2009 in Review: Fighter of the Year & other awards & videos!

Watch Wlad at master work vs. unbeaten champ Chagaev:

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Knockout of the year:
Lucian Bute KO4 Andrade via body shot

Knockout is the ultimate result and the ending that made boxing so popular, as there’s nothing better when two fighters showcase their skills and one finds a way to close the show. In this section I’m looking for beaute over brute, therefore skipping the most brutal, possibly career-changing KOs from competition such as Abraham over Taylor, Pacquiao over Hatton, Angulo over Yorgey, Pitalua over Reyes, Alvarado over Clottey and Bailey over Figureoa. Too many were carried out on the stretcher this year. No doubt, these were great and memorable knockouts, but my pick for the award is a body shot.

IBF SMW champ Lucian Bute, out on his feet in a controversial 12th round last year vs. extra tough Librado Andrade, looked for revenge in their 2009 rematch, and boy he served it cold! Andrade, actually a really good pressure fighter (and such as, underrated) who took Kessler’s and Bute’s best shots before, put on more pressure this time around to break the Montreal-based champ down. However, in round 4, as Librado was rushing in, a beautiful and deadly counter left hook put him down hard. Had it been any other SMW, that would’ve been 2009’s KOTY, however Andrade has insane punch resistance, so he stood up and fought back bravely. But the Romanian, one of the finest body punches in the sport, went to the area Andrade didn’t cover, and a left uppercut to the body put the shocked challenger down for the count. In the months of 6 super middleweights fighting for the no1 spot, Bute, left out of the tournament, might be the very best fighter around. But there’s a chance of Lucian unifying or fighting MW champ Kelly Pavlik next year.

Other candidates:
- Vic Darchinyan KO2 Tomas Rojas
- Ola Afolabi KO9 Enzo Maccarinelli
- Brian Viloria KO11 Ulyses Solis
- Yuriorkis Gamboa KO1 Walter Estrada
- Juan Manuel Marquez KO9 Juan Diaz
- Hozumi Hasegawa KO4 Alvaro Perez
Underrated knockout: Toshiaki Nishioka KO4 Jhonny Gonzalez

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Upset of the year:
Juan Carlos Salgado TKO1 Jorge Linares

Sports would be awful without unexpected results, boring if everything would go as planned. And which sport if not professional boxing gives you the constant feel that a surprise result can happen at any moment? 2009 had more than a few, but one came really unexpected: Juan Carlos Salgado’s 73 second stoppage of unbeaten 2-time champ, Jorge Linares.

Jorge’s future looked so bright: featherweight champion at 21, super featherweight champion at 23, exciting, fast, skilled, powerful, and with the nickname El Niño de Oro, it was no surprise that Golden Boy Promotions signed the classy Venezuelan. Linares, having his last fight in Japan under Teiken Promotions, looked for a safe Tokyo farewell vs. unbeaten but unknown and untested Juan Carlos Salgado. But the Mexican upset all odds when just 45 seconds into the fight landed a long left hand on Linares’ right temple area. It didn’t look like a big blow, but if you follow boxing, you know that every now and than this kind of shot produces shock results, think Mundine vs. Ottke or iron chinned Hall vs. Hoye. It’s rare, but Salgado delivered the unique shot in October, and Linares collapsed right after contact. Somehow the champ stood up, but was barely conscious and was unable to defend himself from the following assault, so he went down again. The ref waived it off shortly: Salgado became the WBA SFW champion. Though our "knowledgeable" posters immediately started the glass jaw jokes, this kind of shot shocking the nerve system has little to do with punch resistance. It will be interesting to see where Salgado and Linares go from here, my bet would be a rematch sometime in 2010.

Other candidates:
- Brian Viloria KO9 Ulyses Solis
- Toshiaki Nishioka KO7 Jhonny Gonzalez
- Marcos Maidana TKO6 Victor Ortiz
- Danny Green TKO1 Roy Jones Jr.
- Shane Mosley TKO9 Antonio Margarito
- Kermit Cintron UD12 Alfredo Angulo
- Andre Ward TD11 Mikkel Kessler
- Miguel Vazquez MD10 Breidis Prescott
Underrated upset: Victor Ramirez RTD9 Alexander Alexeev

 

He's a great body puncher, would probably give hell to Pavlik and Abraham.

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A few gifs:

Nishioka-Gonzalez

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Afolabi-Maccarinelli

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Marquez-Diaz

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Hasegawa-Perez

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Bonus gif: Samuels-Renda double knockdown!

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Okay, here are some upset videos:

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Fight of the year:
Juan Manuel Lopez UD12 Rogers Mtagwa

Statistics don’t lie: the super bantamweight division produced the most FOTY winners this decade. Morales-Barrera kicked off the 00s, and a SBW wipeout closes it: Sithchatchawal-Monshipour in 2006, Vazquez-Marquez I in 2007, Vazquez-Marquez II in 2008, and either Dunne-Cordoba or JuanMa-Mtagwa this year. The former is the likely favorite at The Ring, however my vote goes for the latter: what a dramatic war it was out of the blue!

Tough but somewhat limited Tanzanian journeyman Rogers Mtagwa was supposed to be an exciting but easy defense for Juan Manuel Lopez’ recent knockout run, however Rogers proved to be a lot tougher, almost too tough for the young Puerto Rican. It all started as expected: JuanMa won the first round convincingly, but a big right hand in the 2nd to showed Mtagwa is there for the W. By the 3rd, Rogers’ determination and Lopez’ heart made it a war, Lopez was cut, and though winning, was caught numerous times by the awkward challenger. JuanMa produced an off-balance knockdown in the great 5th round, but got stunned in the all-action 7th himself. Both fighters were hurt in the 8th and 9th, it was an all-out war in the 10th, and entering the championship rounds, the scorecards tightened.

And then came the unforgettable drama: in the 11th (a round the champ never saw before), Lopez was stunned by a left-right combo. The warrior in him fought back to rock Rogers, but was caught by a huge left hook at the end, and never recovered. The last round was all Mtagwa: a huge right-left opened the 12th, and Lopez, in survivor mode occasionally fighting back, tried to weather the storm. It became clear: Top Rank’s next big thing’s career and bright future is on the line, and somehow, unbelievably, Lopez never went down despite barely standing and getting busted up. A last left hook from Rogers shook JuanMa to the bone, but the time ran out and the champion somehow survived with everyone in the building standing: the Puerto Rican star made it and retained his SBW belt by close UD. Lopez, probably drained at the weight, moves up and fights FW champ Steven Luevano in January, while Mtagwa will take on Yuriorkis Gamboa in an early 2010 fight of the year type match-up.

Other candidates:
- Andre Berto UD12 Luis Collazo
- Bernard Dunne TKO11 Ricardo Cordoba
- Juan Manuel Marquez TKO9 Juan Diaz
- Jean Pascal UD12 Adrian Diaconu I
- Marcos Maidana TKO6 Victor Ortiz
- Anthony Mundine SD12 Daniel Geale
Underrated action fight: Johnny Perez UD12 Joseph Agbeko

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Round of the year:
Marcos Maidana TKO Victor Ortiz, Round 1

What does a boxing fan want in 3 minutes? Bombs and knockdowns, fighters showing heart and will to fight back in the face of defeat, and of course all action and 2-way exchanges. This is what Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz produced in their opener for the interim WBA 140 title. Both being aggressive bombers, they went at it from the first moment, and a minute into the fight GBP’s blue chip prospect Ortiz put "Chino" down with a sparkling counter right. Maidana was hurt but shook it off, and barely 10 seconds later he put "Vicious" Victor down hard by a quick straight right. The 22-year old was very hurt, but fought back bravely, and they exchanged what Max Kellerman said “nuclear bombs” to absolutely rock Chicago’s UIP Pavilion. Both having tasted power and sensed weakness in the other, there were no game plans and tactics anymore: we had a WAR!

Dramatic action didn’t end in round one: Maidana was down twice in the 2nd, very hurt this time, but survived and fought back in the 3rd. Chino started to catch Ortiz with right hands in the following rounds, opening a cut on Victor’s right eye and hurting the 22 year-old bad in the 5th. The Argentinean immediately jumped on his foe in the 6th and battered him until the Golden Boy prospect, cut, bruised, hurt by body and head punches, went down. When he got up, he infamously shook his had as if he had enough, and the ref stopped the fight on the advice of the doctor. Maidana won the WBA interim 140lbs belt by TKO in an old school, heavy artillery slugfest, improving his record to 27-1 with a stunning 26KOs. A Devon Alexander or Amir Khan fight could be next for early 2010, and both promise a lot of actions!

Other candidates:
- Paul Williams vs. Sergio Martinez R1
- Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Rogers Mtagwa R12
- Carl Froch vs. Jermain Taylor R3
- Jean Pascal vs. Adrian Diaconu I R5
- Andre Berto vs. Luis Collazo R1
- Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz R9
- Bernard Dunne vs. Ricardo Cordoba any round
Underrated round: Zsolt Erdei vs. Giacobbe Fragomeni R12

 

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