s the best not only that you could make the argument that their careers where on the line. From the opening bell it was a close hard fight all the rounds were difficult to score with both men putting it all on the line. Going into the final round I still had it a draw but in the end Crolla won a close unanimous decision. This is a fight I would love to see a rematch of in 2018.

4. Terence Crawford V Julius Indongo: 20th August

This was one of those fights that the world was looking forward to two fighters both with perfect records and world champions putting it all on the line to become the undisputed champion, and it didn’t disappoint. Most people thought it was going to be a close fight that went all the way to the judges but what we got was something completely different. Right from the start Crawford came out landing big power shots. Somehow Indongo made it through the first 2 rounds after been put on the canvas in the 2nd. In the 3rd Crawford landed a body shot which sent Indongo to the canvas again and left him rolling around in pain.

3. Andre Ward V Sergey Kovalov: 17th June

This was a rematch the whole world wanted to see, would it be a case of repeat or revenge. With their first fight in 2016 making my list last year been so close, with Ward winning a controversial unanimous decision by 1 point this was a rematch that had to be made. So last summer the pair went to war again. However this time Ward left the result in no doubt by stopping Kovalov in the 8th round. However even the stoppage was somewhat controversial because yes Kovalov looked ready to go but when the referee jumped in he was still throwing shots back and the punch that actually stopped the fight was a low blow.

After the fight Kovalov who to this day still disputes the stoppage called for a 3rd fight however on 21st September Ward retired from boxing.

2. David Haye v Tony Bellew: 5th March

This was a fight that all came about thanks to social media after months of trash talking over Twitter and a lot of bad blood in the build up the pair finally let their fists do the talking. The fight was fairly even until the 5th round when Haye hit the canvas and struggled to get up this turned out to be a torn Achilles’ tendon. However Haye continued to fight on but Bellew started to take control and in the 11th round Haye hit the canvas and went through the ropes and Haye’s trainer threw the towel in. This result shocked the world as know body gave Bellew a chance.

A rematch was made for the 17th December but Haye pulled out with a bicep injury so the pair will go to war again on the 5th May

1. Anthony Joshua V Wladimir Klitschko: 29 April

There was only ever going to be one fight that was number 1 on my list and that is this one. On a cold night back in April in front of a packed out Wembley Stadium the torch was passed in the heavyweight division. Joshua started the fight well flooring Klitschko in the 5th round. However Klitschko came back putting Joshua on the canvas in the 6th and he looked out on his feet but that shot proved to the world that Joshua can take a shot, because up until then he’d never been tested in a fight. He came on strong in the second half of the fight scoring that memorable uppercut before doing what only 3 men had done before and knocked Klitschko out in the 11th round.

So these are the fights that made my list comment below and let me know what would make yours. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to see what 2018 will bring.