Golovkin vs. Alvarez would be one of the top five fights to look for in 2017

Boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya is among those who have said that 2016 was one of the sport’s worst years.

There were a pair of battles of unbeatens this year: Terence Crawford versus Viktor Postol and Andre Ward versus Sergey Kovalev — but they were on pay-per-view rather than on the more widely seen HBO network. And De La Hoya’s own reluctance to match his star, Canelo Alvarez, against undefeated middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin added to the disappointment.

When the calendar turns over in three weeks, De La Hoya will be among those in the sport empowered to put together the best fights possible.

Here are the five best bouts that boxing can make in 2017:

1. Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez: De La Hoya promised that by September 2017, Alvarez would be sufficiently prepared to meet the three-belt middleweight champion. There seems no way to wiggle out of this one, a bout that would generate plenty of interest and could easily launch a rematch or two.

2. Carl Frampton vs. Leo Santa Cruz II: It’s good for boxing that the featherweight-title rematch will take place Jan. 28 in MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Santa Cruz, after losing a narrow decision to Frampton last July in New York, didn’t look for an out as many others have done. Santa Cruz immediately called for a rematch, confident he’ll fare better even after Frampton’s strong showing in their first bout.

3. Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao II: Their record-selling 2015 bout was a clunker. But there’s a feeling that many will watch if they fight again. Mayweather has been on hiatus since September 2015 and he turns 40 in February; Pacquiao has his 38th birthday next week. However, Pacquiao’s sharpness in beating two champions this year begs for them to close their careers against each other.

4. Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez vs. Carlos Cuadras II: Gonzalez, the new super-flyweight world champion, was marked up in the later rounds of his decision win against former champion Cuadras. And the rematch of their September clash at the Forum has been talked about for early spring. The bout will be emotional for the unbeaten Gonzalez, whose trainer, Arnulfo Obando, died of a brain aneurysm last month.

5. Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev II: There’s a rematch clause that Kovalev’s team exercised after Ward’s 114-113 victory on all three scorecards Nov. 19 in Las Vegas. Though both Ward and his promoter are notoriously difficult to deal with, it’s hard to spin how taking a fight against anybody except Kovalev makes sense.