Boxing Year in Review: May 2025
Good intentions but fights and fighters who could not match them
Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney were expected to reconvene in a rerun of their first clash last April (pictured below). The boxing gods laughed at the plans of promoters and Saudi Arabian powerbrokers, scuppering each idea fight by fight.
In an opening weekend that promised so much, never before has such a collection of stars failed to deliver on the big stage. In the Times Square main event, Ryan Garcia was dropped early and stunned on points by Rolando Romero.
That sent a potential rematch with old rival Devin Haney up in smoke. Haney stunk the place out against Jose Ramirez prior to Garcia’s non-performance.
Display of the night came from Teofimo Lopez, who used his speed, skills and athleticism to defeat Arnold Barboza Jr on points. Lopez called out welterweight champion Jaron Ennis.
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Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez looked nothing like a pound-for-pound superstar and one of the highest-paid boxers when phoning in a dire 12-round win over William Scull in Riyadh. The Cuban IBF champion was extremely negative, but Canelo’s return to undisputed status was underwhelming.
It was revealed after the win in the ring that Canelo would face Terence Crawford next in Las Vegas on September 12 for all the marbles at super-middleweight!
On the undercard, Badou Jack reaffirmed his WBC cruiserweight championship status by outpointing Noel Mikaelian, Jaime Munguia gained revenge over Bruno Surace on points and Efe Ajagba boxed to a sloppy 10-round heavyweight draw with Martin Bakole.
It might be a stark claim to suggest that Naoya Inoue won the weekend, but the Japanese star’s return to Las Vegas was a thriller. Decked in round two by Roman Cardenas, the ‘Monster’ shook himself off and proceeded to blast away Cardenas in round eight. Not before the opponent had garnered maximum credit for his efforts.
Joining Inoue on May 4 was Rafael Espinoza. The WBO featherweight champion beat up Edward Vazquez until the challenger could take no more in round seven. Espinoza is fast becoming must-watch boxing TV.
In Nottingham, one week later, hometown hero Leigh Wood returned from a lengthy layoff to suffer a seventh-round stoppage to Belfast’s resurgent Anthony Cacace.
Also on that card, Liam Davies outpointed undefeated Kurt Walker while Owen Cooper had too much for Chris Kongo and Ezra Taylor had to dog it out against Birmingham’s Troy Jones.
On the same evening, May 10, over in San Diego, there was controversy as Emanuel Navarrete suffered a cut seemingly inflicted by a Charly Suarez punch, deemed to be a headbutt. That resulted in an eighth-round technical decision in favour of the reigning belt holder.
Elsewhere on the bill, Raymond Muratalla had too much firepower and sharpness for Zaur Abdullaev in their IBF lightweight Interim title bout.
On May 17, the Bosh Army were left disappointed as their main man, Johnny Fisher, blew up and gassed out against Dave Allen in their Copper Box rematch. Fisher was stopped heavily in round five, resulting in the first defeat on his pro slate.
Josh Taylor’s brave new future at welterweight is dead in the water before it even managed to float. The former undisputed champion was correctly decisioned by the underappreciated Nottingham workhorse Ekow Essuman on May 24.
While Taylor will be busy assessing his future, one fighter who has a huge future is heavyweight banger Moses Itauma. The Londoner battered Mike Balogun in two rounds. Balogun was brave, but Itauma needs a tougher test.
Earlier in the day (for me, anyway), Angelo Leo made a belated first defence of his IBF featherweight title, defeating Tomoki Kameda on away soil over 12 rounds. Leo will have an eye on a unification bout next.
Circling back a day, to Friday, May 23, Terri Harper enjoyed her homecoming bout immensely, outpointing Natalie Zimmermann 99-91 across the board in defence of her WBO lightweight title.
On the Doncaster undercard, ageless Yorkshire southpaw Maxi Hughes kept his winning run rolling forward, beating a negative Archie Sharp over 12 rounds at lightweight.
Over in Poland, a bruising Bridgerweight battle ended with seemingly ageless Krzysztof Wlodarczyk climbing off the canvas to stop compatriot Adam Balski in round 10.
Image Credits: DAZN, BBC, Sugar Bert Boxing.
About Steve…
Current existence: Online editor at Boxing News Magazine.
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https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/making-the-fights-colorful?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios