When I asked NSYNC back in 2000 what month of 2026 they predicted would produce the best slate of boxing, they were quick to explain that: “It’s gonna be May.”
(I promise this gets better …)
But May’s boxing slate is so stacked that I know you’re not reading this piece for crappy puns about faded pop bands. So let’s get straight into the action: Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue, Junto Nakatani, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, David Benavidez, Daniel Dubois, Fabio Wardley — take your pick!
Advertisement
5. Frank Sanchez vs. Richard Torrez Jr., 10 rounds, heavyweight, May 23
Rescheduled from March, unbeaten heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr. faces the biggest test of his pro career to date as he heads to Giza, Egypt, in an IBF title eliminator against Frank Sanchez.
2020 Olympic silver medalist Torrez has long been earmarked as one of the future players in the heavyweight division, and five years on from his success in the delayed Tokyo Games, we finally get a yardstick opponent to measure the American southpaw against.
Cuban-born Miami-resident Frank Sanchez is no joke. His one career defeat came at the fast hands of Agit Kabayel, but a 2021 win over Efe Ajagba is one that’s looking better with age.
Advertisement
If we’re being honest, this fight gets notched up a couple of places due to its location — as bizarre as it is historic under the Pyramids in Giza. And sorry Oleksandr, but this is one list that you just aren’t making.
4. O’Shaquie Foster vs. Raymond Ford, 12 rounds, for Foster’s WBC super featherweight title, May 30
In any normal month of boxing, O’Shaquie Foster vs. Ray Ford — who meet inside Houston’s Fertitta Center for Foster’s WBC super featherweight title — would top the slate as the one to watch. But as you’ll see from entries No. 3-1, the competition is fierce in May!
Foster (24-3, 12 KOs), who was last seen outclassing Stephen Fulton in December, has dropped just one of those defeats across his past 15 outings. His meeting with the 27-year-old southpaw, Ford, marks the second defence of Foster’s current reign after reclaiming the WBC title following a two-fight series with Robson Conceicao.
Advertisement
Ford has won three on the spin since jumping up to 130 pounds following the sole defeat of his career to Nick Ball, and now gets the chance to prove his learnings from what was a tight but tough defeat against the ferocious Liverpudlian in Saudi Arabia.
And the best thing about this fight? The clear intention for Top Rank and Matchroom Boxing to work closer together now that they share a network in DAZN.
Fabio Wardley (left) and Daniel Dubois face off as Frank Warren watches during a press conference in London.
(James Manning – PA Images via Getty Images)
3. Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois, 12 rounds, for Wardley’s WBO heavyweight title, May 9
If you like your heavyweights to hit hard, then boy do we have a fight for you.
This WBO title fight between England’s Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois is titled “Don’t Blink” for good reason, as these concussive heavyweights meet in Manchester for more than just shiny hardware.
Advertisement
The winner inside the Co-op Live Arena will hold the missing key to yet another undisputed heavyweight title fight with the king — and money-man — of the division, Oleksandr Usyk, with Wardley seemingly being the only British heavyweight left not to have already mixed it up with the Ukrainian great.
If it’s Dubois who wins, surely a third dance with Usyk will be dodged, but “DDD’s” stock would shoot sky-high once again.
It’s these risk-reward payoffs in the most dangerous of divisions that make for the most intriguing fights, and Wardley vs. Dubois feels like it’s on a knife’s edge without a single punch thrown.
2. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez vs. David Benavidez, 12 rounds, for Ramirez’s WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles, May 2
Back when this fight was announced, there was a collective groan within the boxing community.
Advertisement
Not through any fault of “Zurdo” Ramirez or David Benavidez, but more that the name Jai Opetaia wasn’t involved in the signature cruiserweight fight of the year, and that Benavidez wasn’t meeting Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev at light heavyweight.
But time moves fast, fighters move to Zuffa, and suddenly we are a week out from this all-Mexican fight over Cinco de Mayo weekend and it’s finally receiving its deserved flowers.
A “Canelo”-less Cinco de Mayo celebration needed something big to fill the void, and putting 25 pounds on the Mexican “Monster’s” frame to jump up to this new weight will well and truly put Benavidez’s unbeaten record under the spotlight.
These two own 79 professional wins between them and have shared over 200 rounds in sparring over the years, but all this acquired experience and knowledge may become redundant once the bell goes and these two Mexican marvels bite down on their gumshields and go to war.
Naoya Inoue (L) and Junto Nakatani pose for photos following a weigh-in ahead of their Tokyo match.
(YUICHI YAMAZAKI via Getty Images)
1. Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani, 12 rounds, for Inoue’s undisputed super bantamweight title, May 2
This is probably the contest that fight fans have been looking forward to the most over the past 12 months.
Advertisement
This all-Japanese superfight for the undisputed super bantamweight championship ticks every box imaginable if you were to build the perfect fight from scratch, with the mystique of a unique Tokyo setting adding sprinkles on top of May’s headliner.
Inoue has been locked in a battle for boxing’s No. 1 pound-for-pound spot for more than half a decade now, amassing an unblemished 32-0 record, stopping 27 of his foes. Yet there are suspicions he is on the slide at age 33, just in time, perhaps, for southpaw Junto Nakatani (also 32-0) to grab the baton that’s been in the “Monster’s” possession throughout 27 consecutive world title fights.
But if Inoue is successful in defending his titles, then conversations around his standing in the all-time pantheon of boxing greats will accelerate. And rightly so.
So, keep your eyes on an unmissable night inside the Tokyo Dome this Saturday between two incredible athletes attempting to make history — and maybe, just maybe, going one better than James “Buster” Douglas did in upsetting Mike Tyson inside the same venue 36 years ago.
Read the full article here
