Spike O'Sullivan: Fury, Katie and Jake Paul going places in 2023
BIG MOUTH: Jake Paul throws a left on Anderson Silva of Brazil during their cruiserweight bout at Desert Diamond Arena in October 2022 in Glendale, Arizona. Pic: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
How are those resolutions working out for ye all? We’re just three weeks into the new year so there’s still time to get going with the new routine or get the routine back on the rails.
Boxing, on this side of the Atlantic at least, is only really getting going this Saturday night when Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith meet in a very tasty middleweight fight in Manchester. It looks like a bout that could get 2023 up and running on the right note.
In Europe, the US, around the world and here at home too, there’s a lot of fighting to be done this year. I hope to be doing a fair bit of it myself!
Before I get back in the ring though, here are a few of my boldest predictions for what 2023 has in store for all of us…
I know as well as anyone that boxers have to sell fights but Eubank and Smith have both gone too far with their personal attacks this week. Be that as it may, the talk is over now and Saturday night will be all action.
I think Smith provides a real, serious challenge but ultimately Eubank’s size and reach, and his strength too, will be enough to get him the kind of impressive win he could really do with after the unholy mess of his scrapped fight with Conor Benn last year.
Do that and some really interesting options would open up for Eubank but the fight to make is to entice Gennady Golovkin back to the UK. I know GGG enjoyed boxing in London in 2016 when he KO’d Kell Brook. He’s at a stage of his career where he’s picking his shows and a London stadium bout would surely appeal.
Negotiations on the road to Croke Park are ongoing but Katie Taylor is finally going to get the huge homecoming arena show that she has craved for her entire career. And honestly I dunno if there’s anyone out there who deserves to see their dream realised as much as her.
There have definitely been times over the years when the rest of us weren’t sure if it would actually happen yet it genuinely seems like Katie never gave up the ghost. But more than most she’ll know this is the fight business not show business and however grand the place or pageantry, you have to deliver.
If Amanda Serrano does sign on the dotted line, the homecoming card becomes even bigger again. It offers Katie the chance to emphatically back up her win over Serrano last year that some still argue over. For nearly 20 years now we’ve seen Katie deliver. The enormity of the occasion will only make her more determined to do it all again.
I’ve already written here that my heart says a Dublin date should be her final fight but my head says she’ll box on.
The heavyweight division hasn’t had a lot of fresh blood rushing to the top of things but the pedigree of the three or four men up there has kept things plenty interesting. Now 2023 looks like it’s ready to serve us up a couple of crackers.
Tyson Fury has probably retired and unretired a few more times since my last column a few weeks back. If you find that kinda spoofing a bit tiresome you’re not alone. But there’s still no doubting the man once he steps in the ring.
Usyk and Fury is the sort of scrap you could spend weeks thinking about. There’s so many layers to it and so many layers to the two of them. They’re both brilliant in their own ways. I reckon Usyk could trouble Fury in some of the same ways that Steve Cunningham did a few years back. But ultimately Fury just has too much for him and brings that unbeaten record to an end.
If the fans get what they want then the two other dominant heavyweights of this era — Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua — will also meet in 2023. I’m not sure this is a fight Joshua would or should take. I’d throw a bit of my communion money on Wilder knocking AJ out and pushing himself back into the frame to fight the winner of Fury-Usyk.
Listen to me, I didn’t think nor hope to ever be writing about Jake Paul. I’d probably prefer if I didn’t know who he was in the first place.
But a lot of people come into boxing in different ways and maybe Paul is going to prove that you can come into the sport by first being an absolute pain in the hole on YouTube. The stick that has been used to beat Paul has been that he has never fought a proper boxer. He’s run himself up a 6-0 record by beating retired MMA fighters twice his age and a former basketball player half his size.
That stick will disappear next month when Paul meets Tommy Fury, who at least is a professional boxer, even if he has just 24 rounds to his name. Paul has shown he has skill and ability and clearly works hard at what he’s doing. I might hate myself for doing it but I’m probably going to throw E2 on Paul knocking him out. Should he do so then I think one of the sanctioning bodies, most likely the WBC, will rank him. There’ll be no shutting him up then.
The most mouth-watering fight that’s actually locked in for 2023 is the clash of the lightweight machines. According to Oscar De La Hoya’s Instagram post this week, Ryan Garcia has got the contract to fight Gervonta Davis on April 15 in Las Vegas and the power these two generate could probably run the Strip for the whole weekend.
I’m calling this a battle of the left hands. Tank Davis is actually the southpaw but it’s fair to say that Garcia, who’s orthodox, has a left too. His left hook is out of this world and is maybe one of the most lethal weapons in the sport at the minute.
Davis put some legal troubles to one side and did the business a couple of weeks ago against Hector Garcia to get the year off to a flyer and I think he just has too much for Ryan Garcia too. It could be an absolute war and in any battle, the Tank is hard beaten.
Some of ye thought I was on the wind-up when I put Jack Catterall in my end-of-year pound-for-pound rankings. The first thing I’ll say is if you follow me on Twitter you know I never joke and take life very seriously.
Myself and half of ye who watched the first fight between Jack and Josh Taylor last February saw only one winner and it wasn’t the man who had his arm raised at the end. I know Jack and have spent time around him when he came over to Dublin to spar a few years back. He was awful hard done by that night.
Taylor is the best boxer that Scotland has ever produced, which is a serious compliment for a country that gave us Ricky Burns. I think the jibes that Taylor has had to hear this last year about how he didn’t win the first fight will have him seriously fired up for the rematch, which is expected in April. It’ll be must-watch stuff again and I sense that Taylor might actually leave us all in no doubt this time around.
I thought Packie Collins was a hard task master but the lads in Examiner HQ put him to shame. They’re absolute sticklers for word counts and I’m rapidly running out of space here. Which is maybe no bad thing because I think 2023 is going to be another big year for a lot of Irish boxers who have been climbing up the rankings of late and honestly there are too many of them to mention.
There may be times when you think things are quiet or we’re not producing enough top-level fighters but trust me, there are plenty of good, solid lads out there bursting their bollocks to succeed. I’m the wise old head these days but don’t worry, I’m still striving too.
Let me shout out a few who I hope to see big things from this year. I know this is a big call but Thomas Carty has the talent to be the best Irish heavyweight ever. He’s managed by Dillian Whyte now and watching him spar, two things jump out: his arms are the size of my legs and he has a jab on him that could take him to the top and end a few careers.
Michael Conlan is the best-ranked Irish fighter out there and a world title shot is surely coming his way. Belfast’s Padraig McCrory is IBO light heavyweight champion and will aim to stay undefeated with another defence.
Caoimhín Agyarko is a light-middleweight getting good backing from Eddie Hearn and looks like he has some serious power and potential. Gary Cully and Jono Carroll are both on great winning streaks too and I’m delighted to see Anthony Cacace from Belfast getting his reward after some tough times too. He has an IBO super featherweight title to defend in 2023. It’ll be busy but that’s how we want it.
