The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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The December of 2014 rankings saw Poland’s Andrzej Fonfara end the year ranked #4 as a Light Heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings. Ending 2015, he has moved up to #2 and he is crowding Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson at the top of the rankings.

Fonfara was a very solid boxer before this year. He really rose to prominence in May of 2014 when he fought valiantly in a losing effort against Adonis Stevenson in a bid to win the WBC World Title. He hit the canvas twice in the opening round, and he was hurt by body shots in the middle rounds, but Fonfara fought on and made it rough on Stevenson, getting a knock-down of his own on Stevenson in the ninth. In the end however, the judges had Fonfara coming up short, scoring it (116-109, 115-110, 115-110).

After getting a taste of the big-time with the Stevenson fight, Fonfara made a commitment to keep his training at a world class level. He won a November of 2014 bout against Doudou Ngumbu (33-5) to close the year out.

In April of 2015, a big fight called again as Fonfara faced Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1) for a vacant WBC International belt. Fonfara showed a wide range of tools in out-boxing Chavez Jr in the early going before letting his size and power take over later in the match. He stopped Chavez Jr in the 9th round, sending the former world champion back down a weight class thoroughly defeated.

Then came his October 16th match in Chicago against Britain’s Nathan Cleverly. Similar to the fight with Stevenson, this was a step-up fight for Fonfara. Cleverly, a former world champion himself who was returning to Light Heavyweight after a stint at Cruiserweight, was not to be regarded lightly. What happened when the two met was a “Fight of the Year” candidate. In the end, the judges had it (115-113, 116-112 and 116-112) all in favor of fonfara.

Watch the 7th round of Fonfara vs Cleverly right here.

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Fonfara has just turned 28 years old this past November, so he is entering his prime having elevated his game in 2015. Whether Fonfara can sustain the momentum in 2016 remains to be seen, and he is awaiting the Premier Boxing Champions schedule for early 2016 to reveal his next match.

In 2015, Fonfara entered two very high profile fights, and unlike the Stevenson match where he fought valiantly in defeat, he had evolved enough that he spent 2015 winning the big fights. And for that, Andrzej Fonfara is the 2015 Most Improved Fighter.

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