Boxing hasn’t lacked thrilling contests through the first three months of 2022. It was all a prologue to an extraordinarily busy April. Unification matches, appearances by already unified champions, a significant defense for the heavyweight king, and a genuine women’s superfight.

Taylor-Serrano Headlines the Garden

    04/30: 135 - World Champion Katie Taylor (20-0, 6 KO) vs, Amanda Serrano (42-1-1, 30 KO)

Ireland’s Taylor won five world amateur titles, Olympic Gold in 2012, and has unified the lightweight division. Puerto Rico’s Serrano has won belts in seven weight classes from Jr. bantamweight to Jr. welterweight. Those are already Hall of Fame credentials for both. 

That makes this fight about more than Taylor’s lightweight title. This is the rare fight where the winner genuinely takes a step toward boxing immortality. It’s arguably the best fight ever made in women’s boxing.

One week before, the flagship division of the sport takes center stage.

Wembley Hosts a British Mega

It will be a high profile fight worldwide, but for the reigning king of boxing it’s a homecoming.

    04/23: Hvy - World Champion Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22 KO) vs. #3 Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19 KO)

Since winning the heavyweight crown from Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Tyson Fury’s career has been marked by inactivity, marred by a retroactive suspension for PEDs, and defined in the ring by a rivalry with Deontay Wilder. Fury, who holds the WBC belt, will face a consensus top ten heavyweight other than Klitschko or Wilder in a title fight for the first time when he faces the veteran Whyte in a stadium show that will likely be as entertaining for crowd watching as it is in the ring. 

Along with these two major contests, the month of April will also see a slew of unification contests among the men and women. 

    04/09: 160 - TBRB #1 Gennady Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KO, IBF, IBO) vs. Ryoto Murata (16-2, 13 KO, WBA)

    04/09: 112 - Marlen Esparza (11-1, 1 KO, WBC) vs. Naoko Fujioka (19-2-1, 7 KO, WBA)

    04/16: 147 - #1 Errol Spence (27-0, 21 KO, IBF/WBC) vs. #3 Yordenis Ugas (27-4, 12 KO, WBA)

    04/30: 130 - #1 Shakur Stevenson (17-0, 9 KO, WBO) vs. #2 Oscar Valdez (30-0, 23 KO, WBC)

    04/30: 168 - Franchon Crews Dezurn (7-1, 2 KO, WBC/WBO) vs. Elin Cederroos (8-0, 4 KO, WBA/IBF)

Esparza-Fujioka will give some positive shine to a women’s division that can be overlooked while Dezurn can continue to impress as she gets farther from a lone loss to Claressa Shields.

Spence-Ugas is a good fight in its own right but comes with Terence Crawford now a very realistic option for the winner later this year. 2022 could see an undisputed welterweight champion crowned before it's done. Gennady Golovkin and Ryoto Murata end long periods of inactivity against each other and the winner leaves with two straps while the clash between Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez could give the world a pretty clear top dog at Jr. lightweight.

In a month that will also see the return of Ryan Garcia and an outstanding Jr. middleweight clash between contenders Erickson Lubin and Sebastian Fundora, April is nobody’s fool this year.   

Additional Title Fights in April

Men

04/22: 118 - #3 John Riel Casimero (31-4, 21 KO, WBO) vs Paul Butler (33-2, 15 KO)

04/22: 105 - #4 Masataka Taniguchi (15-3, 10 KO, WBO) vs. Kai Ishizawa (10-1, 9 KO)

Women

04/09: 130 - Mikaela Mayer (16-0, 5 KO, IBF/WBO) vs. Jennifer Han (18-4-1, 1 KO)

04/09: 118 - Dina Thorslund (17-0, 7 KO, WBO) vs. Nirokis Carreno (22-2, 17 KO)

04/09: 115 - Maribel Ramirez (13-9-2, 3 KO, WBA) vs. Daniela Asenjo (11-3-2, 2 KO)

04/20: 122 - Cherneka Johnson (13-1, 6 KO) vs. Melissa Esquivel (12-2-1, 4 KO); vacant IBF belt

04/21: 126 - Sarah Mahfoud (10-0, 3 KO, IBF) vs. Nina Meinke (12-2, 3 KO)

04/21: 108 - Yesenia Gomez (19-5-3, 6 KO, WBC) vs. Kim Clavel (15-0, 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.