November Boxing Highlights: 5 Key Fights to Watch
November in boxing doesn’t creep in. It kicks the door down.
The costumes are back in the attic, the pumpkins are rotting on the curb, and the nights are closing in. But the sport’s winter schedule is anything but cold. World titles at heavyweight, light heavyweight, bantamweight, junior bantamweight and a ferocious women’s lightweight clash — it’s a month built for fight fans who don’t mind a late night and a little jeopardy.
Here are the five that matter most.
5. Agit Kabayel vs. Nelson Hysa
12 rounds, WBC heavyweight title – Nov. 28, Düsseldorf
Agit Kabayel has heard the whispers. WBC heavyweight champion, but always mentioned after Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. A belt-holder, not a headliner. That’s the perception he’s chasing down in Düsseldorf.
On paper, Kabayel (27-0, 19 KOs) has done almost everything right. He’s unbeaten, he punches with authority, and he’s navigated the climb through boxing’s money division without slipping. What he hasn’t had is that statement win that forces his name into every conversation.
Nelson Hysa (25-0, 23 KOs) walks in with the kind of record that gets attention in bold type. Perfect slate, serious power, and a busy schedule that’s taken him from Albania to Germany to the UK. He’s lived on undercards, but he’s been learning on the job and flattening opponents while he’s at it.
The problem for Hysa? He hasn’t shared a ring with a heavyweight as complete as Kabayel. The German isn’t just a puncher; he’s a measured, technically sound operator who understands the tempo of 12-round fights and knows how to manage risk while turning the screw.
If Kabayel cruises, it won’t just be another defense. It will feel like a declaration — that Germany, once the capital of heavyweight boxing in the Klitschko years, might finally have another big man capable of dragging the division back to packed arenas and primetime nights on home soil.
The belt is on the line. So is Kabayel’s place in the heavyweight conversation.
4. Alycia Baumgardner vs. Elif Nur Turhan
10 rounds, IBF women’s lightweight title – Nov. 8, Arlington
Alycia Baumgardner is chasing history at a new weight, and she hasn’t picked an easy way to do it.
The former undisputed super featherweight champion steps up to lightweight with the IBF title in her sights, and with it the chance to become a two-weight world champion. Standing in her way in Arlington is Elif Nur Turhan, unbeaten, unforgiving, and one of the most dangerous punchers in women’s boxing.
Baumgardner (18-1, 7 KOs) has grown into her role at the top of the sport. She’s slick, confident, and comfortable under the brightest lights. Her game is built on sharp combinations, fast feet and an ability to read fights in real time. She’s used to being the one with the answers.
Turhan (14-0, 8 KOs) asks different questions. The “Golden Turkish Warrior” is relentless, heavy-handed and riding the momentum of the best win of her career — a stoppage of Olympic gold medallist Beatriz Ferreira to seize the IBF belt. She doesn’t come to outpoint opponents. She comes to break their rhythm and their resolve.
Stylistically, it’s a classic collision. Baumgardner will want a boxing match: angles, timing, making Turhan miss and pay. Turhan will try to turn it into a fight, close the distance, rough her up and test how Baumgardner handles a naturally bigger, surging champion.
The reward is huge. Victory would put Baumgardner within touching distance of one of the biggest events in women’s boxing — a showdown with Britain’s Caroline Dubois and another run at undisputed status.
But none of that happens if she can’t solve Turhan. And this champion doesn’t look like she’s in the mood to be a stepping stone.
3. Riku Masuda vs. Seiya Tsutsumi II
12 rounds, WBA “regular” bantamweight title – Nov. 29, Tokyo
Some rematches are about belts. This one is about pride first.
Three years ago, Seiya Tsutsumi handed Riku Masuda the only defeat of his professional career, a unanimous decision in August 2023 that left Masuda with questions and Tsutsumi with the bragging rights. Now they meet again in Tokyo, this time with Masuda’s WBA “regular” bantamweight title in play.
Masuda (11-1, 9 KOs) is not the same fighter he was in that first meeting. The 29-year-old southpaw has grown into one of Japan’s most dangerous men at 118 pounds. He stopped future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire, then edged Daigo Higa to claim the title. Those are the kind of wins that harden a champion.
But his first defense comes against the one man who already knows how to beat him.
Tsutsumi (13-0-3, 8 KOs) hasn’t been standing still either. The unbeaten 30-year-old has beaten current WBC champion Takuma Inoue and Donaire, carving out his own reputation as a force in the division. He walks into this fight not as a nostalgic challenger but as a man who believes the belt should already be his.
The styles promise chaos. Masuda brings explosive southpaw power and a clear reach advantage, looking to control range and detonate counters. Tsutsumi is a switch-hitting pressure fighter, the type who walks forward, changes looks and drags opponents into exchanges they don’t want to have.
There’s more at stake than a strap. Tsutsumi still sees himself as the rightful top man. Masuda is desperate to prove that the first fight was a chapter, not a prophecy.
Tokyo loves a grudge match. This one comes with unfinished business written all over it.
2. David Jimenez vs. Seigo Yuri Akui
12 rounds, WBA junior bantamweight title – Nov. 29, Tokyo
On the same Tokyo stage, another world title hangs in the balance — and another champion looks to prove he belongs.
David Jimenez’s path to the WBA super flyweight title was unconventional. The Costa Rican (18-1, 12 KOs) won the interim belt by beating John Ramirez, then became full champion in June when Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vacated. The paperwork says “world champion.” Now he has to make the ring say it too.
He defends against Seigo Yuri Akui (23-3, 13 KOs), a former WBA flyweight champion who knows exactly what it takes to live at world level and is hunting glory in a second division.
Jimenez has earned a reputation as a road warrior. Between 2024 and 2025 he boxed four times in four different countries, chasing opportunity wherever it appeared. Then came a 14-month spell of inactivity — a dangerous gap in a division where sharpness and timing can decide everything.
Akui has stayed busy. He lost his flyweight crown to Kenshiro Teraji in a unification clash, then steadied himself with back-to-back wins. Now he steps up in weight with the chance to join the select group of Japanese fighters to win titles in two divisions.
Expect Jimenez to be the one forcing the issue. He thrives on high-volume attacks, throwing in bunches and trying to drown opponents under waves of punches. Akui counters that with a more measured style — a disciplined jab, sharp counters and a heavy right hand that can change a fight in a heartbeat.
Tokyo cards often slip under the global radar. Once the first bell goes, they rarely stay quiet for long.
1. Joshua Buatsi vs. Willy Hutchinson II
12 rounds, vacant WBC light heavyweight title – Nov. 7
Some fights don’t need much selling. Joshua Buatsi vs. Willy Hutchinson is one of them.
Their first meeting in 2024 was tight, tense and brutal. Buatsi (20-1, 13 KOs) walked away with a split-decision victory and two knockdowns in the bank, but there was no sense of closure. Hutchinson (20-2, 14 KOs) left furious with the verdict. Buatsi didn’t celebrate like a man who had just produced his masterpiece.
Now they’re back for Round 13 — and this time the vacant WBC light heavyweight title sits at the center of it all. The winner becomes Britain’s fifth male world titleholder. The loser has to live with the other man holding the belt and the bragging rights.
Hutchinson has rebuilt with purpose, stringing together wins over Ezra Taylor and Mark Jeffers to kick down the door to another shot. Buatsi’s road has been rougher. He suffered a punishing defeat to Callum Smith, then squeezed past Zach Parker in a narrow points win that raised as many questions as it answered.
Both men arrive with something to prove. Hutchinson wants to show that the first fight was his, that the judges got it wrong and that he’s the superior craftsman over 12 rounds. Buatsi wants to remind everyone why he was once tipped as the next big thing at 175 pounds and to finally put a definitive stamp on this rivalry.
This isn’t a tune-up. It isn’t a showcase. It’s a genuine 50/50 fight for one of the sport’s most prestigious belts.
For Buatsi and Hutchinson, November 7 isn’t just about a title. It’s about deciding who gets to call themselves the man at light heavyweight — and who has to live with the rematch that got away.
