10 best performances of 2022 … so far
Boxing fans have been blessed by a series of outstanding performances in the first half of 2022, which ends at midnight on Thursday.
Boxing Junkie painstakingly went through results day by day since the start of the year to determine the best of the best. And we came up with what we feel are the 10 top performances so far.
Here they are, in reverse order.
ARTUR BETERBIEV TKO 2 JOE SMITH JR.
Date: June 18
Location: New York City
Background: No one was surprised that Beterbiev defeated Smith to unify three light heavyweight titles. It was the way he did it that left us in awe. Smith isn’t the best boxer in the business but he’s a tough, determined guy, which is why he has been able to piece together a good career and win a world title. A good boxer could outpoint Smith but it was difficult to blow him out. And that’s what Beterbiev did. The Montreal-based Russian, known for his heavy hands, began to land hard punches almost from the opening bell and didn’t stop until Smith went down three times and the fight was mercifully stopped in Round 2 to give him 18 knockouts in 18 fights. Beterbiev was never more dominating.
ERROL SPENCE JR. TKO 10 YORDENIS UGAS
Date: April 16
Location: Arlington, Texas
Background: Ugas is an excellent boxer who was reared in the Cuban amateur system and coming off a comprehensive victory over Manny Pacquiao that sent the future Hall of Famer into retirement. Yet he was no match for Spence. The Texan used his superb all-around game to get the better of Ugas in every way. He outboxed him, outworked him, beat him up and finally became the first to stop him, the perfect finish to a near-perfect showing that allowed him to unify three of the four major welterweight titles. Spence has delivered other dominating performances but he was never better against an elite opponent than he was against the respected Ugas, who was outclassed by one of the best in the business.
HECTOR LUIS GARCIA UD CHRIS COLBERT
Date: Feb. 26
Location: Las Vegas
Background: Garcia competed in the 2016 Olympics for his native Dominican Republic but he was largely unknown internationally when he agreed on short notice to take on Colbert, a gifted young junior lightweight contender who had been stamped as a future star. Well, now we know what Garcia can do. He walked down Colbert from the opening bell, landing hard combinations almost at will to win round after round and deliver a stunning unanimous-decision upset. And he did it without lead trainer Ismael Salas, who was out of town with another client. It was an eye-opening performance, one that left little doubt about Garcia’s ability and made him a major player in the sport overnight.
DEVIN HANEY UD GEORGE KAMBOSOS JR.
Date: June 5
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Background: Haney just needed the opportunity to showcase his elite talents on a truly big stage. When it came, he didn’t disappoint. The 23-year-old from Las Vegas traveled halfway around the world to face undisputed lightweight champion and Aussie hero George Kambosos Jr., a rough, tough fighter who stunned the boxing world by taking all four 135-pound belts from then-unbeaten Teofimo Lopez in November 2021. Well, rough and tough isn’t enough against a fighter of Haney’s ability. He gave a brilliant, almost flawless boxing performance that left Kambosos baffled, frustrated and, in the end, without the beloved belts he had won six months earlier. Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and Vasiliy Lomachenko all fancy themselves as the best lightweight in the world. However, after his performance against Kambosos, Haney is a step ahead of the rest.
SEBASTIAN FUNDORA TKO 9 ERICKSON LUBIN
Date: April 9
Location: Las Vegas
Background: One element of this story that makes Fundora’s performance so impressive was the momentum Lubin brought into the ring. Lubin bounced back from his knockout loss to Jermell Charlo in 2017 by winning six consecutive junior middleweight fights, including a knockout of Jeison Rosario in his previous bout. He looked almost unbeatable. And then Fundora did his thing. The impossibly tall, skinny, but relentless contender brought fire to Lubin from the outset and ultimately beat him up to a point where Lubin’s cornermen had no choice to but to stop the fight. And he had to overcome a knockdown to do it, which only added to luster to his stunning victory. If there were any doubts about “The Towering Inferno” going into the fight, there wasn’t when it was over. He’s the real deal.
SHAKUR STEVENSON UD OSCAR VALDEZ
Date: April 30
Location: Las Vegas
Background: Oscar Valdez was a proven commodity, a two-time Olympian and respected champion in his prime with a series of dominating victories over the past six, seven years. That includes a 10th-round knockout of the feared Miguel Berchelt last year, which lifted Valdez to genuine star status. All that is why Stevenson’s performance was so remarkable: He made Valdez look like an amateur. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist used his speed, athleticism and off-the-charts skill set to give a boxing clinic, leaving Valdez to grope desperately for some way to turn to tide. He simply didn’t the tools to do so against an opponent as gifted and polished as Stevenson. Is the fact Stevenson couldn’t stop Valdez a legitimate knock against him? Nah. Domination is domination. Stevenson was brilliant.
JESSE RODRIGUEZ TKO 8 SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI
Date: June 25
Location: San Antonio
Background: Rodriguez’s remarkable 2022 story actually began in February, when he moved up two divisions on a few days’ notice yet easily outpointed 115-pound stalwart Carlos Cuadras to win the WBC’s secondary title. He was just getting started. He agreed to defend his belt four months later against the dangerous puncher Sor Rungvisai, who had been scheduled to fight Cuadras in February but pulled out because of illness. The gamble paid off in a huge way, as Rodriguez, a marvelous boxer, outclassed Sor Rungvisai and then did the seemingly impossible by stopping the rugged Thai veteran in the eighth round in front of his hometown fans in San Antonio. In two fights Rodriguez went from prospect to pound-for-pound consideration, a meteoric rise that stamps him as a potential superstar.
NAOYA INOUE TKO 2 NONITO DONAIRE
Date: June 6
Location: Saitama, Japan
Background: Donaire had shocked the boxing world and enhanced his sterling resume by pushing the unbeaten Japanese star to his limits in November 2019, when Inoue retained his 118-pound belts by a unanimous decision. However, Inoue had to fight through broken bones in his face in that bout. The second meeting? His injuries had healed and Donaire had turned 39 before the rematch, which didn’t bode well for the Filipino-American star. And, as it turned out, it was no contest. Inoue overwhelmed Donaire, putting him down in the final seconds of the opening round and then finishing him off in the second to unify three of the four major bantamweight titles and climb to the top of some pound-for-pound lists. Inoue’s performance was nothing short of breathtaking, which is what we’ve come to expect from him.
JERMELL CHARLO KO 10 BRIAN CASTANO
Date: May 14
Location: Carson, California
Background: Charlo and Castano engaged in one of the more entertaining fights of 2021, a back-and-forth war in July that failed to crown an undisputed 154-pound champion because it ended in a draw. The rematch was a different story. An inspired Charlo never allowed the hard-charging Argentine to get rolling, outboxing him for nine-plus rounds and then finishing him off in dramatic fashion in Round 10 to finally collect all four belts and preeminence in the division. The performance – arguably the best of Charlo’s decorated career – was so impressive that it became almost impossible to keep him off pound-for-pound lists. He’s No. 10 on Boxing Junkie’s list … and climbing.
DMITRY BIVOL UD CANELO ALVAREZ
Date: May 7
Location: Las Vegas
Background: Yes, Bivol was naturally bigger than the consensus No. 1 fighter pound for pound. But so was Sergey Kovalev. And we know what happened in that fight. And the Russian was a good, experienced boxer. But was he good enough to beat the king? Almost everyone agreed beforehand that the answer to that question was a resounding “no”. And then it happened. Bivol boxed circles around his baffled opponent, using stick-and-move tactics to inflict punishment but not take much in return in what turned out to be a one-sided victory. It was stunning to watch, the great Canelo neutralized to a point where he seemed helpless by the middle rounds. All three judges scored it 115-113 in what amounts to Alvarez’s hometown but everyone who understands boxing knows it wasn’t that close. Bivol delivered a masterpiece that night at T-Mobile Arena.
