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Sergey Kovalev Is Clearly “FOTY” & It’s Not Even Close
I’m not one for year-end awards and pageantry articles and columns.
In fact I don’t think I’ve ever written a year-end piece declaring who is the fighter of the year or what was the round of the year, or anything along those lines. They’re too subjective for me and there’s usually a sound argument to be constructed for multiple candidates, especially when it comes to “Fighter Of The Year.”
However, this year it’s so overwhelmingly obvious who the fighter of the year is that it requires little thought or reflection whatsoever. Before addressing who that is, let’s get the other candidates out of the way, stating with the usual stalwarts Manny Pacquiao 57-5-2 (38) and Floyd Mayweather 47-0 (26).
In 2014 Pacquiao fought a rematch with Timothy Bradley and met Chris Algieri in his last bout. Yes, Pacquiao did hand both Bradley and Algieri their first losses as a pro. But in reality, Pacquiao beat Bradley in the ring, forget the scorecards, when they fought the first time in 2012. Sure, he dominated Algieri, knocking him down six times, but Algieri is still a beginner. Not this year, Manny.
As for his rival Floyd Mayweather, he fought twice, both times against the aggressive and crude Marcos Maidana. Mayweather struggled with Maidana the first time but clearly deserved the decision he was awarded. Maidana underperformed in the rematch and Floyd practically jogged to a decision victory. Maidana was no pushover, but Mayweather was between a 7/8-1 favorite. As is the case with Pacquiao, not this year, Floyd.
WBA/IBO middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin 31-0 (28) made his mark and certified himself as an emerging star in professional boxing. He fought three times and won all three bouts by knockout. He stopped Osumanu Adama 22-3, Daniel Geale 30-2, and Marco Antonio Rubio 59-6-1. Collectively, his three opponents in 2014 entered their bouts with him 111-11-1. That’s impressive on paper, but neither Adama, Geale nor Rubio could be thought of as outstanding. Had they arrived in an earlier era, I can’t see them cracking the top-10. Golovkin did what he should’ve done against them, and that’s get rid of them in a memorable fashion in less than 12 full rounds. Not this year Gennady, but your time is coming.
WBO lightweight title holder Terence Crawford also had a breakout year. In his first bout of the year, Crawford won the WBO lightweight title against Ricky Burns. Watching Crawford out-box Burns was a sight to behold. He had an answer for everything and anything Burns tried. And it went unmentioned in the media how Crawford’s power mostly kept Burns from fully committing to his punches because he was leery about the counters coming back at him. Crawford controlled the bout from beginning to end and was awarded an overwhelming unanimous decision verdict. In his second bout of 2014, he took on the skilled and hard-punching undefeated Yuriokis Gamboa. Gamboa really tried to bring the fight in the early rounds against Crawford. His aggression and power forced Crawford to fight, more than box and pick his spots, and Crawford answered the call. When it was over, Crawford had Gamboa on the canvas four times en-route to scoring a ninth round stoppage. Sure, Gamboa was moving up in weight, but Crawford out-boxed and out-slugged the Cuban and beat him at his own game.
Five months later in his last bout of the year, Crawford ran away with the fight, scoring a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision over the tough Raymundo Beltran. Against Beltran, Crawford switched back and forth between fighting orthodox and southpaw. And in doing such, he looked as flashy and sophisticated as Floyd Mayweather and as explosive and hard to gauge as Manny Pacquiao. No doubt Terence Crawford had a great 2014 and accomplished a lot. He’s definitely at the top of the “must see” list of boxers in 2014. Had it not been for one candidate, Crawford would have a great case for fighter of the year. Maybe next year, Terence?
In professional boxing, nothing says more about a fighter and who he is than how he fared against the best level of opposition available. Today, there are not more than three or four outstanding fighters in each division. There’s even fewer hall of famers. And if you want to shrink the field even smaller, there are only four active fighters that are certified all-time greats, and they are Bernard Hopkins, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez. And only one of those four greats was defeated in the year 2014, and that was Hopkins. And the fighter who convincingly beat him was WBO light heavyweight title holder Sergey Kovalev 26-0-1 (23).
In 2014, Kovalev defeated Cedric Agnew 26-0 and Blake Caparello 19-0-1 in less than 12 complete rounds. Combined Agnew and Caparello were 45-0-1. Yes, impressive on paper, and like Golovkin’s opponents Adama, Geale and Rubio, it’s not exactly murderer’s row either. But that’s where the similarity ends, because in November, Kovalev shut out Hopkins 55-7-2 (32) over 12 rounds and even had him down and shook up twice during the bout. How many fighters can say they had Hopkins down and shut him out? That would be one, Sergey Kovalev.
Hopkins has been a champion for almost 20 years without much interruption. He has fought every elite fighter in the middleweight and light heavyweight division during his time campaigning in those classes. No, Hopkins didn’t go undefeated in every fight; however, the fights he lost were all by decision and some of them bordered on close calls and robbery. And yes, when he fought Kovalev he was two months shy of turning 50 years old. But that didn’t deter half the boxing writers polled from picking him to win, yes, even at age 49. Since he turned 40, Hopkins has controlled the pace and distance against virtually everybody he fought. He cut it close against Joe Calzaghe and Chad Dawson, but he never abandoned his style or veered away from trying to reduce their punch output while he won the only two or three meaningful exchanges of most of the rounds. But not against Kovalev. Sergey, 31, not only beat Hopkins conclusively, he is the only fighter I’ve seen force Hopkins out of his comfort zone and almost fight in desperation during the last third of the bout. When is the last time Hopkins was looking for a lottery punch to bail out a fight that he was so far behind on the cards that he couldn’t even convince himself that he was in it and deserved the decision?
This is one year that “FOTY” is obvious. I don’t care what your criteria is for determining who deserves the award, Sergey Kovalev clearly shined more than Pacquiao, Mayweather, Crawford and Golovkin and had the better year. Yes, when we look back at Hopkins career, Kovalev will be remembered as the fighter who basically retired him, and that alone is enough to win “FOTY.”
Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Steven Navarro is the TSS 2024 Prospect of the Year
“I get ‘Bam’ vibes when I watch this kid,” said ESPN ringside commentator Tim Bradley during the opening round of Steven Navarro’s most recent match. Bradley was referencing WBC super flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, a precociously brilliant technician whose name now appears on most pound-for-pound lists.
There are some common threads between Steven Navarro, the latest fighter to adopt the nickname “Kid Dynamite,” and Bam Rodriguez. Both are southpaws currently competing in the junior bantamweight division. But, of course, Bradley was alluding to something more when he made the comparison. And Navarro’s showing bore witness that Bradley was on to something.
It was the fifth pro fight for Navarro who was matched against a Puerto Rican with a 7-1 ledger. He ended the contest in the second frame, scoring three knockdowns, each the result of a different combination of punches, forcing the referee to stop it. It was the fourth win inside the distance for the 20-year-old phenom.
Isaias Estevan “Steven” Navarro turned pro after coming up short in last December’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Lafayette, Louisiana. The #1 seed in the 57 kg (featherweight) division, he was upset in the finals, losing a controversial split decision. Heading in, Navarro had won 13 national tournaments beginning at age 12.
A graduate of LA’s historic Fairfax High School, Steven made his pro debut this past April on a Matchroom Promotions card at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas and then inked a long-term deal with Top Rank. He comes from a boxing family. His father Refugio had 10 pro fights and three of Refugio’s cousins were boxers, most notably Jose Navarro who represented the USA at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was a four-time world title challenger as a super flyweight. Jose was managed by Oscar De La Hoya for much of his pro career.
Nowadays, the line between a prospect and a rising contender has been blurred. Three years ago, in an effort to make matters less muddled, we operationally defined a prospect thusly: “A boxer with no more than a dozen fights, none yet of the 10-round variety.” To our way of thinking, a prospect by nature is still in the preliminary-bout phase of his career.
We may loosen these parameters in the future. For one thing, it eliminates a lot of talented female boxers who, like their Japanese male counterparts in the smallest weight classes, are often pushed into title fights when, from a historical perspective, they are just getting started.
But for the time being, we will adhere to our operational definition. And within the window that we have created, Steven Navarro stood out. In his first year as a pro, “Kid Dynamite” left us yearning to see more of him.
Honorable mention: Australian heavyweight Teremoana Junior (5-0, 5 KOs)
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