Spike O’Sullivan: All hail king Usyk but plenty of pretenders to throne in my 2025 pound-for-pound rankings

Ukraine's heavyweight champion is all-time royalty while Claressa and Katie reign supreme too. Next year I hope we see a mouth-watering Japanese showdown, a renewal of Russian hostilities and an overdue Canelo test

UNDERLINING HIS EXCELLENCE: Oleksandr Usyk bests Tyson Fury during the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC and WBO Undisputed World Heavyweight title fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Pic: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Santy must have heard about how chronic Cork traffic is because he made it to Togher early this year. I got a new heavy bag and hung it up at home to get my retaliation in first before the battle of the bulge began here. I hope we all had plenty of elastic in the waistbands this year boys and girls.

There’s plenty to weigh up for all of us before the calendar turns to 2025 and in my sport of kings, the pound-for-pound throne belongs to only one man. Oleksandr Usyk did everything I had predicted in my big fight preview last week as he confirmed his dominance over Tyson Fury and the heavyweight division with a brilliant unanimous victory.