What does Boxing’s current Trilogy trend mean for the sport?

Across the divisions, boxing is in a strong position.

Hiroto Kyoguchi at Light flyweight, Naoya Inoue at Bantamweight, Léo Santa Cruz at Featherweight and Super Featherweight, Vasyl Lomachenko at Lightweight, Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr at Welterweight, Canelo Álvarez and Gennady Golovkin at Middleweight, Callum Smith at Super Middleweight, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Deontay Wilder at heavyweight, we could go on but we are sure you get the point.

However, in two of the most exciting divisions right now, Heavyweight and Middleweight, a trilogy of fights appear to be setting a trend that is either exciting or worrying for the sport depending on your opinion.

Alvarez v Golovkin III – who loses?

Saul Alvarez v Gennadiy Golovkin has kept the boxing world enthralled since they first stepped into the ring together in 2017.

After 12 rounds, a split draw was the decision which was a highly controversial result with most in the know scoring the result in favour of Golovkin.

Unable to be settled in 12 rounds, a re-match was arranged after Golovkin made short work of American Vanes Martirosyan in a mandatory bout and Alvarez upset the applecart with a majority decision in California.

Now, it seems a third fight between the two has been agreed on which may be eagerly anticipated but has left a couple of boxers feeling a little left out in the cold.

Super Middleweight champion Callum Smith is one such fighter and has claimed Canelo has ducked him despite having made an offer to fight the Englishman.

Smith’s rise to the top of the fight game has been rapid but Canelo’s team at ‘Golden Boy promotions’ offer was far too small for Smith and he declined, hoping for a renegotiation.

It never happened and there appears to be no Canelo v Smith fight on the horizon anytime soon – a shame.

Another Englishman was in the pipeline to fight the Mexican – Billy Joe Saunders after his win last November – with the pair even having agreed on terms with a May 2nd date in Las Vegas.

However, during negotiations, Canelo and GGG look to have agreed to a third fight in September in which the 29-year old Alvarez is the current favourite with Betway at 4/9 as of the 23rd March to win the bout.

Should the May fight between Saunders and Canelo not go ahead, it looks like Alvarez will jump straight to a big money fight with GGG in September leaving Saunders out in the cold and looking for an opponent.

Wilder v Fury III – Who loses?

It is the fight few of us really want to see. Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury had a third fight clause written into their contract before Fury’s dominant knockdown of Wilder during their second encounter.

Wilder was always likely to invoke the third fight clause but it has left the heavyweight division in a state of limbo.

Most fight fans want to see a unification fight between Anthony Joshua (who holds the WBA, IBF, and WBO belts) and Fury (who holds the WBC belt) in what would likely be one of the biggest fights of all time.

Following Fury’s victory over Wilder, many have already backed the ‘Gypsy King’ to win any fight with Joshua but that won’t be happening - at least in the short term.

Even Mike Tyson has waded in and said he wants to see Joshua and Tyson get in the ring together although he did admit that for Wilder’s own sake he needs to get back in the ring with Fury as soon as possible.

The issue with all these trilogy fights is that they take such a long time to complete leaving others out in the cold.

Dillian Whyte is one such fighter wondering when his chance at the top table will come about. Londoner Whyte is currently the interim challenger to Fury’s WBC belt but will have to wait for at least a year (if not longer) if he is going to get a title shot and that could stretch even further depending on a number of outcomes.

Over the years we have seen some epic trilogies: Tony Zale vs Rocky Graziano, Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales, and of course Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier to name but three, but there is a danger of overload in a society today that demands instant excitement.

What happens if Wilder beats Fury in the third fight? Then it’s a draw and one win apiece so do we go to a fourth fight?

When will it end?

There must be a cut off at some point as the real losers in this are the fight fans and talented boxers who are being locked out of a chance at the big time.