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It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Particularly if your occupation involves making lists.

And given that one of the CBS Sports boxing team mandates is to wrap 2016 in a tasteful bow before flipping the calendar to 2017, this is as good a place as any to get it accomplished.

So without further ado, here's a quick look ahead at some of the questions fight fans will want answered by the time we do it again next December.

Who will win at Wembley?

Only Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali had successfully risked their claims on the sport's most glamorous championship more than the 18 defenses that Wladimir Klitschko, then 39, had amassed since 2006.

But after 12 desultory rounds with Tyson Fury en route to a unanimous decision loss in late 2015, it was back to the drawing board for "Dr. Steelhammer."

Denied by circumstance in a bid to get the mercurial Fury back into a ring, Klitschko will instead go head to head with a man many consider the future of the heavyweights -- unbeaten English slugger Anthony Joshua -- at what's expected to be a jam-packed Wembley Stadium.

Joshua, with 18 KOs in 18 fights, has laid claim on the IBF heavyweight title and the April 29 winner will also walk away with the IBO and WBA belts that were declared vacant when Fury sought treatment for drug use and depression.

Klitschko is 64-4 with 53 KOs, but will have been inactive for 17 months by the time fight night arrives.

What else is on the Pacquiao agenda?

The seven-division world champion/Filipino congressman would have had you believe that his third date with Timothy Bradley last April in Las Vegas was to be his swan song.

He claimed heading into the fight that he would retire, but -- after a 12-round victory that was the most decisive of his trilogy with the Californian -- everyone from Pacquiao's trainer to his promoter to Bradley himself was conceding that there was no performance-based reason to bid farewell.

So it shocked precisely no one when he announced in the summer that he'd return to the desert to face WBO welterweight champ Jessie Vargas in the fall, and it was just as unsurprising when he proceeded to wrest the youngster's title belt away via unanimous decision at the Thomas & Mack Center.

What remains a mystery, though, is precisely what Pacquiao has planned as an encore.

He's made no secret of the fact that he'd love another crack at 2015 conqueror Floyd Mayweather Jr., but barring a sudden retirement-ending speech from "Money," he's more likely left to choose from a field of would-be suitors that includes 154-pound champ Canelo Alvarez, 140-pound claimant Terence Crawford, welterweight wannabes Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia and Kell Brook and even promotional stablemate Vasyl Lomachenko.

Will Mayweather return to a ring (or cage)?

Though he's not been paid to throw a punch in more than 15 months, it's not as if Floyd Mayweather Jr. hasn't been making combat sports headlines.

He remains a competitive thorn in the side of Pacquiao, who claims a shoulder injury was a significant factor in their May 2015 showdown and longs to bait his nemesis back for a chance to go 50-0.

Meanwhile, octagonal supernova Conor McGregor spent a good chunk of his 2016 suggesting that he and Mayweather ought to get together for the first high-level clash of UFC and boxing superstars -- while releasing training footage of his prowess in a ring and pursuing paperwork to secure a boxing license.

Mayweather has been coy, using phrases like "not at this time" when asked directly if he's pondering a comeback and playing along with McGregor with his own choreographed social media bursts.

Lest we forget, there is precedent for his return after extended time off -- he was inactive for 21 months between defeats of Ricky Hatton (2007) and Juan Manuel Marquez (2009) -- though he was 30 and 32 years old for those two wins, and will turn 40 this year on Feb. 24.

Can Fury rebound to health and/or heavyweight success?

What a difference a year makes in the heavyweight division.

Fury entered 2016 as the talk of the town after his surprise victory over Klitschko, who'd entered with the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO title belts and an unbeaten streak that stretched more than a decade.

But after a failed drug test, a flurry of psychological labels and the relinquishing of his claim to weight class supremacy, the Englishman begins the New Year with a defiant eye on redemption.

"Merry Christmas guys," he tweeted. "I've had a nightmare 2016, done a lot of stuff I'm not proud of! But my promise to you is I'll return. 2017 takeover."

Fury's trainer claimed a first comeback fight could occur in the spring and a return to the championship level would follow after another subsequent tune-up later in the year.

"He's coming back to not only get the belts, but to prove that he is the only heavyweight in the world," Peter Fury said. "I'd like to see Tyson fight (Deontay) Wilder. I think that's a massive fight across the pond. I think that would turn into a super-fight. That's a fight we want anyway."

Can Claressa Shields lift women's boxing?

Winning two Olympic gold medals may have been the easy part for Claressa Shields.

Even though she's just one fight into a professional career, the Flint, Michigan native is already hearing heady words tossed around when it comes to her impact on her sport.

"We've seen the future of women's boxing, and it's Claressa Shields," read a headline on TheUndefeated.com, two days after Shields defeated Franchon Crews on the Kovalev-Ward undercard in Las Vegas. But if the 21-year-old was rattled by the fanfare, she didn't show it.

"When you're doing something great, you don't really think about it. You just do it," she said. "And I'm just doing right now. I'm not really trying to think of making a bigger deal than what it really is."

Showtime sports executive Stephen Espinoza and promoter Lou DiBella have suggested Shields could indeed trigger a rebound in the popularity of the women's side, which has struggled for long-term traction and saw one of its most-decorated champions -- Holly Holm -- turn to mixed martial arts and to share a pay-per-view marquee with Ronda Rousey.

"You know, I'm just trying to go out there and give my best performance, like, every fight and they'll take to women's boxing and they'll take to me," Shields said.