In a year-round, global sport like boxing, there’s a near-guarantee that every year will produce several great fights. That was no different in 2024, with several viable contenders emerging in the Fight of the Year race.
Making 2024 even more interesting was the fact that these great fights took place across a variety of weight classes and for both men and women — and many with the biggest stakes in the sport on the line. Ultimately, two undisputed championship fights led the field when the year came to a close.
Our panel of CBS Sports experts sat down, debated and cast our votes for Fight of the Year. Let’s take a look at the results.
Winner: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 1
It speaks to the rivalry between these two generationally great fighters that their December rematch was also in contention for the top spot on this list. The first meeting between Usyk and Fury, which took place May 18, was to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
Fury used his considerable size advantages to control the action in the early rounds. Fury got so comfortable as the momentum rolled in his favor that he took to showboating and dancing. Usyk is a dynamic, skilled and intelligent fighter, however, and made the necessary adjustments to work his way back into the fight over the middle rounds before the most dramatic moment of the fight in Round 9. In that round, Usyk landed a flush left hook that had Fury badly rattled and stumbling around the right as Usyk continued the barrage until Fury was only held up by the ropes, resulting in the referee calling a knockdown.
That 10-8 round proved to be the difference in the fight with Usyk winning a split decision on scores of 115-112, 113-114, and 114-113. The win in the dramatic back-and-forth battle earned Usyk the honor of being undisputed heavyweight champion just under six years after going undisputed at cruiserweight and cemented his place as one of the best fighters in boxing history while also adding to Fury’s long list of fantastic in-ring battles.
Honorable mentions
Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 2
Two years after delivering the 2022 Fight of the Year, Serrano and Taylor shared a ring once again and delivered another classic war. The fight also had a massive audience, getting the featured undercard spot on the Netflix stream of Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson.
Taylor, who won the first meeting to retain her status as undisputed lightweight champion, this time entered as undisputed junior welterweight champion. Both fighters again showed their deep well of skills across 10 rounds, but Taylor landed several headbutts throughout the bout, including one that opened a nasty cut over Serrano’s eye and led to a constant flow of blood for the rest of the fight. Serrano was finally deducted a point in the final round, which seemed to lock up the decision for Serrano.
Unfortunately for Serrano, Taylor was given the unanimous decision victory — a decision that was met by boos from the packed crowd. Boxing fans will be blessed if the controversy results in a third meeting between the two women.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Serhii Bohachuk
While not having the massive stakes of Usyk vs. Fury or Taylor vs. Serrano, Ortiz and Bohachuk was a war every bit as deserving of being on this list. Ortiz was facing the stiffest test of his still-young career and had to survive more than a few dicey moments against an opponent willing to stand and trade in the center of the ring.
Bohachuk scored a pair of flash knockdowns in the fight, grabbing 10-8 rounds on the official scorecards and forcing Ortiz to battle back to earn what was eventually a majority decision.
The fight was a great opportunity for Ortiz to answer the kinds of hard questions asked of all young fighters while setting him up for some potentially huge things in 2025.
Others receiving votes: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2, Sebastian Fundora vs. Tim Tszyu, Kenshiro Teraji vs, Carlos Canizales
Read the full article here
