By Roy Billington

2016 is shaping up to be the year of the heavyweight division. A monumental upset victory by Tyson Fury over Wladimir Klitschko in late 2015, has set the wheels in motion for a year of stellar match-ups. Only a few weeks into 2016, we have already witnessed some of the division's best put on career defining performances. Deontay Wilder knocked out Artur Szpilka, Charles Martin took home the IBF crown after Vyacheslav Glazkov suffered a gruesome knee injury and David Haye made an amazing return to the ring.

With all the action that has already happened in the heavyweight division, what is next for the sports stars?

Tyson Fury

Tyson Fury has went from obscurity to stardom in a matter of months. The British heavyweight has proven a polarising champion and has hit the front page on numerous occasions for his bigoted views on the world. While Fury’s out-of-ring antics have been deplorable, his talent has been proven and he has shown that he deserves all the acclaim that he gets.

The obvious fight for Fury is an immediate rematch with Wladimir Klitschko and by all accounts that fight is expected to take place on May 7th, with the Allianz Arena in Germany or the UAE as the likely venues. It is hard to imagine the rematch going any differently than the first fight and a win would likely allow Fury to return to the ring in September or October.

Anthony Joshua

Since winning gold at the London Olympic Games in 2012, Anthony Joshua has been making a steady rise through the rankings. In Joshua’s last outing he faced the hard hitting Dillian Whyte and while there were some rough moments for the gold medalist, Joshua came through in the end and delivered a beautiful knockout.

After the fight against Whyte, Joshua’s promoters hinted that they may slow down their fighters progression and give him some easier fights before they allow him to  ascend to the upper echelons of the rankings.  While Joshua’s promoter may have indeed imagined taking him up the ranking slowly, a spanner has been thrown in the works and thanks to Robert Helenius’ vacation of the belt, Joshua is now in line to face Derek Chisora for the European title.

Charles Martin

Charles Martin’s title winning fight was marred by his opponent’s brutal injury. Just 8 minutes into the IBF title fight, Vyacheslav Glazkov suffered a freak injury, after shifting his weight too quickly he ruptured his ACL.

Martin’s next fight seems up in the air right now with most of the biggest names in the division tied up, but Martin’s coach recently spoke to Boxing Online(http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/henry-tillman-reveals-whats-next-for-charles-martin/) about his plans for his fighter for 2016:

“Well, you have a lot of talent, around ten or 15 guys that are very formidable. You have [Luis] Ortiz the Cuban, you have [Anthony] Joshua who is a young guy coming up, Tyson Fury has the belts, plus you can’t count out Klitschko. With Klitschko, as long as he was at the top, maybe it will prove to have taken a loss to get him motivated again to get back up there.”

Deontay Wilder

Last Saturday night, Deontay Wilder put on his most impressive performance to date in Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York.  Over the course of 9 rounds, Wilder looked self assured and confident as ever, before he viciously knocked out Artur Szpilka. Wilder’s KO of Szpilka was without doubt the most impressive of his career thus far and has likely caused his popularity amongst casual fans to soar.

Deontay Wilder’s next outing will be against his mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin and will likely prove to be his stiffest test to date. The real money fight of 2016 is Wilder vs. Fury and that fight hangs precariously in the balance as both fighters have stern tests awaiting them before they can book the fight. All going well, expect Fury vs. Wilder to happen in Autumn. 

David Haye

David Haye made his return to the ring after an absence of 3-and-a-half-years against Mark De Mori last weekend and his performance was a thing of beauty. Over the course of 121-seconds, Haye displayed the hand speed of a middleweight before landing a picture-perfect over hand to render the Australian fighter, De Mori, unconscious. In his post fight interview, Haye announced his intentions to unify the heavyweight division.

While David Haye has remarked about his aspirations to win all the heavyweight titles, the Brit too has declared that ideally he would have another few tune up fights before making a run at the titles. Many have speculated if Haye will push for a match up with Martin, but it is important to remember how stringent the IBF rules are and Haye is not currently high up in their rankings. Expect Haye to try to push for the Joshua fight, but to settle for some journeymen in his immediate future.