Boxing in 2025: four fantasies, one reality and one wish

The world of Quebec boxing offered us some good fights in 2024, what can we hope for next year? Here are four fantasies, one reality and one wish.

Mbilli-Pacheco

Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) continues to prove to us that he is ready for the next step and that he is now a serious contender for a world-class fight. In the last year, he defeated Rohan Murdock (retirement), Mark Heffron (KO) and Sergiy Derevyanchenko (decision). This clash against Diego Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) should happen since the IBF made it mandatory during the fall, we just don’t yet know when it will take place. This will be an opportunity for Mbilli to show that he is a serious contender for the many titles that currently belong to Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed king of super middleweight (168 lbs).

Beterbiev-Bivol 2

This was one of the fantasies at the time of writing these lines and materialized in the following days since it will take place on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) became undisputed light heavyweight champion (175 lbs) by defeating Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) by majority decision. last October. This victory was applauded by some and decried by many others because Beterbiev only showed as much dynamism as in his previous duels while Bivol was consistent in his attacks. But Beterbiev finished the fight well and did enough to win, or so we believe. We will perhaps know for certain in less than two months.

Clavel-Bermudez or Nery Plata

Kim Clavel (20-2, 3 KOs) is at the top of the rankings in light flyweight (108 lbs), her only two defeats were against the girls ahead of her, Jessica Nery Plata (30-2, 3 KOs) and Evelin Bermudez (20-1-1, 7 KOs). Since losing to Bermudez in October 2023, Clavel has won three times and has changed the way she approaches her relationship with boxing, a change that seems to have done her a lot of good. All this was part of an avowed desire to return to the ring to finally become world champion again. Bermudez holds the IBF and WBO titles while Nery Plata holds the WBC title.

Pascal-Rozicki

During his comeback, Jean Pascal (37-7-1, 21 KOs) suffered a KO. as unexpected as surprising to Terry Osias last September. He did it under the eyes of Nova Scotian Ryan Rozicki (20-1, 19 KOs), WBC number one contender in the 200 lb and under category. There had even been talk of the two men facing each other before the end of 2024, which did not happen. We are now talking about the month of March. Why do we want to see this fight? To confirm if Pascal is still able to keep up and above all to see if he is able to live up to his claims of being as impactful as Bernard Hopkins at an advanced age. We won’t be surprised by anything with Pascal.

Butler-Volny 2

Steven Butler (35-5-1, 29 KOs) certainly did not expect Patrice Volny (19-1, 13 KOs) to beat him by KO. technical last June. He certainly wasn’t overconfident, he knew this fight would be difficult, but he was probably surprised to make it this far without going the distance when he was so close to the goal. Not being a man to back down from a challenge, Butler would probably not mind seeing Volny again who has remained inactive since that fight. Just like during the first meeting, there would certainly be a lot of atmosphere if a second duel were to take place.

A wish for Beaudoin

Leila Beaudoin (12-1, 1 KO) won the WBO International super featherweight belt (130 lbs) last summer in Quebec, but that is not necessarily what she will remember from her year. At the beginning of November, she saw her fight against the Argentinian Claudia Andrea Lopez (26-17, 6 KOs) be canceled because the Régie des Alcools des Courses et des Jeux (RACJ) considered that the confrontation was too dangerous for her. This was the second time this year that she had experienced this situation. We therefore wish him fights in 2025.