So it's that time again where we recap the year of boxing on a whole whether it be inside or outside the ring. A disappointing year for British boxing on the world stage losing 3 champions yet the domestic scene is better then it has been in years with some thrilling battles and some young prospects emerging to fore. The world scene has seen some shocks along the way, a fair bit of controversy and some fantastic battles. For myself 2011 has been a fantastic year on a whole although for British Boxing losing 3 world champions over year may be a dampener but actually may benefit the sport (here) in long run with fighters coming through maybe seeing the flaws of there peers. So with that being said it's your time to review the year... Review domestically and internationally :good Your Highlight of the Year: Best Card: Promoter of the Year: Your Trainer of Year: Comments on 2011: Prediction on 2012: And to finish it off Picture of the year, Must be from something in 2011 (Boxing Only! ), Something that stands out to you. Expect a few good-ones. Brother Naazim :rofl.. Mine..:happy This content is protected
Your Highlight of the Year: Peterson springs to mind, not many sports have that kind of story. Best Card: Cotto vs Marg I reckon. Promoter of the Year: No stand out, people will say Matchroom but I only see McCloskey vs Prescott as there only good bit of matchmaking. Of course they have had there hands tied with the Super Six. If I had to pick one I would say Top Rank just for there know how. Your Trainer of Year: Never really liked this award, people pick it on personality rather than there training methods. Virgil Hunter however has groomed Ward so well he deserves some recognition. Comments on 2011: Very good year for broadcasters in terms of numbers, bad year for British boxers overall but reasons to be cheerful. Prediction on 2012: Mayweather vs Pacman will happen in the final quarter of the year, after they both beat Cotto and JMM respectively.
Your Highlight of the Year: Being in attendance at the weigh in and the fight for the Unified Heavyweight title in Hamburg and being in attendance to see Ricky Burns prove the doubters wrong again. Best Card: None spring to mind Promoter of the Year: I'll with W@rren considering the number of fights he's put on since the start of box nation Your Trainer of Year: Virgil Hunter Comments on 2011: Its been a decent year with some great scraps, upsets etc too many to go into at the minute. Prediction on 2012: Tyson Fury to get shown up by David Price.
Highlight: Morales pushing Maidana all the way when everyone expected him to be battered by the Argentinian. Best card: Cotto-Margarito II Promoter: Eddie Hearn/Matchroom Trainer: Tony Borg Comments on 2011: Very good year for action inside the ring, bad for the politics outside. Prediction on 2012: Going to be a strong year, I reckon. Donaire will hopefully secure some big fights; same for Gamboa, Roman Gonzalez, Joyi and other world class fighters that haven't quite got a run of fights/exposure their talent deserves. Picture: This content is protected
Your Highlight of the Year: Jimmy Lennon Jr: 'Saint!...' Best Card: Action Heroes was fun. Couple of decent fights, then a mad one in Kirkland-Ishida then a fantastic one to end with; Maidana-Morales Promoter of the Year: Golden Boy/Top Rank whatever. Your Trainer of Year: Virgil Hunter. Obviously Ward fought a great fight and was in fantastic shape. I remember on the ringside debate he said that Ward would shock Froch with his strength and it certainly became painfully obvious during the fight when Froch couldn't/wouldn't walk Ward back. Special mention to the Cuban bloke (Diaz?) who trained Cotto. Cotto fought the perfect fight and the trainer seemed like a brilliant influence both in training and on fight night. Comments on 2011: Certainly compared to 2010 it has been a wonderful year. Although, maybe not great for British boxing from a results perspective, we have had a lot of boxers in world title fights giving fantastic accounts of themselves and Khan was in another FOTY contender; so not all bad. Would have been significantly better year for me if Marquez had got his decision. GB/Top Rank having a thaw in their relationship could be fantastic for boxing and they have been really competitive in putting on great cards this year. It seems to me the quality of cards, at least in the US, has generally been good this year and long may it continue. Domestic scene has been fantastic imo; lots of great fights and lots of fighters pulling off upsets (whether they get it on the cards is another matter) has meant 2011 has definitely not been dull at all. Prediction on 2012: No reason why it cannot be another great year. GB/TR have some incredible events to try and put on which would bring boxing forward globally. May/Pac is still very significant and Canelo/Chavez would be off the hook in Mexico/West Coast. Ward/Bute no reason it can't happen unless they argue over the venue. For the British, hopefully Khan can come again and continue to be in great fights and fighting the best; just needs to quit being a whining little *****. Froch-Kessler II in Nottingham would be immense and I would make sure I am there, hopefully Hearn can pull it off. Brook should win a world title in the first half of the year and we might see Khan-Brook late 2012 which would be fun. Groves/Degale/Cleverly/Munroe/Frampton/Quigg/ and others can keep progressing and stepping up and hopefully Gavin make a triumphant return at some point. I will be interested to see how BoxNation goes. Still not sure how I feel about its eventual impact on the popularity of the sport and the fighters, but they certainly need to get some great value for money given how tight some people on here are and it would be fantastic at least for hardcore fans if they can give that. Picture of the Year: This content is protected
