Anthony Joshua, Carl Frampton, Tyson Fury: Five fights we want for British boxing in 2018

January is often a quiet month for boxing, albeit one brimming with promise for the host of big potential fights that fans hope will be set up over the course of the next year.

We decided to have a look at five bouts we’d love to see happen in 2018 involving British boxers. To be honest, we’d settle for just two or three of them!

Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder

Two devastating and undefeated knockout artists in the heavyweight division, both hoping to be remembered as the face of the post-Klitschko era.

It seems almost inevitable that the two will meet down the line. It mostly comes down to whether this will happen in 2018.

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Joshua appears to be almost signed and sealed to face Joseph Parker this spring. If that happens, the winner (with AJ the heavy favourite going in) will hold every world heavyweight title belt… except the WBC version owned by Wilder.

AJ would likely fight twice this year. And given he and promoter Eddie Hearns’ repeated claims that Joshua will unify the division, it’s unlikely that they’ll want to waste any time.

Both sides may instead choose to stretch the build-up as long as possible, which in itself is a gamble. But if they insist on the slow-burn approach, it’s likely a 2019 bout.

That doesn’t mean Joshua will be short of a blockbuster opponent after Parker, however…

Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury

An all-English battle of the two men who smashed open the maximum-weight class by each doing what was once considered impossible and beating Wladimir Klitschko this decade would sell out Wembley Stadium, guaranteed.

Part of this is down to the significance of the pairing, of course. But there’s also a huge appeal to the fight because of how different the two are.

The smiling nice guy, loved by almost everyone facing the potty-mouthed homophobe who resented the way Britain refused to treat him as a conquering hero when he beat Wlad (before AJ did, too). The current champion versus the man who never lost the belts in the ring. Matchroom against the rest of the British boxing world they effectively froze out of Sky Sports and elsewhere.

There are big fights, there are grudge fights and then there are big grudge fights. This would have it all. The big question mark, however, is whether Fury really can or will head into such a huge bout less than a year after returning from his ban, which would be more or less a total of three years away from the ring.

Carl Frampton vs Leo Santa Cruz, part three

Northern Ireland’s Frampton and Mexico’s Santa Cruz contested two crackers in the summer of 2016 and early 2017, trading the WBA featherweight title and taking each other’s professional career ‘0’s in the process.

The governing body has favoured pursuing Santa Cruz versus Abner Mares as their title fight since then, while Frampton has considered several different paths after a tough 2017. But that trilogy fight will hang low over the heads of both fighters and their promoters at all times, in the event they need something significant to draw money. We remain optimistic that a feint hope of this taking place in 2018 remains.

Amir Khan vs Kell Brook

A domestic fight that would have filled any football stadium barring Wembley in 2014 or 2015 (and could have perhaps even done very good business at the site of Joshua-Klitschko as well), Khan vs Brook is now pretty much a last resort for two boxers who, for reasons not completely clear, opted against going for the domestic superfight and looked to make a quick buck in high-profile certain defeats against middleweights Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.

With Brook now in a position where carrying on could be considered dangerous to his well-being and Khan’s marriage drama and appearance on I’m A Celebrity… turning him into little more than a ‘Z-List’ celebrity, it’d probably be in the best interests of both of them to just swallow their pride, take a 50-50 split at whatever arena their teams can set up and enter a scenario where one of the two can perhaps salvage their career at the top level.

As farfetched as it may seem a good couple of years after the ship appeared to sail on this match, all it’d probably take is a pull-apart at the first press conference to get many buzzing at the prospect once again. And, in fairness, the fighting style of both men should at least guarantee an exciting contest with a strong chance of a finish inside the distance.

Billy Joe Saunders vs Canelo Alvarez

Alvarez is set to rematch Golovkin this year after their controversial draw in the first fight. Saunders is starting to look the part elsewhere in the division and has said on numerous occasions he wants the winner, assuming he makes it through a WBO world title defense in the interim.

However, we think he’ll likely end up fighting the loser of the megafight that will hopefully be confirmed for Cinco de Mayo weekend, given the relatively high risk and low financial reward BJS presents. And the smart money says the loser of that fight will be Alvarez.

Saunders versus either would make for a great champion vs champion clash if he is able to get the winner, or even if only one belt is involved when a fight with one of the duo is signed. So, we’ll take either this year, even though it feels as though Canelo is more likely to happen for the time being.