The five best fights of 2022, including the underdog story of Leigh Wood vs. Michael Conlan and the epic Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano

BOXING has repeatedly shot itself in the hand in 2022, with some of the biggest fights collapsing well before the first bell.

By far the biggest deviation came when Anthony Joshua refused to accept Tyson Fury’s heavyweight challenge.

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Elsewhere, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence continued to dodge at welterweight.

In addition to shady decisions and doping scandals, big fights that collapse over money and egos distract fans from the sport on a monthly basis.

But luckily, last year plenty of heroes stepped up to the plate to give us some nice, brutal boxes.

SunSport takes a look at the top five fights of 2022…

Leigh Wood vs. Michael Conlan – March 12

Irish Olympic icon Conlan can’t say he wasn’t warned by his featherweight rival.

The Belfast man taunted and teased Wood for his building boxing skills with a tongue as fast as his feet and hands.

But Wood quietly informed his opponent that his insane one-punch meant he would pose a real threat even if 11 rounds were down on the scorecards and heading towards certain defeat.

With Wood getting dropped in the first round, it looked like it was going to be an even more textbook win for Conlan.

But the underdog bounced back, dropping Conlan in 11th place and cleanly knocking him out of the ring with just seconds of the fight remaining for a fairytale victory.

Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano – April 30th

Ireland’s Olympic legend fought an epic match against Puerto Rico’s seven-weight world champion at Madison Square Garden.

The two boxing nations are already punching well above their weight and these two women have done their nations proud.

Taylor emerged victorious and retained her title as the undisputed lightweight queen with a split decision.

But Serrano came closest to the break and – being a world light super flyweight champion – the narrow loss earned her a great deal of respect.

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Chris Billam-Smith vs Isaac Chamberlain – July 30th

Bournemouth gentleman CBS brought the big boxing back to the south coast, filling its local arena with 3,000 screaming fans.

Brixton’s Chamberlain should have hinted of the scorching atmosphere and got on the backfoot, but he stood and traded with his cruiserweight rival over 12 grueling and bloody rounds.

Both men ended up looking disfigured but only the three scorecards – all 117-111 – were ugly as it was a much closer fight.

CBS retained their Cruiserweight and European Cup titles and the fight exceeded all expectations.

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Jordan Gill vs Karim Guerfi ​​– February 27

Peterborough featherweight Gill was behind on all three scorecards – going into the ninth round – after being dropped in the seventh and being passed for most of the fight.

With a draw and a loss in his five fights so far, he fought for his career – and lost.

Lap 8 and the start of lap 9 were hard to watch as the brave Englishman took a wound and started bruising and bleeding.

Pushed back into his corner and looking exhausted with his swollen right eye troubling him and the referee examining the worsening wound.

He then dug into his soul and pulled out a right hand that wiped the Frenchman clean and secured one of the finest British comebacks in modern times.

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Joe Joyce vs. Joseph Parker – September 24th

These two giants starred in a bloodbath in Manchester that secured Joyce’s position at the top of the pursuit group for the world heavyweight title.

Former Kiwi WBO Champion Parker beat the Putney Juggernaut with every shot in the book but failed to put a dent in the undefeated amateur performer.

After a typically slow start, Joyce began bruising and bruising Parker’s face, with one particularly nasty dig even causing blood to splatter all over the ringside photographers.

Parker’s spirit and jaw were broken in the 11th round when Joyce unleashed a one hell of a left hook that sent him staggering to the floor for the right stop.

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