10 Best Boxing Fights in 2025

Let’s not beat around the bush – 2025 has been a poor year for boxing. Many of the fights that people wanted failed to materialise, while the ones that did happen often fell short of expectations.

Nevertheless, there were more than a few diamonds in the rough. Today, we’ll be looking at the ten best fights from the previous year, featuring stars such as Naoya Inoue, Dmitri Bivol and Fabio Wardley.

Of course, this list is merely subjective. What you look for in a great fight may not line up with our parameters – as always, feel free to share your thoughts. 

10. Conah Walker vs Pat McCormack

This one was all about the context behind it. Conah Walker is a tough, seasoned professional who was expected to give rising star Pat McCormack a few rounds – however, he clearly hadn’t read the script.

Like many amateur stars who make the jump to the pro ranks, McCormack’s energy levels began depleting after he dominated the first four rounds. For Walker, this was his bread and butter.

Sensing the opportunity, Walker emptied the tank on an exhausted McCormack in the final round. He knocked the Olympic silver medalist through the ropes, who was then unable to beat the count. As far as upsets go, they don’t get much more dramatic than this. 

9. Filip Hrgovic vs David Adeleye

David Adeleye is quickly becoming the new Dereck Chisora – he isn’t likely to ever win a world title, but he’s a very tough customer who’ll fight absolutely anyone. 

Filip Hrgovic largely dominated their heavyweight encounter on the Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte show, but Adeleye sparked into life in the eighth round. Just after Hrgovic had knocked him down, Adeleye unleashed a volley of powerful hooks at Hrgovic’s head. He was badly hurt – one more clean punch from the Londoner may have seen the fight stopped.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough for Adeleye, who couldn’t meaningfully follow up on this attack. Nevertheless, he proved a lot of people wrong by surviving 12 rounds with such a high-level operator, inflicting a massive cut on his opponent in the process. 

8. Junto Nakatani vs Sebastian Hernandez

Junto Nakatani went into this one as one of the most exciting young stars in boxing. He was expected to deliver a showcase performance against Sebastian Hernandez, but the Mexican wasn’t going to have any of that nonsense.

After an opening period that saw Nakatani unleashing all of his flashy offence on Hernandez, the challenger remained unperturbed. He pushed forward and began to take the fight to a weary Nakatani, who was forced into a non-stop firefight for the remainder of the bout. 

Hernandez never gave Nakatani a second to breathe, but the champion managed to survive the 12 rounds. In the end, Nakatani was awarded a unanimous decision – it was a contentious call from the judges, but Hernandez did himself plenty of favours moving forwards with this display.

7. Fabio Wardley vs Joseph Parker

Fabio Wardley vs Joseph Parker had the potential to be the best fight of the year, were it not for (another) questionable stoppage from referee Howard Foster. 

Parker entered as the favourite and began strongly, but quickly found himself unable to meaningfully hurt the Ipswich native. Wardley used his immense natural toughness and unorthodox style to land massive punches on Parker, who was wobbled numerous times throughout the bout.

He would always respond with a solid blow, but this only served to make Wardley angrier. Fuelled purely by adrenaline, Wardley landed a few glancing blows on an exhausted parker, prompting Foster to stop the contest. It was a shame – an hellacious heavyweight war such as this deserved a more fitting ending. 

6. Isaac Cruz vs Angel Fierro

To many, this was just another undercard fight amid a sea of underwhelming American shows this year. Regardless, this fight was good enough to have served as the main event on any card in 2025. 

Isaac Cruz was looking to get his career back on track after a surprising defeat – he wasted no time in hunting Angel Fierro down, but Fierro hadn’t turned up to circle the ring for ten rounds. 

Instead, they fought a constant battle for the centre of the ring, with both men being hurt multiple times over the course of the contest. In the end, Cruz was awarded the decision after a textbook showcase of front-foot Mexican style pugilism. 

5. Naoya Inoue vs Ramon Cardenas

Naoya Inoue has brought credibility back to boxing this year. Unlike most champions, who are content to defend their belts twice a year at most, Inoue defended his on four separate occasions in 2025 – and all but one of them were legitimate contenders.

Ramon Cardenas was Inoue’s second and most difficult opponent of the year. After an uneventful first round, Cardenas connected with a left hook that shockingly dropped ‘the Monster’ and left him badly shaken.

This seemed to ignite a fire inside Inoue, who forwent defence in favour of an all-out assault. Despite his early success, Cardenas was eventually overwhelmed and stopped in the eighth, but no one would forget how close he was to pulling off one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. 

4. Dmitri Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev II

The second fight between Dmitri Bivol and Artur Beterbiev wasn’t quite as spell-binding as their inaugural contest, but the two Russians still provided an exquisite showcase of violence.

This time, Beterbiev looked to close the show early – he put an almighty amount of pressure on Bivol in the opening rounds, who persevered and began to go through the gears as Beterbiev tired.

In the later rounds, Bivol was much brighter, using quick footwork to pick off his aging foe. Beterbiev was a wounded animal – dangerous, but weakened. Eventually, the fight went to the scorecards, where Bivol picked up a richly-deserved unanimous decision. Hopefully, we’ll get a trilogy fight in 2026 – a rivalry such as this cannot be left at one apiece. 

3. Abdullah Mason vs Sam Noakes

Sam Noakes was given little chance by American audiences before his fight with Abdullah Mason. As one of boxing’s biggest rising stars, Mason was the clear favourite, but Noakes was ready to rock the apple cart.

Mason always looked like the sharper, crisper operator, but Noakes’ sheer cardio and aggressiveness made this one into a fascinating contest. Even when Mason had Noakes hurt, which he did on multiple occasions, the Maidstone native never backed down.

Both fighters won over plenty of new fans after the fight ended. Mason took home the decision, but Noakes showed he can hang with the very best of them in the process. 

2. Chris Eubank Jr. vs Conor Benn I

To many, boxing is more about the overall show and presentation, rather than what happens in the ring. When Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn looked to continue their respective fathers’ legacy, they managed to deliver on both fronts.

The pomp and circumstance around the bout was borderline nausea-inducing, but the brutal fight that ensued was the perfect ointment. There were no pleasantries between them – they were each throwing at each other with the worst of intentions over the course of 12 rounds. Neither of them was willing to take a backward step, making for a fascinating contest.

In contrast to the rematch, Eubank was in control for the majority of the bout, barring a few scares here and there. Benn landed some furious shots on him, but Eubank was never in any real danger of being stopped. Benn’s emotions largely got the better of him, swinging wild hooks while Eubank remained composed and landed sharp counters throughout.

1. Callum Smith vs Joshua Buatsi

No two fighters put on such an awe-inspiring display of beautiful violence this year than Callum Smith and Joshua Buatsi. Everyone knew they’d put on a show – but few expected that it would be one of the greatest fights in the history of British boxing. 

Smith’s greater professional pedigree was the deciding factor – he forced the typically low-output Buatsi into a non-stop firefight. On several occasions, Smith would land nasty combinations to put his opponent on the brink, only for Buatsi to fire back with some hellacious power punch counters. 

The only problem this fight had was its placement on the card. It was the first fight on the main show of Beterbiev vs Bivol 2 – it’s a shame that a fight such as this wasn’t the main event of a UK-based show.