What Will 2013 Bring Us?

[Gareth Rees]

It's that time of the year where we set our New Year's resolutions and get our crystal ball out to predict what will happen this year. So I am going to try and predict what will happen in the boxing world and in particular, look at how some of the top stars in the world and in the UK will not only perform, but who they will face.

Let's start with Nonito Donaire (31-1), who for me was undoubtedly 2012's fighter of the year. Hopefully Donaire will be as active as he was in 2012 where he fought four times and the rumours circling around at the moment are that his first fight of 2013 will be in the Featherweight division against WBA Super champion Chris John (48-0-2). If you include Donaire's interim WBA title at Super Flyweight, this fight will give Donaire the chance to become a 5-weight world champion; I can see Donaire beating John quite impressively and even possibly stopping the veteran Indonesian. However this fight would provide several questions over who Donaire would fight after, with many fans wanting a Donaire v Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0) or Abner Mares (25-0-1) fight back down at Super Bantamweight. Whilst the Rigondeaux fight would be easier to make as both fighters are promoted by Top Rank, we would have to rely on Bob Arum wanting to make this fight as well and we would need Top Rank and Golden Boy to put their differences aside to have any chance of a Donaire v Mares clash. Other possible opponents include Orlando Salido (39-11-2), Billy Dib (35-1) and Mikey Garcia (30-0).

Next up is the man who provokes more opinions than any other fighter in the world and some have him as the number one pound for pound fighter and that is Floyd Mayweather Jr (43-0). Mayweather has provisionally scheduled two fights for 2013, one on the 4th May and another on 14th September. He has also indicated due to his Uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather being debilitated due to diabetes, he may have his father Floyd Mayweather Sr train him, so there undoubtedly will be questions due to the pair's at times fractured relationship. At the moment it seems that Robert Guerrero (31-1-1) is the front runner to be Mayweathers' opponent in May, whilst Guerrero will be brave and resilient throughout the fight, Mayweather will be in a different class to Guerrero and should earn an easy points decision victory. Mayweathers' opponent in September is much tougher to predict, the fans pick would be Saul Alvarez (41-0-1), who I believe will face Austin Trout on the same weekend as Mayweather fights in May. Another possible contender for September could be Devon Alexander (24-1) if and this is a big if, he beats Kell Brook (29-0) in February, in what I believe is a real 50-50 fight. There will be calls for Mayweather to face guys like Sergio Martinez (50-2-2) and Gennady Golovkin (24-0), but it would be very surprising if either of those fights happened. More viable options would include Danny Garcia (25-0) and Lamont Peterson (30-1-1).

Now what of the Filipino superstar who was on the receiving end of 2012's knockout of the year, Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2). It looks like Bob Arum is set of having Pacquiao in a fifth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1). Whilst this fight, as always will be tough to call, I believe if Pacquiao loses he will probably retire or have an easy and deserving retirement fight. However if Pacquiao wins, depending on what type of result it is, we will either see Pacquiao v Marquez VI or a rematch between Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley (29-0), which I would fancy Pacquiao to win. If Pacquiao does manage to win impressively against both Marquez and Bradley, expect to hear the familiar calls for a Pacquiao v Mayweather fight in 2014. Marquez on the other hand, if he doesn't face Pacquiao twice in 2013, I would expect him to have a fight of the year candidate against Brandon Rios (31-0-1), in what is a classic pressure fighter vs counter puncher match-up.

Now time to look at how some of the British fighters might fair in 2013. Carl Froch (30-2) looks set to have a rematch with Mikkel Kessler (46-2) here in the UK in April or May time, in what will be another barn burner of a fight. Both fighters in their last two fights have looked incredibly impressive, stopping their opponents quite quickly. This fight is another real pick them fight, but I think home advantage may just help Froch win a close decision, but I wouldn't be shocked to see Kessler win. If Froch does win, he will be pushing for a rematch with Andre Ward (26-0) here in the UK again; whilst it will be interesting to see Ward fighting out of his comfort zone and abroad, I would expect him to impress everyone again and beat Froch by a unanimous decision. However if Froch can't get the Ward fight, he has previously spoken of facing James Degale (15-1) or he could go for a title in a second weight class, in another all British clash with Nathan Cleverly (25-0). This would be helpful for Cleverly, especially if he can't get any unification fights with the likes of Beibut Shumenov (13-1) and Tavoris Cloud (24-0). There is only one fight we all want for the third and final British world champion, Ricky Burns (35-2) and that is facing Adrien Broner (25-0). Burns has a scheduled keep busy fight in January against an as yet unnamed opponent, whilst Broner is scheduled to face Gavin Rees (37-1-1) on 2nd February, then hopefully Burns and Broner will get it on in May or June time, in a fight I believe will be closer than expected but see Broner winning.

Finally let's look at the Heavyweight division, while Wladimir Klitschko (59-3) is struggling to find legitimate challengers at the moment, there are a lot of questions surrounding his brother Vitali (45-2). Tyson Fury (20-0) looks sets to face the winner of Chris Arreola (35-2) vs Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1) which takes place in February and if Fury wins that, he will become Vitali's mandatory challenger. However we are still uncertain if Vitali will retire or not and I believe the draw of facing David Haye (26-2), could mean Vitali postpones his retirement slightly and based on Vitali's last few performances I could see Haye beating him and then knowing what Haye's like, retiring himself. This will leave a nice long queue for the WBC Heavyweight belt, with Fury due to his mandatory position being head of the queue, but the likes of Alexander Povetkin (25-0), Kubrat Pulev (17-0), Denis Boystov (31-0), David Price (15-0) and others including Wladimir Klitschko fancying a shot at the title. So I wouldn't expect the anticipated all-British clash between Fury and Price to happen in 2013.

Finally these are some of the fights and fighters I believe will make headlines in 2013 in what should be another excellent year for boxing, however obviously I couldn't include everybody. There are some other young British fighters I believe may challenge for a World title in 2013, these fighters include George Groves, James Degale, Scott Quigg, Carl Frampton, and Tony Bellew, but there are many more to keep an eye out for.

[-FuryFuego-]

Pullouts, positive drug tests, fights not being made (like Ricky Burns and Frank Warren avoiding Adrien Broner), all that good stuff.

[-FuryFuego-]

Weird to see an article with a sig on it.

[Gareth Rees]

Pullouts, positive drug tests, fights not being made (like Ricky Burns and Frank Warren avoiding Adrien Broner), all that good stuff.

i tried not to be pessimistic

[ItsBillyFrazier]

Pullouts, positive drug tests, fights not being made (like Ricky Burns and Frank Warren avoiding Adrien Broner), all that good stuff.

You haven't been wrong so far man!

[Ghost with a hammer]

A couple of Lee Selby KOs