FIGHTER OF THE YEAR HAS KO OF 2009
Pittsburgh, PA– With less than two weeks and few notable fights remaining this year, let’s start talking about the awards for the year’s best. The ‘fighter of the year’ award shouldn’t garner much discussion beyond praise for the obvious recipient, Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs). Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs), with three solid, dominating wins, and Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KOs), after upending Mikkel Kessler in the Super Six Tourney, are worthy runners up, but the Pacman had no peer! 2009’s enduring image will remain the Filipino’s left hand to Ricky Hatton’s jaw that put him to sleep and should earn ‘knockout of the year‘. Those competing for second in that category are Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), with his January stoppage of Antonio “Manos de Yeso” Margarito, and Randall Bailey’s (40-7, 35 KOs) lights out right hand against Frankie Figueroa on ESPN in April.
F.O.T.Y. FEATURED A FIRST-CLASS SUB
Paul “the Punisher” Williams (38-1, 27 KOs) fell in love with some power shown in recent bouts and tried to take out Kelly Pavlik’s substitute Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KOs) early, which was almost his undoing. When Martinez rocked Williams several times in the first few rounds, an instant classic was on, and they went back-and-forth in an exciting battle that could have gone either way. It was so good that many clamor for a rematch rather than seeing Williams and Pavlik finally meet, an unthinkable concept just a couple months ago. Other excellent affairs included: Andre Berto’s (25-0, 19 KOs) razor-thin defense of his WBC strap over Luis Collazo (30-4 (15 KOs), a bout that came down to the exciting last round; Juan Manuel Marquez’s (50-5-1, 37 KOs) and Bernard Dunne’s (28-2, 25 KOs) come-from-behind knockouts for the lightweight (135 lb.) and WBA 122 pound championships; Jean Pascal’s (25-1, 16 KOs) two tough scraps with Adrian Diaconu (26-2, 15 KOs); and Juan Manuel Lopez (27-0, 24 KOs) surviving a major scare against hardnosed vet Rogers Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18 KOs).
PROSPECT OF THE YEAR – TOUGH CHOICE
Are you a glass half-empty or half-full person? You could argue that no standout prospects exist this year, or that as many as ten could win the award. Any one of the following would be a worthwhile choice: Cuba’s Erislandy Lara (9-0, 5 KOs); 2008 Russian Olympian Matt Korobov (9-0, 7 KOs); Americans Shawn Porter (12-0, 10 KOs), Daniel Jacobs (18-0, 15 KOs), Antowne Smith (17-1-1, 9 KOs) and Chris Avalos (14-0, 11 KOs); and Mexican-American Abner Mares (19-0, 12 KOs). Even though he’s only competed four times professionally though, I’ll offer two-time Cuban Olympic Gold Medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux (4-0, 3 KOs) as 2009’s prospect of the year. His hundreds of amateur fights are legendary, and with the tutelage of the great Freddie Roach, Rigondeaux could compete for a title within 10 pro contests.
UPSET OF THE YEAR AN OUCH FOR GOLDEN BOY
Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions was not the only promoter with a star to fall this year, but the “Golden Boy jinx” hit the hardest when Jorge Linares (27-1, 18 KOs) was stunned in more ways than one by Juan Carlos Salgado (20-0-1, 15 KOs) in Tokyo. Other notable upsets included Yuri Foreman’s (28-0, 8 KOs) impressive title grab from Daniel Santos (32-4-1, 23 KOs) last month and Miguel Acosta’s (26-3-2, 20 KOs) 9th round stoppage of Urbano Antillon (26-1, 19 KOs) in July. Two others that might get mentions but shouldn’t are Danny Green (28-3, 25 KOs) adding yet another concussion to Roy Jones, Jr.’s (54-6, 40 KOs) resume, and Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KOs) dominating Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KOs) in the Super Six, via Oakland.
ROBBERY OF THE YEAR: TWICE IN ONE FIGHT
In February, the aforementioned Sergio Martinez schooled Kermit Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KOs), even knocked him out but walked away with a majority draw. “Come again?” Referee Frank Sartore counted Cintron out in the seventh, only to reverse himself after several minutes passed, and Martinez lost no more than 2 or 3 rounds but only received a draw – total nonsense. I couldn’t give the award to Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KOs) for his controversial August loss to Juan Diaz, since I had Diaz winning. However, I took greater issue with another decision out of Houston, where Rocky Juarez was unjustifiably given six rounds on each of the three judge’s scorecards in what should have been a competitive but clear loss to WBA featherweight (126 lb.) titlist Chris John (43-0-2, 22 KOs).
Let’s see your list.
Brian Gorman