The championship fight. The pinnacle of achievement across combat sports for centuries. A premiere attraction that draws millions every year. But not all title bouts are created equally.
So which title bouts every week are the ones to watch? We’ll look over every title fight from across the combat sports landscape and give you the five best based on five criteria:
- Competitiveness: Is this an even matchup? Or just a warm body to throw at a champion? It’s a title fight, so we want the best possible at that division in that promotion.
- Excitement: How exciting will this fight be? A clash of two elite talents throwing everything they have at each other in an attempt to win the gold? Or a half-dead plod-fest devoid of action or risk?
- Juice: A sort of catch-all term for all the factors behind the matchup. Is there a story leading up to the match? A true rivalry? Anticipated rematch? Do the fighters dislike each other? Were the circumstances leading to the fight extraordinary, or was it just a promoter putting two names against each other? Is there a lot of excitement or hype going into it?
- Prestige: Applies to the belt itself, but also to the fighter wearing it. Is this a long-tenured champion defending? Is this an interim title or one that was vacated? Has the champion increased the prestige of the title or is this a fight that will increase the prestige of it?
- Viewing Ease: We all don’t mind suffering for our art (or hobbies), but sometimes paying twenty dollars for a choppy stream, or searching your cable plan for a channel you’re pretty sure was just invented three days ago in the 6000s isn’t the best of times. How easy, affordable, and stress-free is this bout to watch?
So here are your five best gold options for the weekend.
1. WBA Super World Featherweight Championship: Carl Frampton (c) (23-0) vs. Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, Showtime
Competitiveness: 5: Two incredibly evenly matched fighters at the pinnacle of the sport. Their first bout was a majority decision and a terrific one, at that.
Excitement: 5
Juice: 4: Story writes itself. In one of the best bouts in all of combat sports in 2016, Frampton narrowly defeated Santa Cruz by majority decision and took his World featherweight title. Now LSC is trying to get it back almost six months later to the date.
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 4
Total: 23
2. WBC World Junior Lightweight Championship: Francisco Vargas (c) (23-0-2) vs. Miguel Berchelt (30-1)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, HBO
Competitiveness: 4
Excitement: 5: Berchelt has extremely heavy hands, especially at 130lbs, and Vargas has finished exceptionally tough fighters like JuanMa Lopez and Takashi Miura.
Juice: 2
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 4: HBO Go is the best thing HBO’s produced in the past decade, YES BETTER THAN GAME OF THRONES.
Total: 20
3. IBF World Featherweight Championship: Lee Selby (c) (23-1) vs. Jonathan Victor Barros (41-4-1)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, Showtime
Competitiveness: 4: Selby is clearly the better boxer and he should take this, but tellingly, each of Barros’s title fight losses were closer on the cards than the one before it. Barros will be desperate, and he’ll bring everything he’s got.
Excitement: 2
Juice: 3: There’s a good story here, Barros is 32 and this will be his fourth attempt at a world championship, failing in his first three attempts, all by decision. At 32, he’s not ancient, but every top player at featherweight is younger than him, and you wonder how many more chances he’ll have,
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 4
Total: 18
4. WBC World Lightweight Championship: Dejan Zlaticanin (c) (22-0) vs. Mikey Garcia (35-0)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, Showtime
Competitiveness: 3: Zlaticanin is one of the weaker world champions in boxing, and before his hiatus, Garcia was on many-a-P4P list. 3 is actually pretty generous. Call it 2.5.
Excitement: 4: Mikey can drag a fun bout out of anyone.
Juice: 1
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 4
Total: 17
5. IBF World Junior Bantamweight Championship: Jerwin Ancajas (c) (25-1-1) vs. Jose Alfredo Rodriguez (32-4)
When/Where: Sunday, 12:00pm, Untelevised
Competitiveness: 2: Nah, Rodriguez beating a few cans in 6/8-rounders after dropping four of five does not a compelling fight make.
Excitement: 3
Juice: 1
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 1: Unless you’re vacationing in China, good luck.
Total: 12
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