There is no more obvious and more overdone column topic than a list of “things I’m thankful for” around Thanksgiving. It’s the sort of lazy crutch a writer only leans on if that writer has no pride whatsoever.

Well, thankfully (to use the word of the season), I am just such a writer.

First, my second column of each week does run on Thursdays, and I’m a little more forgiving of a “things I’m thankful for” piece if it actually posts on Thanksgiving Day than I am of one that publishes some random day earlier in the week.

Second, because this is running on Thanksgiving Day — not a big day for internet traffic — there’s a better chance than usual that my work will go largely unread and people won’t know what a shameless tool I’m being.

And third, this year is different from most in that boxing has been in a lousy place and I (and others) have mostly been cranking out critical, negative columns of late. So the time feels right for something decidedly positive. For finding silver linings. For glass jaws half full.

For celebrating the ways in which boxing, even when in a rut, makes us happy.

So this Thanksgiving, generic though this column concept may be, I am indeed giving thanks. I’m finding positive things to say.

Maybe not about everyone and everything. I’m not about to pardon the Turki — I’ll leave that sort of thing to other people, those who have no standards when it comes to issuing pardons.

But here goes with 10 things I’m legit thankful for in boxing right now, as I (mostly) set aside my snark and serve up slice after slice of sweet potato pie:

1. Access to almost every fight taking place anywhere

At just about any other time in human history, if an outstanding Mexican veteran like Carlos Cuadras is engaging in a farewell fight in Tokyo, Japan, early on a Monday morning U.S. time, our options would be (a) fly to Tokyo, or (b) read the results later. But at this particular time in human history, if there’s a fight taking place just about anywhere on the globe and there are cameras present, boxing fans will have the option to watch it.

Does it often cost money? Yes. Does it sometimes cost far more than it should? Yes again. But better to have the option and choose not to spend than not to have the option.

Maybe this is less a “boxing” thing and more a “life in 2025” thing. Just the same, access to watching people punch each other silly every day of the week on every continent on the globe without having to leave your home is something to be thankful for.

2. Moses Itauma

Some things never go out of style. Blue jeans. The Beatles. Whiskey. And destructive young heavyweights.

It’s been about 40 years since a heavyweight came along who, at age 20, with barely a dozen fights, was already an absolute must-see every time he stepped into the ring. There have been plenty of great heavyweights since Mike Tyson — Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, the Klitschkos, Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk — but none that captured everyone’s attention on their way up like Tyson did.

Itauma is beginning to do that.

Maybe the fever hasn’t spread beyond the hardcore boxing audience yet. But if he keeps this up, it will. Itauma is exactly what boxing needs right now.

3. Jake Paul, promoter of women’s boxing

To be clear, I’m not giving thanks for Jake Paul, the cruiserweight boxer. Everything about that venture has run its course for me. 

But no man has done more to advance women’s boxing the last couple of years than Paul, spotlighting the best female fights and fighters on his undercards, promoting them on cards that don’t feature him in the ring and getting the best lady boxers around paid.

If all Paul had ever done was get (according to Netflix) 74 million people globally to watch the magnificent second fight between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor, that would have been enough. But he’s done much more than that. I don’t celebrate everything about Paul. But I celebrate this.

4. The movement toward earlier main event start times

This one remains a work in progress. Terence Crawford began his ringwalk for his fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at 12:41 a.m. ET, with my then-15-year-old son, who rarely watches boxing but was interested in this one, sound asleep on the couch.

But “work” and “progress” are good things. Strides are being made. Four-fight pay-per-views are increasingly starting at 8 ET instead of 9. Stacked mega-cards with seven 12-rounders sometimes start at 10:30 a.m. on the East Coast and end by dinner time.

Last weekend, I watched the Riyadh card about a 75-minute drive from my home and was in bed at a very reasonable 11:30 p.m. Make that 1:30 a.m., and it’s untenable.

Boxing’s powers-that-be must continue to cater to the washed masses.

5. Crawford making me look smart

I make more than my share of bad predictions. I misjudge style matchups, I overrate some boxers and underrate others. I don’t think I’ve ever correctly called the outcome of either a Tim Tszyu fight or a Kostya Tszyu fight.

But one thing I’ve been shouting for about the last 20 years is that size “advantages” are overrated, and I doubled and tripled down on this insistence in predicting from the first whispers of Canelo fighting Crawford that “Bud” would win because he was simply the better fighter — in a way that a weight class or two of separation couldn’t counterbalance.

Do I know what the hell I’m talking about? Don’t answer that. Either way, for one night, Crawford made me look like I did.

6. The International Boxing Hall of Fame

For all its imperfections, that little boxing museum in Canastota, New York, is a truly special place. There’s nowhere else any fight fan should ever want to be the second weekend in June.

And to a boxing writer with two bylines to produce every week, the IBHOF is an invaluable gift. I get to spend all of October writing about the ballots. I get to spend December writing about the voting results. And I get to spend the rest of the year writing about the upcoming inductees, the potential future inductees, the ain’t-never-gonna-be inductees and more.

And the IBHOF hasn’t even been coerced into breaking all of its rules to spontaneously induct Turki Alalshikh. And for that, I am deeply thankful.

7. Saudi money being put to occasional good use

As long as I’m on the Turki topic … I guess I could only contain my snark and negativity for so long, but let’s stick to what I’m thankful for here: Without the Saudi General Entertainment Authority’s money, whatever its origins, there are certain outstanding fights that simply were never going to happen.

The two meetings (so far) between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev are chief among them. Those fights to determine the true light heavyweight champion of the world just didn’t make financial sense unless someone was willing to take a financial hit.

And I will never object to the people who make this sport go ‘round — the fighters — getting paid. There can be downside ripple effects to overpaying boxers, sure. But if there’s anyone I’m happy to see walking off with that sportswashing money, it’s the people who step into the ring and put their lives on the line.

8. Getting to know a bunch of Contender alums this year

Before I embarked on my effort to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first season of The Contender with a different feature looking back on the show every month, I knew a handful of its stars. I’ve been friendly with Sergio Mora for years, worked with Sugar Ray Leonard a few times, had interviewed a handful of others here and there.

But this has been an unexpected delight. The likes of Tarick Salmaci, Jimmy Lange, Anthony Bonsante, Jonathan Reid — I’d never spoken to any of them before, and each proved personable and eager to tell their stories again.

Oh, and I’m now on Peter Manfredo’s daily texted aphorism list. Pretty cool perk of this gig.

(By the way, I’m well aware that this is my last BoxingScene article of November and there’s been no November Contender article. I tried, but couldn’t make it happen. Consider these four paragraphs of this column your November edition, and I’ll hope to finish out the series in style in December.)

9. Bam and The Monster

Rare is the fighter who has top-of-the-pound-for-pound-list talent and skill and is at the same time incapable of being in a bad fight. But Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Naoya “The Monster” Inoue both fit those descriptions.

Maybe the weights and timing will work out in such a way that Rodriguez and Inoue face each other someday. Especially if they’re the top two P4P by that time (Crawford and Usyk have to get old eventually, right?), it would be a hell of an event.

But it’s not something that has to happen. They don’t need each other. Boxing doesn’t need Inoue vs. Rodriguez. It just needs more Inoue and more Rodriguez. Each of these violent craftsmen is a blessing to fight fans all by himself.

10. Oscar De La Hoya, for making Ennis-Ortiz happen

This is what’s known as giving preemptive thanks. I’m trying to speak it into existence. Oscar, I thank you kindly for getting the heck out of the way and backing down on your “A-side” nonsense and doing what it takes to get a Vergil Ortiz-Jaron “Boots” Ennis fight done for early 2026.

You’re the man, Oscar. The entire boxing world appreciates what you’ve done.

OK, yes, like your grandpa going overboard with the gravy ladle, I’m laying it on thick right now.

But we all give thanks at this time of year in our own way. In this case, I’m giving thanks not just for the bounty we have received, but also for the bounty we (theoretically) have coming to us. Don’t force me to take the thanks back, Oscar.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.