Unlike 2013, this wasn?t a particularly strong year for boxing.
There were entirely too many mismatches on Showtime and HBO, none of the six major pay-per-view events were worth the money, and influential adviser Al Haymon repeatedly guided his fighters away from fights fans wanted to see. Nevertheless, there were fighters deserving of recognition for their accomplishments in 2014.
Welterweight Amir Khan?s impressive victories thrust him back into the spotlight and made him an attractive potential challenger for WBC champ Floyd Mayweather Jr.?s title.
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: Terence Crawford. The unbeaten lightweight produced three impressive victories within a nine-month span. Crawford (25-0, 17 KOs) traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, and dominated hometown hero Ricky Burns (37-4-1, 11 KOs) on March 1 to win the WBO 135-pound championship. In his first defense, Crawford scored a spectacular ninth-round knockout of previously unbeaten Yuriorkis Gamboa (24-1, 17 KOs) on June 28 in Crawford?s native Omaha, Neb., where he has become a big gate attraction.
Crawford capped off the year by easily outboxing No. 1 contender Ray Beltran (29-7-1, 17 KOs) on Nov. 29 in Omaha.
Runners-up: Gennady Golovkin, Roman Gonzalez, Sergey Kovalev.
FIGHT OF THE YEAR: Francisco Rodriguez-Katsunari Takayama. Odds are you haven?t seen this all-action slugfest Mexico?s Rodriguez (16-2-1, 11 KOs) won by unanimous decision Aug. 9 in Monterrey, Mexico.
But if you take the time to watch it on YouTube, you won?t be disappointed. Japan?s Takayama (27-7, 10 KOs, 1 NC) overcame a third-round knockdown to make this IBF/WBO 105-pound title fight the year?s best in terms of sustained action and entertainment.
Runners-up: Steve Cunningham-Amir Mansour, Robert Guerrero-Yoshihiro Kamegai, Lucas Matthysse-John Molina.
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR: Carl Froch over George Groves. Froch?s first win in this British rivalry ended in controversy 13 months ago because many thought referee Howard Foster stopped the fight too soon, despite Groves being hurt in the ninth round.
Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) left no doubt in their May 31 rematch, which drew a remarkable crowd of roughly 80,000 to London?s Wembley Stadium. The IBF super middleweight champion?s picture-perfect straight right to Groves? chin left Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) flat on his back and out for the count in the eighth round.
Runners-up: Hugo Centeno Jr. over James De La Rosa, Andy Lee over John Jackson, Alexander Povetkin over Manuel Charr.
UPSET OF THE YEAR: Chris Algieri over Ruslan Provodnikov. Algieri?s split-decision win was debatable, but he was a 4-1 underdog who overcame two first-round knockdowns and severe swelling around his right eye to beat Provodnikov (24-3, 17 KOs) on two judges? scorecards (114-112, 114-112, 109-117).
This upset thrust Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) into the spotlight and a higher tax bracket. He went from earning less than $20,000 for his first fight of the year, a unanimous-decision defeat of Emmanuel Taylor on Feb. 14, to making $1.6 million for challenging Manny Pacquiao in an HBO Pay-Per-View main event Nov. 22 in Macau, China.
Runners-up: Mickey Bey over Miguel Vazquez, Tommy Karpency over Chad Dawson and Andy Lee over Matt Korobov.
COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: Amir Khan. The British star didn?t lose a fight last year, but his struggles against faded former lightweight champ Julio Diaz in April 2013 led detractors to dismiss Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) as a potential opponent for Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather-Pacquiao is still the fight everyone wants to see, but Khan?s dominant victories this year over former champions Luis Collazo (35-6, 18 KOs) and Devon Alexander (26-3, 14 KOs) have made him a real player in the Mayweather sweepstakes if Mayweather-Pacquiao isn?t made.
Runners-up: Cornelius Bundrage, Miguel Cotto, Jermain Taylor.
