Boxing real or not: Paul over Chavez? Pacquiao champ again?

Vasiliy Lomachenko announced his retirement from boxing on June 5 after a career that included winning titles in three divisions. But can he be considered the best lightweight of his generation?

Manny Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-division champ, announced his return after almost four years away from the sport. The 46-year-old will face WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios, 30, on July 19 in Las Vegas, looking to become the oldest former champion to win a title in the 147-pound division. Can he do it?

Former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, also retired, has been hearing calls to return to face fellow former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in an all-British fight that has eluded boxing fans for many years. Will the fight finally happen?

Another proposed title fight recently fell apart when WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez‘s team announced that he will not face Devin Haney for the WBO belt at this time for “personal reasons.” Lopez and Haney are at the peak of their careers, but will the fight eventually happen?

Jake Paul returns to the ring on June 28 to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. While Chavez, 39, hasn’t won a title fight since he defeated Andy Lee in 2012, he’s a former middleweight champion with 61 professional fights in his résumé. Can the 28-year-old Paul defeat Chavez in his quest to become a world champion?

And on Saturday, former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr., 31, will attempt to become a world champion in a second division when he faces Richardson Hitchins, 27, for the IBF junior welterweight title. Can he beat the younger champ?

Andreas Hale and Nick Parkinson answer these questions in an effort to separate what’s real and what’s not.

Real or not: Vasiliy Lomachenko is the best lightweight of his generation

Not real. There is no argument against Lomachenko being one of the most skilled fighters of this generation, regardless of weight class. However, skill doesn’t always mean best, and it’s easy to conflate Lomachenko’s exceptional runs at featherweight and junior lightweight with lightweight success. But examining his lightweight record is where he falls short.

Lomachenko is 8-2 as a lightweight, which is excellent. But he has lost his two biggest lightweight fights to Lopez and Haney. While the latter was controversial, the former was more definitive. Had Lopez not lost to Kambosos in 2021, he may have had a claim to be the best of his generation as well. But, for me, the honors go to Haney, who was 30-0 as a lightweight and defeated both Lomachenko and Kambosos (twice). Regardless of what you saw in the ring between Haney and Ryan Garcia in April 2024, the fact remains that Garcia blew the weight and failed a prefight drug test. And that fight was at junior welterweight.

There will be people who will argue in favor of Gervonta Davis, but “Tank” hurt his standing with his majority draw with Lamont Roach in March and hasn’t faced Lomachenko, Haney or Lopez. WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson may eventually run away with the title, but is only three fights into his lightweight tenure. — Hale

Real or not: Jake Paul will KO Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Real. Chavez is not expected to be anywhere near the condition needed to threaten Paul in their cruiserweight bout, which Paul likely wins inside the distance.

Chavez has been mostly inactive recently (one fight since December 2021), and Paul’s work rate is likely to overwhelm him. Chavez could run out of steam after a few rounds and allow the social media star a highlight-reel finish.

On paper, Chavez is a strong opponent. He is a former middleweight champion who fought — and lost — to Sergio Martinez, Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs, among others. In the past five years, Chavez has made five appearances at a lower level, including losing to former UFC champion Anderson Silva in 2021.

Paul earned a unanimous decision in November over former heavyweight king Mike Tyson, 58 at the time, and this will be another win over a boxing has-been. — Parkinson

Real or not: Tyson Fury will return from retirement to finally face Anthony Joshua this year

Real — but it might not be this year. If Fury vs. Joshua becomes a reality, next year is a better bet since Joshua is currently recovering from elbow surgery and Fury claims he is still happily retired. Since Fury is coming off back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk and Joshua suffered a humiliating fifth-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see both of them in interim fights before facing each other in 2026.

Fury has flip-flopped between an active career and retirement since 2013. The “Gypsy King” announced in January he was done with the sport following a second successive decision loss to unified heavyweight champion Usyk, and so far he is sticking to it. “I hear a lot of talk of the ‘Gypsy King’ returning to boxing, and I ask this question: For what? What would I return for? More belts? I’ve won 22 of them,” Fury said in an Instagram video posted to his account in May.

But most of media and boxing fans think Fury is just teasing.

Since losing to Usyk in December, Fury has remained in shape and looks in fighting form. This makes a revival of his boxing career next year a possibility.

As for Joshua, also a two-time world heavyweight champion like Fury, is not expected to box again until October, but he — along with Fury — is still the biggest draw on British soil. Deontay Wilder, another former champion in losing form, is being connected with Joshua and they could meet late this year, in a pathway to Fury vs. Joshua in 2026. Joshua, 36 in October, and Fury, 37 in August, do not have youth on their side, which is why we will see them share a ring inside 12 months.

It might not be as big a few years ago when both were champions, , but the all-English showdown would still be one of the biggest boxing events to be made. — Parkinson

Real or not: Manny Pacquiao will defeat Mario Barrios

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The numbers behind Manny Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame career

Check out the numbers behind Manny Pacquiao’s career that got him inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Not real. Pacquiao’s incredible career will make a great movie one day, but it is difficult to believe his welterweight title fight against Mario Barrios on July 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas will provide the classic Hollywood, happy ending.

After starting his professional boxing career 30 years ago, “Pac Man” has too many miles on his body, has lost too much athleticism and is not quick enough to defeat Barrios.

Pacquiao’s style relies on movement, speed and footwork, but all of those qualities have been in decline for the Filipino who has not fought for nearly four years. There was compelling evidence of Pacquiao’s erosion in his last fight in 2021, when Yordenis Ugas outpointed Pacquiao 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113 and was a clear winner.

Watching Pacquiao now is like watching a peak version of the Filipino in slow motion.

Pacquiao is attempting to break his own record as boxing’s oldest 147-pound world champion (40 years, 215 days), but he will find it difficult to keep up with the high volume of punches Barrios likes to throw. Barrios is not a formidable champion, and Pacquiao has beaten a long list of boxing greats, but Barrios still has enough to beat a faded former champion.

Pacquiao has won titles from flyweight (112 pounds) to junior middleweight (154 pounds) over a professional career that started in January 1995, but his best years were over a decade ago. — Parkinson

Real or not: Teofimo Lopez vs. Devin Haney will eventually happen

Real. Lopez and Haney have circled each other for years, and it seemed like the fight was going to come to fruition in August. Depending on how you look at it, the hangup for Lopez was either weight, money or both. There’s nothing to suggest that Lopez fears Haney. The bigger issue is the relationship between Lopez and Turki Alalshikh, Saudi Arabia’s chairman of the general entertainment authority and Ring Magazine owner, who would promote the fight. Lopez said some “inappropriate words” about Alalshikh on social media, for which he later apologized. This won’t be the last time Haney and Lopez are linked together for a fight, and it is too good of a fight to not eventually happen. — Hale

Real or not: George Kambosos Jr. will become a two-division champion on Saturday

Not real. Figuring out how good Kambosos is can be difficult to quantify. The Australian started his professional career 20-0. His biggest victory during that run was a stunning decision in 2021 over Lopez, who after the fight was diagnosed with “pneumomediastinum” with “extensive air in the retropharyngeal space.” Since then, he has gone 2-3 with all three of his losses coming in one-sided beatings at the hands of Haney (twice) and Lomachenko. The two wins? A majority decision over Maxi Hughes and a unanimous decision over unheralded and inexperienced fellow Aussie fighter Jake Wyllie.

This is important to note because Kambosos’ biggest wins before the Lopez upset were split decisions over Mickey Bey and Lee Selby. Between that and the punishment he’s absorbed in his last few fights, it certainly feels like the Australian has overachieved in his career and that we likely have already seen the best of Kambosos. Hitchins, his opponent on Saturday, is arguably more skilled than anybody Kambosos’ has defeated outside of Lopez. The fight may play out like the Haney fight, where Hitchins can use his six-inch reach advantage to control the distance with his jab to frustrate Kambosos early before pulling away late with combination punching. The mountain is likely too big for Kambosos to overcome, and Hitchins has all the physical attributes to turn back the challenge. — Hale