The Uncertain Future of the Light Heavyweight Division

Coming into 2017, the future of the Light Heavyweight division was to be determined by a showdown between two P4P stars. Going into 2018, the retirement of the winner has set in motion a race for the belts.

Gleb Kuzin Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 19, 2017

At the start of 2017, Light Heavyweight had a nice set of challengers poised to break through: Eleider Alvarez had been a mandatory for Adonis Stevenson’s WBC belt for god knows how long, Aleksandr Gvozdyk was coming off a big 2016 and seemed ready to contest for a world title, Artur Beterbiev was the #1 IBF contender set to fight for the mandatory position, Dmitry Bivol would end up having a breakthrough year on American TV and was fighting towards a showdown against WBA Regular champ Nathan Cleverly, and Badou Jack announced his claim on the division immediately following his brutal fight-of-the-year showdown against James Degale down at 168.

The year ended up not going as planned for most of these contenders. The streaking not-so-youngsters have been stuck fighting for the regional titles, putting in work to put themselves at the front of the line for the titles vacated by Ward. The retirement of the great champion has ruined the plans for the big payday for all the contenders, who were left fighting cab drivers and club fighters for the leftovers.

Sergey Kovalev

Ed Mulholland / HBO

For years he has been beating the best he could face in order to secure a fight with Andre Ward. Now, following two back-to-back losses to the biggest talent of his generation, Kovalev is back to sweep the division clean. However, the task at hand will be harder than before. The talent pool is now deeper than it was just 4 years ago when Sergey reigned over the division for the first time. Kovalev will enter 2018 coming off a strong showing against Slava Shabranskyy. While he’s the biggest name left in the division, his bank account is sufficiently empty that he will be eager to face any challenger that HBO can put in front of him. An easy task after taking the Son of Golota 19 rounds. Next up he will face Igor Mikhalkin at MSG on 3/3 /2018 and, if all goes to plan, he will face the winner of Bivol-Barrera later in the year.

Dmitry Bivol

Ed Mulholland / HBO

Dmitry Bivol arguably had the best 2017 of all the active champions and contenders at 175. Bivol’s promoter, Andrey Ryabinsky, made the decision to develop Bivol in the US in the early stages of his career, and this plan is now paying dividends. Inside a single year Dmitry Bivol has risen from promising curiosity to phenom , and he’s currently HBO’s most hyped and intriguing fighter. And this was done without facing a single name or top-15 opponent. Coming into 2018 he has many great challenges ahead of him, and some might think — a little ahead of his time. Whether that will be the truth or not, we will know very soon as Dmitry Bivol is ready to face anybody, anyplace, anytime. He will enter 2018 with a signed contract to face Sullivan Barrera on the Kovalev-Mikhalkin undercard in March.

Badou Jack

Photo credit: USA Today Sports

One fighter with the true promotional power behind him — a tandem of Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Al Haymon — Badou Jack can get any fight he wants. Unlike many, he deserves to handpick them. Few believed in Badou after he suffered his first loss back in February of 2014 to little known journeyman Derek Edwards. Miraculously, Badou Jack has not only put himself back on a winning record, he has managed to become one of the most respected boxers in the world with a row of solid performances against top opposition. With a quick and brutal stoppage of then-champion Nathan Cleverly, Badou Jack has made his point — he will bring the fight to any top 175 lber. With the money behind him, all of the doors are open for him in 2018. According to the various reports, a fight between Badou Jack and WBC Champion Adonis Stevenson is expected to be announced imminently.

Aleksandr Gvozdyk

Mikey Williams / Top Rank

Bob Arum’s finest is stuck in the difficult position. He has everything — the reputation he’s built over the course of 2 years on HBO and later on ESPN, the skills, and a growing record. He’s good enough to challenge any 175lbs champion. But can he? Of all the major promoters and advisors, Bob Arum is the least interested in putting his guys on rival networks, and with all the champions and big names outside Top Rank, Gvozdyk might not get a title fight anytime soon. Recently Bob Arum stated that he is willing to trade fighters with CBS and its affiliates, including Showtime. With the WBC mandating Gvozdyk to face Alvarez, we’ll get to see whether Bob is going to stand by his words.

Sullivan Barrera

Ed Mulholland / HBO

Sullivan Barrera is another fighter who overcame adversity to establish his reputation as a top contender. He failed to show anything against Andre Ward (like most of Ward’s adversaries), but it didn’t break his confidence. He reentered the ring later that year with a brutal knockout victory over Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, knocking him out in the latter part of the fight. He has gone on to defeat one top contender after another, cementing his status in a division full of promising prospects. Barrera was negotiating to fight the very best for most of 2017: first his fight against Beterbiev fell through, then Kovalev, and later Bivol. All 3 of those fights could have made him a world champion. Fortunately, his work has put him as a mandatory challenger for the WBA title, first runner up for the WBO, and the top contender for the IBF. Coming into 2018, he is the man every champion wants to see across the squared circle. News just broke that he will face Bivol on the Kovalev-Mikhalkin undercard, and no boxing fan should miss it. It will be fireworks.

Yvon Michel’s Trio

Bernard Brault / La Presse

Adonis Stevenson, Eleider Alvarez, Artur Beterbiev — all three Canada-based 175 lbers have been frustrating the fans for the last few years, all thanks to Mr. Yvon Michel, who has refused to put his fighters against worthy opposition and 2018 doesn’t look much brighter. Eleider Alvarez accepted another step-aside paycheck, Artur Beterbiev has been suing Michelle over his contract, and Stevenson’s most notable achievements of 2017 are his weird weekly instagram videos. Unless Al Haymon intervenes, Yvon will proceed with his agenda until ragnarok. The WBC has made their move, bashing Adonis (or maybe themselves) over the lack of mandatories, mandating Alvarez to face Gvozdyk and allowing Stevenson-Jack to happen. The ball is in Michelle’s court, but he is yet to make his move.

Honorable mentions:

Marcus Browne. With ups & downs and early setbacks in his career, Browne seems to have found his grounding and is finally ready for the best. Unfortunately for him, Al Haymon has three better recognized light heavyweights in his stable. Who’s in the lead: an established champion, long time contender, newly crowned Russian or a long-time American prospect? We will probably learn that in 2018. Browne is rumored to return on the Spence-Peterson undercard on January 20th.

Joe Smith Jr. Following two breakthrough performances in 2016, The Great White Hope suffered a major setback in a unanimous decision loss to Sullivan Barrera earlier this year. Like a true warrior, he battled Barrera with a broken jaw in order to survive to the final bell. His star has not yet extinguished, and he has everything at his disposal to get things back on track in 2018.