Not all trilogies are built the same.

The first weekend of December is highlighted by a pair of trilogy bouts of varying quality:

    12/03: 115 - World Champion Juan Francisco Estrada (43-3, 28 KO, WBC Franchise) vs. Roman Gonzalez (51-3, 41 KO); vacant WBC

Boxing being boxing, the fans in the UK don’t seem to care much about whether Fury-Chisora III is a good fight on paper. Stars sell and Fury has become a major attraction. The tickets in Tottenham moved like hotcakes for this one despite Fury already soundly defeating Chisora in 2011 and 2014. While the margins of victory, real and perceived, aren’t far off from the Fury-Wilder fights, the drama level was miles apart. It’s something to do until boxing can get to Fury-Oleksandr Usyk in 2023 (assuming it can get to the only fight that really matters at the top of the class). 

In Arizona on the same day, a far different trilogy bout will unfold. Estrada and Gonzalez, both future Hall of Famers at this point, will face off presumably for the last time. Both of their first two fights, in 2012 and 2021, were classic encounters. The longevity of both considering their size is remarkable. The skill level remains among a handful of the game’s true elites. 

For Gonzalez, it is a chance to cap his second life in boxing. His rebound from losses to Sriksaket Sor Rungvisai went from wondering if he’d just had ‘one more great night’ against Khalid Yafai to returning to some pound-for-pound lists and cementing himself with the all-time greats. He appeared to do enough to win the Estrada rematch but came up short on the cards in Texas. 

History will largely recall only who won the series as those who saw the fights fade away. That makes this a legacy fight for Gonzalez.

The same is true for Estrada. A win here would make him 5-2 against the “hardcore four,” arguably the best complete four-way rivalry since the 1980s. For twelve rounds, history will be written in blood and one of the great rivalries of this century will reach its conclusion. It’s hard to ask for more from a prizefight.    

Unification Fever Burns On

Boxing’s slew of unification bouts in 2022, on the men’s and women’s side, all around the scale, has to be among the most of any calendar year in recent recall. Forgive the lack of math to compare thus far, but needless to say it’s been a lot. December will add to the tally with:   

    12/13: 118 - World Champion Naoya Inoue (23-0, 20 KO, WBA/WBC/IBF) vs. #8 Paul Butler (34-2, 15 KO, WBO)

    12/31: 115 - #3 Kazuto Ioka (29-2, 15 KO, WBO) vs. Joshua Franco (18-1-2, 8 KO, WBA)

Inoue-Butler can give boxing its first “undisputed” champion at bantamweight in fifty years. Enrique Pinder was stripped of the WBC belt in 1972 and while we’ve seen some unifications in the class over the last decade, no one has grabbed the whole pie. Butler winning would be the upset of the year, if not the 21st century, so far. Inoue winning would finish a clean-out of the class and set the stage for his anticipated arrival in the red hot Jr. featherweight class.

Ioka-Franco will end the year with the annual New Year’s Eve festivities in Japan. Either winner will be positioned for further unification with the winner of Estrada-Gonzalez III and either winner would be exciting there. Franco is the brother of former WBC titlist “Bam” Rodriguez. Ioka has shared divisions with both Estrada and Gonzalez, winning belts from 105-115, but has never faced either of the future Hall of Famers. 

Cliff’s Notes…

Some additional big names are in action in December…Terence Crawford’s return isn’t as dramatic outside the ring as it is inside. How many people outside Omaha will see it? The Spence fight remains a hope for 2023 but it feels closer to being a long debated mythical matchup than a reality…Can Sandor Martin shock Teofimo Lopez on December 10 after shocking Mikey Garcia in 2021? It would be a hell of a story…Frank Martin-Michel Rivera on December 17 is one hell of a lightweight bout. This feels like the sort of young contender clash boxing used to be flush with.    

Additional Title Fights in December

Men

12/03: 112 - TBRB #2 Julio Cesar Martinez (18-2, 14 KO, WBC) vs. Samuel Carmona (8-0, 4 KO)

12/10: 147 - #2 Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KO, WBO) vs. #9 David Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KO)

12/10: 126 - #7 Josh Warrington (31-1-1, 8 KO, IBF) vs. Luis Lopez (26-2, 15 KO) 

Women

12/10: 118 - Ebanie Bridges (8-1, 3 KO, IBF) vs. Shannon O’Connell (23-6-1, 11 KO)

12/10: 105 - Tina Rupprecht (11-0-1, 3 KO, WBC) vs. Rocio Gaspar (12-1, 3 KO)

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.