Boxing Year in Review: January 2025
Naoya Inoue, Jai Opetaia and Diego Pacheco kicked off the calendar
The year’s major fight cards started off in Australia on January 8 as Jai Opetaia scored an early Knockout of the Year contender, blasting away late-replacement opponent David Nyika in round four. Opetaia successfully defended his IBF cruiserweight title and called out Gilberto Ramirez for a unification.
After the contest, promoter Eddie Hearn speculated that Opetaia could rise to heavyweight and fight Oleksandr Usyk within 18 months.
On the undercard, Justis Huni closed in on a fight with Moses Itauma by blasting away overmatched South African Shaun Potgieter in two. Teremoana Jr smashed Germany’s Osasu Otobo in a round.
The opening month slowed down a little before the announcement arrived that Chris Eubank and Conor Benn would finally fight, in the UK, following Benn’s two-year drug ban.
Tyson Fury also took to social media to announce his supposed retirement. Whether he sticks to it remains to be seen.
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The first appearance of a superstar saw Naoya Inoue blast away overmatched Korean Ye Joon Kim on January 24 in Tokyo. Inoue was supposed to fight Sam Goodman on this date, but the Aussie suffered a recurrence of the cut that had scuppered their original December 24 meeting.
Southpaw Kim was game, but waving in ‘The Monster’ proved his downfall as Inoue hit the body, then the head, smashing away the challenger.
Inoue’s promoter, Bob Arum, said post-fight that his man would fight in Las Vegas in the spring. The unified super-bantamweight king said he would also appear in Saudi Arabia during the year.
The following evening in Nottingham, Dalton Smith became the new European champion at 140 pounds, battering overmatched Frenchman Walid Ouizza in round one.
Conah Walker lost many of the early rounds to Harry Scarff before scoring a huge comeback 11th-round knockout win to take home the British title. Ellie Scotney danced around Mea Motu for 10 rounds on the undercard, defending her world titles.
The DAZN double-header slid into the evening as Diego Pacheco reinforced his credentials over in Las Vegas, defeating Steven Nelson over 12 rounds, 117-111 on all three cards. Pacheco is not yet ready for Canelo, but a fight with the likes of Mbilli, Plant, Berlanga or Munguia would be good.
On the undercard, Andy Cruz cruised past Omar Salcido over 10 rounds, almost stopping him in the final session. Ernesto Mercado stopped former world champion Jose Pedraza in the fourth round and set about goading Shakur Stevenson at ringside. Mercado fancies a crack at either Shakur or Keyshawn Davis.
Photo Credits: BBC, DAZN, Bad Left Hook.
About Steve…
Current existence: Online editor at Boxing News Magazine.
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