Oleksandr Usyk entered the ring December 21 with the proverbial weight of an entire nation on his broad shoulders.

Ukraine’s Usyk, whose country has been at war with Russia for nearly three years, knew he needed to beat Tyson Fury more convincingly in their immediate rematch than he did when he won what was at least a debatable split decision May 18 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The former undisputed cruiserweight champion responded to that intense pressure by defeating Fury definitively that night, at least according to judges Gerardo Martinez, Patrick Morley and Ignacio Robles.

Puerto Rico’s Martinez, Chicago’s Morley and Panama’s Robles each scored eight rounds for the left-handed Usyk, who won 116-112 on their cards. Fury feels he won both bouts versus Usyk last year, but he expressed respect for the Ring, WBA, WBC, WBO and IBO heavyweight champion when he kissed Usyk atop his head after the 2012 Olympic gold medalist fell to his knees once Michael Buffer announced him as the winner of their rematch by unanimous decision last month.

His two victories over Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) firmly cemented Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) as a generational great in the minds of many boxing historians and enthusiasts. It also earned Usyk The Ring’s “Fighter of the Year” award for 2024, which he received at a star-studded inaugural awards event, which was streamed by DAZN on Saturday night from Old Royal Naval College in London.

Usyk, who will turn 38 on January 17, isn’t certain whether he’ll box again. Nothing, of course, can take away from what he accomplished in 2024.

Defeating Fury the first time made Usyk the first fully unified heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.

Usyk almost knocked out Fury late in the ninth round of their initial encounter. Fury suffered a knockdown with about 10 seconds to go in the ninth round because the ropes held him up, yet he made it to the final bell.

Judges Mike Fitzgerald (114-113) and Manuel Palomo (115-112) scored that back-and-forth fight for Usyk, who lost 114-113 according to judge Craig Metcalfe.

His second victory over Fury seven months later kept Usyk in the top spot among The Ring’s top 10 pound-for-pound.

The hard-hitting Beterbiev won The Ring crown and became the first undisputed light heavyweight champion of the four-belt era when he outpointed then-unbeaten Russian Dmitry Bivol by majority decision October 12 at Kingdom Arena.

Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) took Beterbiev the distance for the first time during his 11-year professional career, but Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) won their closely contested, long-awaited showdown on two scorecards. Judges Glenn Feldman (115-113) and Pawel Kardyni (116-112) respectively scored seven and eight rounds for Beterbiev, who settled for a draw on the card of judge Manuel Palomo (114-114).

In his first fight of last year, the Russian-born, Montreal-based Beterbiev – who owns The Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO and IBO 175-pound championships – became the first fighter to defeat England’s Callum Smith inside the distance. He beat Smith (30-2, 22 KOs), a former WBA/WBC super middleweight champ, by seventh-round technical knockout last January 13 at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada.

This 27-year-old Puerto Rican southpaw successfully defended his WBO 105-pound crowns three times last year. Collazo (11-0, 8 KOs) concluded 2024 by adding the WBA minimumweight title to his collection November 16, when he stopped former champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong (25-1, 9 KOs) in the seventh round of their title unification fight in Riyadh.

Collazo’s victory was part of Golden Boy Promotions’ “Latino Night” event in the Saudi capital. The feat also crowned The Ring’s first-ever strawweight champion.

London’s Dubois pulled off two upsets last year, first versus previously unbeaten Croatian contender Filip Hrgovic, then against English superstar Anthony Joshua.

Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) stopped Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KOs) on cuts after eight mostly competitive rounds June 1 at Kingdom Arena. After capturing the IBF interim heavyweight title by beating Hrgovic on the Deontay Wilder-Zhilei Zhang undercard, Dubois viciously finished off Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) during the fifth round of his first title defense September 21 at a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London.

Dubois, 27, scored four knockdowns against Joshua – one each in the first, third, fourth and fifth rounds.

The strong southpaw commonly considered the truest threat to Japanese rival Naoya Inoue either in or near his weight class recorded three knockouts last year in Tokyo.

Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs) started 2024 by stopping Mexico’s Alexandro Santiago (28-5-5, 14 KOs) in the sixth round to win the WBC bantamweight championship February 24. The 27-year-old champion defended that title twice last year – first thanks to an unexpected first-round knockout of Filipino contender Vincent Astrolabio (19-5, 14 KOs) on July 20 and again when he defeated Thailand’s Tasana Salapat (76-2, 53 KOs) by sixth-round TKO on October 14.

The strong southpaw from San Antonio produced the most noteworthy win of his seven-year pro career June 29, when he halted Mexican legend Juan Francisco Estrada with a body shot during the seventh round of their fight for Estrada’s Ring and WBC 115-pound titles at Footprint Center in Phoenix.

Rodriguez, nicknamed “Bam,” got off the canvas from a flash knockdown very early in the sixth round to defeat Estrada (44-4, 28 KOs), who was ahead on one scorecard entering the seventh round (57-56, 54-58, 56-56).

A heavily favored Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs) overpowered overmatched Mexican Pedro Guevara in his second fight of 2024.

Rodriguez dropped Guevara (42-5-1, 22 KOs) with a left hand when there were 41 seconds to go in the third round November 9 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Guevara got to his feet, but Rodriguez ferociously finished him with a right uppercut that left Guevara rolling around on the canvas.