Munguia-Derevyanchenko is the 2023 TSS Fight of the Year

Munguia-Derevyanchenko is the 2023 TSS Fight of the Year

What makes a fight, any fight, worthy of consideration as the “Fight of the Year”? Is it:

*The biggest, most-anticipated pairing of the year, regardless of the amount of action and drama that takes place, or doesn’t, inside the ropes?

*Some sort of highly unusual occurrence (think the Holyfield-Tyson II “Bite Fight,” Bowe-Holyfield II’s “Fan Man” paraglider intrusion or the Golota-Bowe I disqualification in which the loser was seemingly well on the way to victory until he inexplicably opted to again use the sudden disqualification winner’s protective cup as a preferred target, inciting a half-hour riot in Madison Square Garden)?

*A 50-50 bout, or something very close to it, that features oodles of back-and-forth trading with the identity of the eventual victor very much in doubt until the official scorecard totals are read?

In many instances the first option might be the choice for FOY if the incredible hype is justified, a la the legendary first pairing of Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns on Sept. 16, 1981, a Superfight in every sense that shall forever remain a foremost example of what happens when the best fights the best and both principals are in their primes and at the absolute height of their remarkable powers.

Not that anyone is imprudent enough to think of Jaime Munguia and Sergiy “The Technician” Derevyanchenko as latter-day Leonards and Hearnses, but the two closely matched super middleweights (perhaps more so than some had anticipated) hurled themselves at one another over 12 rounds in a reasonably similar manner on June 10 in Ontario, Calif., even if the prize that was at stake – the vacant WBC Silver 168-pount title – was of lesser importance and not everyone was apt to be satisfied with the outcome in any case. That outcome, a razor-thin unanimous decision for Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs), likely would have gone down as a majority draw were it not for the favored Mexican’s 12^th-round knockdown of the gritty Derevyanchenko (14-5, 10 KOs), whose supporters in the Toyota Arena were vocal in their displeasure that the then-37-year-old had been the victim of a heist by pencil.

So tight was the scoring through 10 back-and-forth rounds that Lou Moret and Francisco Villareal both had Derevyanchenko ahead by margins of 96-94 (the third judge, Rudy Barragan, had it 95-95), thus necessitating Munguia not only to win the final two stanzas to salvage a draw, but to register a knockdown in one of them to get his nose a smidgeon in front at the final bell.

So, it came down to the third option that determined TSS’ selection of Munguia-Derevyanchenko as its 2023 Fight of the Year, for much the same reason why other highly competitive bouts have been cited in the past. When in doubt, always go with the fight that reveals the intangible attributes of the fighters involved, which can and often do mean as much or more than their respective ring skills in crunch time.

Not that it featured any ear-chomping or an out-of-the-sky drop-in, but Munguia-Derevyanchenko might have wound up as a unanimous decision for the Brooklyn-based Ukrainian had he not resisted a request by Munguia’s promoter, Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, to reduce the bout from the contracted 12 rounds to 10. By holding fast to his desire for the bout to remain a 12-rounder, a tiring Derevyanchenko saw his lead vanish as all three judges scored the last two rounds 10-9 and then 10-8 for Munguia. Even had Derevyanchenko managed to remain on his feet instead of going down in the 12^th round, he likely would have come away with a majority draw.

For Derevyanchenko, who went the 12-round distance in world title shots against future Hall of Famer Gennadiy Golovkin (for the vacant IBF middleweight belt) and WBC middleweight champ Jermall Charlo, this latest near-miss was particularly vexing.

“I feel like I’ve been robbed of a decision win in the Golovkin fight and now the Munguia fight,” Derevyanchenko told ESPN two days after he saw Munguia’s hand raised in victory. “Everybody is saying my fight on Saturday was the Fight of the Year. If I don’t get an immediate rematch, then the boxing system is broken. Munguia is a classy guy. He said he would give me my rematch with him. Let’s see if it happens.”

Maybe it will, but at least not for a while, if ever. Munguia, 26, no doubt is pleased to be 42-0 instead of 41-0-1, and so it would appear is De La Hoya, who has scheduled his emerging action hero, who appeared to have a few rough edges to be smoothed in his super middleweight debut, down for a Jan. 27 date with Englishman John Ryder (32-6, 18 KOs) in Phoenix instead of a quick do-over with Derevyanchenko. The Golden Boy is daring to think another possible Fight of the Year is possible, and another big step forward for Munguia, who is ranked No. 1 by the WBO and No. 2 by the WBC at 168 pounds (Ryder is ranked eighth by the WBC, 11^th by the IBF and ninth by the WBO).

“Jaime Munguia against Ryder,” De La Hoya said of what would seem to be another entertaining clash. “The guy (Ryder) who went the distance with Canelo (Alvarez). Imagine what Jaime Munguia is thinking. `I want to knock out Ryder, what Canelo could not do. That would be a huge statement.”

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