The heavyweight year is shaking out, but in some respects not fast enough for my liking.
With Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder almost upon us, Anthony Joshua is lining up his mandatory defences.
Having had to wrestle the competing demands of the IBF and WBO to face Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandr Usyk respectively, it appears a deal has been struck that will see Joshua face Pulev first.
The details to be ironed out relate to location. Joshua wants the UK with three sites in London plus Cardiff in the frame.
It would be great to see Joshua on these shores again, but why wait until May or June as proposed?
Since beating Wladimir Klitschko to unify the IBF and WBA titles in early 2017, Joshua has fought only twice a year.
For me, that is not enough. Continuity is important. The more active he is, the better Joshua will become.
He should go back to the old days when champions were more active. Notionally, it’s only a 12-round contest. In reality just two of his 24 bouts have gone the distance.
Four times a year would be both ideal and achievable.
Pulev is a much easier fight than Usyk. He turns 39 in May and is slower, less technically gifted and more hittable.
Klitchsko put him away with ease inside five rounds at the back end of 2014. Though that was his only defeat, Pulev has hardly been letting off flares since.
He needed a split decision to get past Dereck Chisora and in three of his past four bouts Kevin Johnson, Hughie Fury and Rydell Booker all took him the distance.
Usyk will benefit from another fight at the weight after his debut against Chazz Witherspoon last October. Though he finished it in seven, Usyk looked like a beefed-up cruiser.
Witherspoon is 38 and took the pay day at short notice. Despite hitting him with everything, Usyk could not put him down.
Usyk is technically excellent, but you have to have the pop to knock these guys over. He has to show us more power. The big guys will wear him out and slow him down in order to get to him.
In the dreamscape Joshua deals with both Pulev and Usyk to set up a showdown with Wilder or Fury to unify the belts this side of Christmas.
And yes, I mean Christmas 2020.
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