EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsFinally, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will meet in a boxing ring, with the vacant WBA heavyweight world title on the line. The fight has been in the works for more than five years, but Fury and Joshua are set to meet Dec. 11 in Cardiff, Wales. With the fight billed as the biggest in U.K. boxing history, will the winner become the greatest British boxer of all time? And can Fury KO Joshua?Former undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez returns Oct. 31 for the first time since losing his titles to Terence Crawford in September 2025. He'll face Christian Mbilli in the 69th professional fight of Canelo's career. Can Canelo, at 36 years old, regain one of his titles against WBO champion Mbilli?WBO heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley will meet in a rematch of Dubois' thrilling 11th-round TKO victory in May, which ESPN recognized as the best fight of the first half of the year. Can they repeat the feat when they meet again on Oct. 17 in London?Ryan Garcia, the WBC welterweight champion, has been active on social media calling out other champions for what would be his third fight of 2026. He's coming off an impressive second-round TKO of Conor Benn in September and has since called out Teofimo Lopez Jr., Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney, among others. Is the highly anticipated rematch with Haney next?Nick Parkinson and James Regan answer these questions in an effort to separate what's real from what's not.Real or not: Tyson Fury will KO Anthony Joshua when they meet on Dec. 11Not real. This isn't the popular opinion, but I expect Joshua to stop Fury.Fury, to be clear, is the favorite (-200 per DraftKings), which is fair enough. He performed better across two fights against Usyk than Joshua did against Usyk. Those Fury fights were two years ago, and he has been more active than Joshua. He can box better and will likely try to wear Joshua down and test his chin early.However, Joshua possesses the physical attributes to stop Fury, who hasn't been stopped before but has been knocked down eight times in his pro career. Fury won't be as resilient as in his trilogy with Wilder (four knockdowns), but Joshua has enough power to inflict similar damage.If, and this is the crucial part, Joshua proceeds with caution in the early stages of the fight, unlike when he faced Daniel Dubois and Kristian Prenga, he can catch Fury and end it. His power is still there, and using that in a measured way is his best chance of winning the fight.I think he and trainer Ben Davison will devise a plan to rough Fury up before unleashing the powerful right hand. If he can do that, Joshua wins by stoppage. -- ReganReal or not: The Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua winner will be considered the best boxer in U.K. historyNot real. Both have been among the biggest names in the sport for a decade, but regardless of what happens on Dec. 11, there are others who rank ahead of them on the list of Britain's best boxers.At heavyweight alone, Lennox Lewis made 14 world title defenses over three reigns as champion, with significant wins over Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, two of the best heavyweight champions in boxing's history. That beats Fury and Joshua's achievements. Joshua has made seven world title defenses over two reigns as champion, and Fury three over two spells as champion. Both Fury and Joshua have beat Wladimir Klitschko, but Holyfield and Tyson have better legacies than the Ukrainian or Deontay Wilder, whom Fury beat twice. Fury and Joshua also suffered two decision losses each to Oleksandr Usyk, who is on course to be remembered as the best heavyweight since Lewis as he closes in on retirement.Outside of the heavyweight division, super middleweights Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch (2000s, 2010s), welterweight Ted "Kid" Lewis (1910s), lightweight Ken Buchanan (1970s) and flyweight Jimmy Wilde (1910s, 1920s) have strong cases to be ranked ahead of Joshua and Fury, while Bob Fitzsimmons was a three-division world champion (heavyweight, light heavyweight and middleweight) and one of boxing's first superstars in the 1890s and 1910s.Also, can anything Joshua and Fury have achieved be considered greater than Randy Turpin's points win over one of boxing's greatest ever, Sugar Ray Robinson, in 1951? Or better than Ricky Hatton's junior welterweight title win by stoppage over Kostya Tszyu in 2005, and Loyd Honeyghan's KO win over pound-for-pound No. 1 Donald Curry in 1986?History might remember some or all of those achievements more favorably, but Fury and Joshua will still place high among the best British boxers after outstanding careers, regardless of what goes down on Dec. 11. -- ParkinsonReal or not: Canelo Alvarez will regain the WBO super middleweight title against Christin MbilliReal. Mbilli is a real tough opponent for Canelo, but it's time for the face of boxing to regain his title. After the one-sided loss to Crawford, lesser fighters may have called it a day. It was a crushing loss at the end of an illustrious career for the Mexican star.But Canelo is still hungry. He's shown he's willing to learn and take on new ways of doing things by training in Spain alongside former heavyweight champion and ESPN's No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, Oleksandr Usyk, in the lead up to his fight with Mbilli.The matchup against Mbilli is a good balance between a winnable fight and a dangerous opponent. Mbilli is unbeaten and has 24 KOs to his name, with just one draw against Lester Martinez last time out in September 2025. But that draw perhaps exposes why this is a bridge too far for the 31-year-old. He hasn't faced anyone close to the level of Canelo.It's a gulf in class and experience he hasn't come across before. Expect what looks like a rejuvenated and well-rested Canelo to become a super middleweight champion once again. -- ReganReal or not: The Daniel Dubois-Fabio Wardley rematch will be another fight of the year candidateReal. Both Dubois and Wardley have shown vulnerability, been smacked to the canvas and got up to win by stoppage in recent fights, so their rematch has all the ingredients to be another thrilling watch.Dubois showed in the second half of their first fight in May how he could adapt and box behind a jab to create openings that ultimately led him to seal an 11th-round TKO win. After being dropped 10 seconds into the fight and then again in Round 3, Dubois recovered to box his way into the fight and inflict a nasty cut on Wardley's nose and shut his right eye. Wardley took a lot of punishment before the fight was stopped, and you wonder if it left him slightly diminished for the rematch.Dubois also used his thudding jab to good effect when he floored former world champion Joshua four times in a Round 5 KO win in 2024. It's a formula Dubois is expected to repeat to stay out of trouble and avoid Wardley's big right hand.This time Wardley will be the slight underdog (+300 per DraftKings), but he has recovered himself from losing moments to win epic encounters. Wardley is one of the most entertaining boxers based on his performances over the last three years. He was behind on the scorecards before stopping both Justis Huni and former world champion Joseph Parker in 2025. Before that, he blasted out Frazer Clarke inside a round and left him with grotesque facial injuries, which followed a gruelling draw with Clarke earlier in 2024, which Wardley finished on shaky, exhausted legs.Wardley has shown huge heart and punching power in the past few years, so he shouldn't be written off. Expect him to start fast, just like he did in May, and produce another memorable fight. -- ParkinsonReal or not: Ryan Garcia will face Devin Haney in a rematch nextNot real. Garcia has the boxing world at his feet and can pick any opponent he likes, and what he appears to want is a unification bout with Teofimo Lopez. The managers of Lopez, Keith Connelly, and Garcia, Lupe Valencia, met last week.Jack Catterall has been ordered as the mandatory challenger for Lopez's welterweight WBA belt. While they are still in the 30-day negotiation period ordered by the WBA, Catterall's camp believes Lopez will vacate his title in order to fight Garcia instead.A rematch with Haney, whom Garcia beat in 2024 before the result was ruled a no-contest after Garcia failed a drug test and was suspended, is the biggest fight for them both. However, there have been no rumblings about talks between the two sides. Haney, who hasn't fought since last November, has been on social media calling for a fight against either IBF champion Liam Paro or WBO junior welterweight champ Shakur Stevenson. Both of those would be great fights, but of course a clash with Stevenson would be demonstrably bigger. It's highly unlikely Garcia and Haney will face off any time soon, but when they do meet, it will be one of the biggest fights in boxing. -- Regan
