Who will rule boxing next? The fighters chasing the sport’s crown

Canelo, Crawford, Usyk, Fury and Joshua defined an era. From Boots Ennis and Bam Rodriguez to Shakur Stevenson, Abdullah Mason and Moses Itauma, AURA examines who can actually become boxing’s next dominant star.

Published: 2026-10-05

Boxing is approaching a genuine succession fight

Every era eventually reaches the point where the champions remain visible but the sport has already started looking past them. Canelo Álvarez, Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and the recently retired Terence Crawford have defined much of boxing’s commercial and competitive landscape. The next question is not simply who wins belts after they leave. It is who can become the fighter around whom the sport reorganises itself.

That is a much harder standard than being young, unbeaten or exciting.

Boxing’s unofficial crown is built from several things at once: elite ability, a résumé that survives scrutiny, memorable opponents, activity, personality, market size and the willingness to take fights that create consequences. A fighter can be brilliant and never become the face of the sport. A fighter can also be marketable without ever proving he is the best.

For AURA, the future of boxing therefore has to be judged in tiers. Some fighters are already proven champions entering their prime. Some are one major rivalry away from becoming global stars. Others are still prospects whose potential remains larger than their evidence.

The throne contenders

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis — the strongest immediate American candidate

Any serious version of this article has to start with Jaron Ennis. The earlier prospect conversation has expired. Ennis is now 36-0 with 32 knockouts, a champion in two divisions and a unified titleholder at junior middleweight.

His June victory over Xander Zayas was important because it supplied something his résumé had often been accused of lacking: a young, unbeaten, ambitious champion who was good enough to create genuine resistance. Zayas buzzed Ennis in the third round. Ennis recovered, adjusted, dropped him three times across the fight and stopped him in the seventh.

That sequence told us more than another easy knockout would have. Ennis can be hurt, remain composed and then regain control against a high-level opponent.

Technically, Boots has perhaps the widest offensive vocabulary among the candidates. He can box orthodox or southpaw, lead or counter, attack the body, work in combination and generate power without turning every exchange into a loading contest. His speed is obvious. The more important quality is how quickly he can move from defence to offence after an opponent commits.

The weakness in the Boots case is not ability. It is event history. The next phase of his career needs opponents whose names matter beyond boxing’s hardcore audience.

That is why Vergil Ortiz Jr matters so much. Ortiz is 24-0 with 22 knockouts and represents the stylistic opposite of Ennis: pressure, physicality, violence and a willingness to force extended exchanges. Ennis-Ortiz is not merely a good fight. It is the kind of rivalry that could define both men.

Unifications with Sebastian Fundora or Josh Kelly would strengthen Ennis’ championship argument. Ortiz could create the star argument.

**AURA position:** Ennis is the clearest candidate to become the next major American pound-for-pound attraction, but he still needs the rivalry that turns excellence into an era.

Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez — the résumé candidate

Bam Rodriguez is almost mislabelled when he is described as ‘the future’. In competitive terms, much of his future has already arrived.

By 26 he had accumulated elite-level wins across multiple divisions and added another world title by stopping Antonio Vargas. His career already includes victories over Juan Francisco Estrada, Sunny Edwards, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras.

That is not prospect matchmaking. It is the résumé of a fighter being tested repeatedly against recognised championship quality.

Rodriguez’s boxing is built around geometry rather than spectacle for its own sake. He creates angles after punching, changes levels, attacks the body and rarely follows opponents blindly in straight lines. His pressure is intelligent because his feet position him for the next punch rather than simply moving him closer.

The commercial question is weight. Fighters in the lower divisions have historically had a harder route to becoming boxing’s biggest global attraction. Naoya Inoue has shown that exceptional quality can break that barrier.

That is why the possibility of Bam eventually moving toward Inoue is so significant. A win of that magnitude would not merely add another belt. It could make Rodriguez the central pound-for-pound figure of his generation.

**AURA position:** Rodriguez may have the best chance of finishing this era with the strongest pure boxing résumé, even if becoming the single biggest commercial star remains a different challenge.

Shakur Stevenson — the technician who needs a defining rivalry

Shakur Stevenson is 25-0 and already a four-division world champion after dominating Teofimo Lopez over twelve rounds. Calling him a prospect would be absurd. The relevant question is whether elite technical control can be converted into the sport’s biggest stage.

Stevenson’s greatest skill is distance management. He does not merely react quickly; he controls where exchanges happen. Opponents regularly find themselves punching from slightly too far away while Stevenson remains close enough to answer.

Against Lopez, he showed that this style can work against a proven, explosive champion at 140 pounds. He did not survive the fight. He controlled it.

The criticism that follows Shakur is commercial rather than technical: will enough people pay to watch a fighter whose primary genius is denying opponents opportunities?

Floyd Mayweather eventually answered that question through enormous rivalries, personality, controversy and elite opponents. Stevenson needs his own version of that ecosystem.

Potential fights involving Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, Conor Benn or another established attraction could provide the missing emotional stake.

**AURA position:** Shakur may be the purest defensive technician of the group. The remaining test is not whether he can box. It is whether his career can generate the rivalries that make technical brilliance culturally unavoidable.

David Benavidez — the obvious name prospect lists forget

David Benavidez is often left out of ‘future of boxing’ discussions because he has already spent years near the top. That is exactly why he belongs.

At 29, Benavidez is still young enough to define the post-Canelo period. He is unbeaten, carries a high knockout ratio and has continued climbing in weight rather than waiting for one career-defining opportunity to arrive.

His move through the heavier divisions gives him an important commercial advantage. Bigger fighters generally have access to opponents and narratives that casual audiences understand immediately: size, power and the possibility of heavyweight expansion.

A cruiserweight collision with Jai Opetaia, or a longer-term path toward heavyweight, would give Benavidez the kind of event scale that many smaller fighters have to work much harder to create.

**AURA position:** Benavidez is less ‘next prospect’ than immediate claimant. If he keeps winning against elite names at higher weights, he could become one of the sport’s central attractions before the younger prospects are ready.

One super-fight away

Vergil Ortiz Jr — the rival who could become king himself

Ortiz cannot be reduced to ‘the opponent Boots needs’. He is unbeaten, one of the most dangerous punchers around 154 pounds and has shown he can operate in difficult fights rather than only in clean knockout performances.

His appeal is straightforward: pressure creates drama. Ortiz makes opponents work, takes risks to impose his physicality and produces the kind of exchanges that convert first-time viewers into fans.

If he beats Ennis, the entire hierarchy changes. If he loses a classic and wins a rematch, both fighters grow. That is why the matchup carries more historical value than another sequence of mandatory defences.

**AURA position:** Ortiz has a plausible route to the crown because the fight that could make him is already visible.

Abdullah Mason — the highest-upside young American champion

Abdullah Mason may be the most important name in the truly young category. At 22 he is already a world champion, 21-0 with 18 knockouts, and still several years away from the age usually associated with a fighter’s physical prime.

His offensive talent is easy to recognise: speed, combination punching, a southpaw stance and the confidence to attack openings rather than merely score around them.

But Mason’s development is interesting because it has not been perfectly clean. Being dropped twice by Yohan Vasquez provided useful information. Elite offensive fighters eventually meet opponents who can return fire. The question is whether defensive responsibility develops quickly enough to match the offence.

A unification-level fight against someone such as William Zepeda would tell us far more than another safe defence.

**AURA position:** Mason has perhaps the best combination of youth, power and American-market potential in the sport. His ceiling is enormous, but his defence still has to mature with his ambition.

Hamzah Sheeraz — size, power and a major-market route

Hamzah Sheeraz belongs in this conversation because he combines physical dimensions, finishing power and access to major British and Middle Eastern audiences.

At super middleweight, he is operating in a division that remains commercially relevant after Canelo. The opportunity is obvious: become the leading figure of the post-Canelo 168-pound landscape rather than simply one of several belt holders.

Sheeraz still needs the sort of elite win that changes how neutral observers discuss him. But if the matchmaking delivers it, his size and power give him a credible path to major-event status.

**AURA position:** not yet at Ennis or Bam’s proven level, but commercially and physically positioned for a major leap.

The next generation

Moses Itauma — defeat made the evaluation more honest

The old description of Itauma as an undefeated 20-year-old destroyer is now obsolete. He is 21 and 14-1 after Filip Hrgovic stopped him in the ninth round of their world-title fight.

That loss should not remove him from the future-of-boxing discussion. It should improve the quality of the discussion.

Itauma started quickly, hurt Hrgovic and showed why the excitement existed. Then the fight moved into territory his professional career had rarely required him to solve: an experienced heavyweight surviving the early danger, forcing him to manage energy and continuing to ask questions deep into the fight.

The result exposed pacing, conditioning and late-fight decision-making. Those are real weaknesses at world-title level. They are also developmental weaknesses rather than proof that his speed, power and southpaw skill were imaginary.

The heavyweight division magnifies opportunity. If Itauma rebuilds correctly, a 21-year-old heavyweight with elite hand speed and knockout power remains an extraordinary commercial asset.

**AURA position:** no longer inevitable, still highly relevant. His response to the first defeat is now more important than the unbeaten record ever was.

Diego Pacheco — the super-middleweight waiting for a signature win

Diego Pacheco has the frame and offensive tools to become a major figure at 168 pounds. At 6ft 4in, he brings dimensions more commonly associated with heavier divisions and has enough power to make that size matter.

The issue is résumé. Potential becomes championship credibility only when it survives an opponent capable of disrupting the plan.

Pacheco’s next major step therefore has to be a fight that can go wrong. If he wins that kind of contest, the conversation changes quickly.

**AURA position:** high ceiling, incomplete evidence.

Adam Azim — British speed with a world-level question still to answer

Adam Azim is 15-0 with 12 knockouts and has already produced stoppage wins over experienced names including Sergey Lipinets and Steve Claggett.

His hand speed is the headline trait, but the more important development has been his ability to turn speed into controlled aggression rather than simply throwing fast combinations.

The British market gives him access to meaningful domestic rivalries. A fight with Dalton Smith, particularly with championship stakes, would be an ideal separator between prospect excitement and genuine world-level status.

**AURA position:** one of Britain’s best young candidates, but the next opponent matters more than the undefeated number.

Emiliano Vargas — talent plus the machinery of attention

Emiliano Vargas carries a famous surname, but surname value disappears quickly when a fighter cannot perform. His own development has given the hype more substance.

He has shown genuine offensive talent, finishing ability and an instinct for engaging an audience. That combination matters because becoming the face of boxing has never been purely a technical competition.

The caution is opposition. Vargas needs the level of fighter who forces him to change plans, lose rounds and demonstrate composure.

**AURA position:** strong commercial upside with enough talent to justify serious attention, but still entering the proving phase.

Xander Zayas — one defeat does not erase a 23-year-old champion

Zayas should remain on the list precisely because Boots beat him.

He entered that fight as a young unified champion and was brave enough to take a dangerous assignment rather than protect his belts against softer opposition. He hurt Ennis in the third round before the more mature fighter took over.

Boxing’s obsession with undefeated records often mistakes a loss for a conclusion. At 23, Zayas has time to treat the defeat as information.

The rebuild will show whether he can tighten the defensive gaps Ennis exploited, improve his ability to control momentum and return to elite opposition without losing ambition.

**AURA position:** downgraded, not dismissed.

The long-term wildcards

Curmel Moton

Moton is still a prospect rather than a throne contender. That distinction should be maintained. He has elite-looking reflexes, speed and balance, but those qualities still need to be tested against opponents who can force uncomfortable rounds.

The attraction is his age. At 20, he has time to build properly rather than rush toward comparisons with fighters who already own world titles.

Bruce Carrington

Carrington’s status has changed from prospect to champion. Technical polish, timing and composure have carried him to a title, but featherweight greatness requires marquee unifications and opponents who can broaden his audience.

Callum Walsh

Walsh has one of the more interesting crossover profiles in the sport: an aggressive southpaw style, an Irish-American fan base and growing visibility through the new promotional landscape. What he needs now is a sequence of opponents who transform that popularity into boxing credibility.

Keyshawn Davis

Davis remains one of the more naturally gifted American fighters of his age group, but career momentum is not permanent. The next phase has to include a major opponent and a clear championship route. Talent keeps him in the discussion; decisions around opposition determine how long he stays there.

Why rivalries matter more than rankings

The sport often asks who the next Canelo or Mayweather will be as though one fighter simply inherits a vacant office.

That is not how boxing history usually works.

Leonard became Leonard partly because Hearns, Duran and Hagler existed. Ali needed Frazier and Foreman. Pacquiao’s rivalry with Márquez added depth to both men’s legacies. Mayweather’s era was amplified by the long-running argument around Pacquiao.

The next king of boxing probably needs an enemy.

Ennis has Ortiz. Bam has the possibility of Inoue. Stevenson needs the opponent who turns his technical supremacy into a cultural argument. Mason needs another young champion to grow alongside him. Itauma eventually needs a heavyweight rival his own generation can claim.

Without those fights, boxing risks producing several excellent champions and no defining era.

So who is actually closest to the crown?

If the question is who is closest right now, Jaron Ennis has the strongest combination of prime age, knockout power, American market potential and upward competitive trajectory.

If the question is whose résumé may eventually look best, Bam Rodriguez has an extraordinary head start.

If the question is pure technical control, Shakur Stevenson belongs near the top of any discussion.

If the question is highest upside among the youngest champions, Abdullah Mason is difficult to ignore.

If the question is commercial scale through bigger weight classes, David Benavidez may have the clearest immediate opportunity.

And if boxing wants another heavyweight phenomenon, Moses Itauma remains alive in that race — but now he has to prove he can learn.

AURA verdict

The future of boxing is not one prospect list. It is a succession battle.

Boots Ennis is our current lead candidate because he combines elite ability, finishing power, championship achievement and a visible path to the rivalry that could make him a genuine superstar. Bam Rodriguez may become the generation’s most accomplished boxer. Shakur Stevenson already has the technical credentials. Benavidez has the size and event potential. Abdullah Mason has youth on his side.

But none of them should be crowned on projection alone.

The throne will be decided by who takes the fights, beats the rivals and gives the sport nights people remember.

Talent creates contenders. Rivalries create kings.