Since 1922, The Ring magazine has named a Fight of the Year. There are many classics that have won the awards, but also some fights that people argue weren't the best one of the year in which they won. What are some FOTY winners that you think The Ring has gotten wrong for the past 100 years?
This was a list i done awhile ago needs updating 1958 Sugar Ray Robinson vs Carmen Basilio = Archie Moore vs Yvone Durelle 1 1967 Nino Benvenuti vs Emile Griffith = Floyd Patterson vs Jerry Quarry 1 or 2 1970 Carlos Monzon vs Nino Benvenuti = Jose Napoles vs Billy Backus 1 1974 George Foreman vs Muhammad Ali = Alexis Arguello vs Ruben Olivares 1977 George Foreman vs Jimmy Young = Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Marvin Johnson 1 1978 Leon Spinks vs Muhammad Ali 1 = Larry Holmes vs Ken Norton/Muniz vs Palomino 1 1981 Sugar Ray Leonard vs Thomas Hearns 1 = Cornelius Boza Edwards vs Rafael Limon 1986 Barry McGuigan vs Steve Cruz = Evander Holyfield vs Qawi 1/Marvin Johnson vs Stewart 1 1987 Sugar Ray Leonard vs Marvin Hagler = Dave McAuley vs Fidel Bassa 1/Matthew Hilton vs Buster Drayton 1988 Tony Lopez vs Rocky Lockridge 1 = Simon Brown vs Tyrone Trice 1/Robert Hines vs Matthew Hilton 1991 Robert Quiroga vs Akeem Anifowoshe = Michael Watson vs Eubank 2/Dennis Andries vs Harding 3 1995 Saman Sorjaturong vs Humberto Gonzalez = Kevin Kelley vs Alejandro Gonzalez/Benn vs McClellan/Williams vs Sosa 1 1996 Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield 1 = Kevin Kelley vs Derrick Gainer 1/Gatti vs Rodriguez/Barrera vs McKinney 1997 Arturo Gatti vs Rafael Ruelas = Naseem Hamed vs Kevin Kelley 2003 Arturo Gatti vs Micky Ward 3 = James Toney vs Vassily Jirov/Michael Brodie vs In Jin Chi 1 2007 Israel Vazquez vs Rafael Marquez 2 = Graham Earl vs Michael Katsidis 2010 Giovani Segura vs Ivan Calderon 1 = Juan Manuel Marquez vs Michael Katsidis 2021 Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 3 = Roman Gonzalez vs Juan Francisco Estrada 2
As great as it was, I always thought Pacquiao/Marquez 1 was comfortably better than Barrera/Morales III in 2004.
I don't believe Ring was always trying to say it was the best fight of the year, While it can't be a bum of a fight I do believe they think the importance of the fight and the fighters play into the decision.
I understand the important of the fight playing into the award, but the fighters themselves? I don't think that's fair at all.
Holyfield/Tyson was boring as hell. There was one exchange after the bell, that was basically it for the excitement.
