Female Fighter of the Year 2014, And More!

Female fighters, especially in boxing, do not get the recognition of their male counterparts. Televised female bouts are almost nonexistent in the U.S. and get little attention from the boxing media. But we at Thesweetscience.com pay attention and here is a list of the best for the year 2014.

Fighter of the Year

Delfine Persoon

Belgium’s Persoon defeated two female fighters that belong in the Pound for Pound listing this year. First, she handed Argentina’s Erica Farias the first loss of her career back in April by unanimous decision. She followed that with a win over Judy Waguthii of Kenya by decision and the kicker was a technical knockout win of Australia’s hard-hitting Diana Prazak. Persoon hasn’t lost a fight since 2010.

Fight of the Year

Delfine Persoon vs. Erica Farias

Persoon, the WIBF lightweight titlist, hosted Argentina’s undefeated WBC female lightweight champion Farias and the two scrapped it out for 10 rounds in Belgium. It’s one of those title fights which are seldom held in female world class bouts. At the end it was Persoon edging Farias to become the queen of the female lightweight division.

Knockout of the Year 

Amanda Serrano, who fights out of Brooklyn, traveled to Argentina in August to meet WBO lightweight titlist Maria Elena Maderna. In round six the hard-hitting Boricua Serrano fired a short right hook and floored Maderna 54 seconds into the round. Maderna could not beat the count and shook her head to the referee giving the count.

Round of the Year 

Round 8 of Arely Mucino vs. Shindo Go for the flyweight world title. In round eight, Mexico’s Mucino withstood a shellacking from the Japanese boxer. After a right cross nearly took her head off, Mucino hung on against the barrage from Japan’s Go. She traded blows and looked like Mucino fought on instinct as Go fired blow after blow. Mucino survived and won the fight on points. The pivotal round was the eighth; if she goes down she loses, but she stayed on her fight somehow and won the fight.

Biggest Upset

Carolina Rodriguez defeats Janeth Perez

The mysterious Carolina Rodriguez of Chile traveled to Mexico to face IBF bantamweight champion Janeth Perez and handed her a defeat by majority decision in May 10. They had a rematch in December that took place in Chile and again Rodriguez won by majority decision.

Best Pure Boxer 

Layla McCarter

The Las Vegas lightweight the “Amazing” Layla McCarter has not lost a fight since April 2007. She’s won multiple world titles beginning at featherweight, all the way up to junior middleweight. She’s really a lightweight but her skill set is so amazing it’s possible she could defeat a heavyweight if necessary. McCarter is women’s boxing’s most skilled boxer.

Best Knockout Puncher 

Amanda Serrano

The Puerto Rican from Brooklyn has power in either fist. She fights as a southpaw but can stop a girl with a right hook or left cross. Of the 24 opponents she’s faced 17 have been knocked out at the hands of Serrano. She’s female boxing’s version of Gennady Golovkin and has some boxing skills too. Her knockout of Maria Maderna to win the lightweight title was impressive.

Most exciting fighter

Shindo Go

The Japanese flyweight lost her WBC flyweight title to Mexico’s Arely Mucino but once again she brought the crowd to their feet with another hair-raising toe-to-toe clash in Mexico. Go starts slow but once she gets in gear, it’s non-stop punching. She’s never been stopped in a fight and has nine knockouts on her resume. She almost made Mucino victim number 10 but started too slow against the Mexican flyweight.

Fastest rising young fighter

Kenia Enriquez

The Tijuana girl seemed to zoom from out of nowhere and now has the WBO flyweight world title. She has speed, agility and power for her size. Enriquez, 21, also has an effervescent personality to go with her tremendous boxing skills. She could become the new queen of boxing in Mexico.