2024 was a good year for boxing. Fans witnessed some of the best fixtures in years, with some very serious fights taking place across all weight classes. It’s a year that will, without doubt, go down in boxing history.
To bid goodbye to the year, let us take a look at some of the next heavyweight fights of the year.
In 2024, we had the first heavyweight undisputed fixture between two champions – Oleksandr Usyk (23-0) and Tyson Fury (34-2). The match had a lot of stakes, as aside from being champions, both fighters were undefeated heading into the fight. At the end of the day, Usyk won by split decision, becoming the first undisputed champion in the heavyweight division in over two decades, while Fury got his professional title loss.
The two later met again in December for a rematch, and this time, Usyk managed to get all three votes from the judges to continue his reign as champion. The fight marked Fury’s second career loss and will see him aiming for a title shot next year.
Usyk’s reign as undisputed champion was quite short, as he had to give up the IBF title just weeks after winning it. The belt then came to interim champion, Daniel Dubois (22-2). Dubois then went on to successfully defend it against Anthony Joshua (28-4), then becoming the man to beat. He’s set to face Joseph Parker next year for his second title defense. The winner of that fight could face Usyk for the second undisputed fixture in two years.
Before falling to the hands of Dubois, Joshua earned praise after knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou (0-2) in the second round of their March fixture. The loss put an end to Ngannou’s boxing experiment and had critics thinking Joshua was ready for a title shot once again.
On that same night in March, Zhilei Zhang (27-2) got his second professional defeat after losing to Joseph Parker (35-3).
Former WBC champion, Deontay Wilder (43-4), shocked critics when he suffered a fifth-round TKO defeat in the hands of Zhilei Zhang back in June. It was his second straight defeat and his fourth loss in his past outings. The fight has put to rest, in the meantime, any thoughts of a possible matchup with Joshua, an event fans have been looking forward to for years.
With all of these interesting fixtures in one year, 2024 was a good year and it has fans looking forward to what 2025 has to offer.
