“Terence Crawford is the nearest thing we will get to Floyd once he leaves.”—Alan Peddie
“Lomachenko is a guy who makes you believe that you’re watching something out of the ordinary when you see him fight.”—Max Kellerman
“When I first met him [Anthony Joshua] I couldn’t believe he was bigger than me – an inch taller at 6ft 6in. I thought oh my God. Then I thought oh good. As I already told you, size matters.”—Lennox Lewis
Fight of the Year: Salido-Kokietgym.
Guerro-Kamega, Coyle-Brizuela, Molina-Matthysse, Rodriguez-Nakagama, and Stevens-Johnson were truly great fights, but Orlando Salido’s win over Thai Terdsak “Pit Bull “Kokietgym gets my nod. Salido (42-12-2) rose from knockdowns in the first, second and fifth rounds on the way to an 11th-round technical knockout of the tough “Pit Bull” (53-5-1) on September 18. Kokietgym was dropped in the first, fourth, seventh and final rounds, the last time for good as referee Eddie Claudio waved an end to the back-and-forth thriller at the 16-second mark.
Fighter of the Year: Terrence Crawford (25-0)
With three solid wins in 2014 including a dominant championship win in a foreign country, he edges out Roman “Chocolito” Gonzalez (41-0) who fought four times in 2014 and won each by stoppage. Gonzalez’s fight with Akira Yaegashi was Gatti- vs. Ward but with more technical skills.
Round of the Year: Terence Crawford vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa, Round 9
Gamboa rocked Crawford early in the round and had the Nebraska native hurt and holding on. The tables then turned as Crawford cleared the cobwebs and the two traded lefts. Two jabs by Crawford and a right hurt Gamboa, and two hard left hooks floored him for the third time in the fight. Yet somehow someway he got back up. Crawford then delivered a final knockdown by was of a malevolent right uppercut. The game Gamboa was done with just seven seconds left in a round that was a pure spine-tingler. While the eleventh round of Coyle-Brizuela was also one to remember, this one had far more riding on it.
Knockout of the Year: Froch over Groves
On May 31, 2014, Carl Froch suddenly KOd George Groves with a picture-perfect right after weakening him with great body work and setting him up with a nifty feint upstairs. The rematch had been branded “Unfinished Business” after Froch’s controversial stoppage win last November. This fight left no remaining doubts about who was and is the better man. It was a breathtaking event in front of 80,000 at Wembley.
Worst Decision of the Year: Danny Garcia over Mauricio Herrera.
The undefeated Garcia was gifted in Puerto Rico on March 3 when he was awarded a decision over a badly underestimated Mauricio Herrera. The two judges who scored it 116-112 or eight rounds to four warrant further scrutiny. “El Maestro” was robbed in plain sight
Upset of the Year: Tie between
Amnat Ruenroeng over Kazuto Ioka
The streaking Ioka was Japan’s Boxer of the Year in 2013 and also was the WBA World light flyweight champion. However, when he stepped up to fight Thai Amnat Ruenroeng with the IBF World flyweight title at stake, he lost a SD in Osaka. One judge scored the fight for the former Strawweight/junior flyweight titleholder Ioka 114-113, but was overruled by the other two officials who scored the fight 119-108 and 115-112 for Ruenroeng. Thai fighters rarely win in Japan so this shocking decision was as good as gold, though the 119-108 card was an eyebrow-raiser. That card belonged to Hilton Whitaker III of New Jersey
And
Chris Algieri over Ruslan Provodnikov
Algieri survived the Siberian Rocky’s first round mugging and then hit and ran his way to win, albeit controversially, a split decision, a junior welterweight belt, and a chance to meet Manny Pacquiao in Macau. Two judges scored the bout 114-112 for Algieri, while the third scored it for Provodnikov, 117-109
Trainer of the Year: Freddie Roach
Cotto, Pacquiao, and many more make him a compelling pick, though Robert Garcia has a growing stable of fine fighters. However, the Cotto victory over Martinez showed the very best of Roach.
Mismatch of the Year: Garcia over Salka
This was far worse than Pacquiao vs. Algieri. The undersized and overmatched Rod “Lighting Rod” Saika was struck by lightning compliments of Danny Garcia. It was a scary, albeit swift electrocution.
Best single job of refereeing: Luis Pabon
Pabon refereed the WBA super lightweight 140 lbs title fight between champion Jessie Vargas and challenger Antonio De Marco on November 22 in Macao. The sometimes-criticized Pabon was invisible and was just about perfect in this one. He followed it up with another near-perfect job in the next fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Vasyl Lomachenko
This uncommonly talented Ukrainian became a world champion in only his third pro fight.: Next stop: pound for pound rating. Enough said.
Female fighter of the Year: “First Lady” Cecilia Braekhus
She went 4-0 in 2014 and is 27-0 overall. No doubt in my mind but some might argue that Marcela “La Tigresa” Eliana Acuña should get it.
Someone to keep an eye on: Anthony Joshua,
Joshua (10-0) now holds the WBC International heavyweight belt and served warning to his rivals that he is a force with which to be reckoned. He has fought 17 rounds in ten bouts, but his opponents have a combined won-lost record of 192-92-3.
Most Bizarre Event: Kellie
Frank Maloney, the former boxing promoter who guided Lennox Lewis to the world heavyweight title, revealed that he is undergoing gender reassignment and now lives as a woman called Kellie.
Runner up: Trainer Tim Lane saying that they are going to let Chris Algieri “out of his cage” just as Chris gets throttled and floored by Manny Pacquiao. Lane thus landed himself a spot in boxing infamy
Easiest selection (s) of the Year: –See most bizarre events of the year.
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