Part one ( Click Here ) of this year’s Fighting Awards took a look at the controversial and the sensational, moments that made us drop our heads in shame and moments that dropped our jaws in amazement.
In part one, Manny Pacquiao’s perfect left hand against Ricky Hatton, followed by Ricky Hatton’s picture perfect fall to the canvas, garnered “Knockout of the Year” honors. Carl Froch’s last-round stoppage of Jermain Taylor won the “Corrales-Castillo Award” for best in-fight comeback of the last 12 months.
But we also noted the tampering of Antonio Margarito’s hand wraps prior to his fight with Shane Mosley. That incident brought embarrassment to Margarito, his trainer, Javier Capetillo, and the California State Athletic Commission, which had an inspector in the room who didn’t notice the tampering, which would have gone undiscovered had Mosley’s trainer questioned the wraps.
We handed out the “Bite of the Year” award to Humberto Toledo and Derek Chisora for their mid-fight gnawing, respectively, of Breidis Prescott and Paul Butlin. And on a similar note, in a year when “Twilight,” “The Vampire Diaries” and Sookie Stackhouse showed that drinking blood is cool, we recalled that Juan Manuel Marquez showed his propensity for imbibing other bodily fluids and downed a jar of his own urine.
This week we get more of the best meltdowns and the best beatdowns.
We will spotlight some personal lowlights – boxers behaving badly and other moments many probably wish they could have back – and honor some of 2009’s highlights, including the year’s best prospect, the year’s best fight, the year’s best fighter, and the year’s best punch-out of a photographer, which, amazingly, came from a heavyweight with whom the phrase “Punch-Out” is historically intertwined.
Without further delay, part two of this year’s Freewheeling Fighting Awards:
The “Superfly Jimmy Snuka Award,” for best top-rope maneuver: to Luis Concepcion, a flyweight who scored a fourth-round knockout over Roberto Leyva in November to capture an interim world championship, and then proceeded to pull himself to the top of the four ring ropes.
From there, he did a backflip down to the canvas and, the moment he landed, immediately transitioned into a second backflip.
The “ ‘I Gotta Feed My Kids’ Award,” for best kickback for a butt kicking: to heavyweight Jesus Hernandez, an 0-1 fighter that a promoter wanted to get as an opponent for a September bout with George Foreman III, son of the heavyweight great.
According to reports, Hernandez agreed to the fight on one condition – that the promoter provide him with a new George Foreman Grill and a signed photograph of its namesake. The promoter accepted. The fight, for whatever reason, never happened.
The “Jeff Lacy Award,” for shortest retirement: to Allen Iverson, the basketball player who retired Nov. 25 and then returned to the NBA on Dec. 2. That’s seven days, which is more time than Jeff Lacy spent retired in 2008. If you don’t remember Lacy’s retirement, that’s why.
The “Sean Penn Award,” for paparazzo bashing: to Mike Tyson, who allegedly smacked a tabloid photographer who was getting too close to him and his family at an airport in Los Angeles.
The “Anthony Bonsante Against Adonis Stevenson Award,” for worst acting job leading to a knockout loss: to Anges Adjaho, who had turned away and was about to take a knee in July in a lightweight fight against Antonio DeMarco when DeMarco clipped Adjaho with a punch to the back of the head.
Adjaho put himself on his stomach on the canvas, his face cradled in his gloves – all while referee Tellis Assimenios counted to 10. Amazingly, once the ref finished counting, Adjaho popped up, seeming no worse for wear as he complained about what had just happened.
The “Lemony Snicket Award,” for a series of unfortunate events: to Travis Kauffman, for his technical knockout loss in September to fellow heavyweight Tony Grano.
Kauffman had Grano hurt about a minute into the fourth round. Then Grano put Kauffman on the canvas with a low blow. Soon, Grano’s mouthpiece came out, bringing the action to a stop. Then Grano, rejuvenated, hurt Kauffman.
As Grano punched Kauffman back toward the ropes, Kauffman’s head bounced back and struck a camera that was being held by a man atop the ring apron. Grano landed more shots. Kauffman was out on his feet, wobbling badly, and he was ultimately helped to the canvas by a Grano push. The referee saw Kauffman’s condition and stopped the fight.
The “Jose Luis Castillo Award,” for boxers who failed to make weight: to Prince Badi Ajamu, Tomi Archambault, Yuri Barashian, Benyamine Besmi, Ron Boyd, Hector Camacho Jr., Nate Campbell, Joel Casamayor, Rafael Concepcion, Jose Humberto Jesus Gonzalez, Tyrone Harris, Miguel Hernandez, Belinda Laracuente, Nelson Linares, John Murray, Octavio Narvaez, Raul Pinzon, David Quesada, Pedro Rincon-Miranda, Marvin Sonsona, Jason Thompson and Bobby Joe Valdez.
The “Cory Spinks Award,” for best post-fight tears: to Chris Arreola, following his September stoppage loss to Vitali Klitschko, and Antonio DeMarco, following his October technical knockout victory over Jose Alfaro.
The “Bud Adams Award,” for best old man giving the finger: to promoter Bob Arum, who flipped the bird at ESPN.com scribe Dan Rafael following a bout between Daniel Santos and Yuri Foreman on the November undercard to Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao. Rafael, like many boxing writers, had, for good reason, panned the quality of the undercard. Santos-Foreman was better than horrible but nowhere near good.
The “Ricky Hatton Award,” for gratuitous showing of one’s rear end on HBO: to Hatton himself, and to Miguel Cotto as well. Hatton dropped his trousers and displayed a thong in an April episode of “Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7.” Seven months later, after viewers had regained their vision, camera crews decided to capture Cotto’s bare cheeks in the shower.
The “Elijah Tillery vs. Riddick Bowe Award,” for incorporating kicking into a boxing match: to Ratanachai Sor Vorapin, the former bantamweight titlist who was disqualified in May after throwing a flying kick that grazed Ramie Laput’s face. Sor Vorapin was disqualified.
The “Scott Harrison Award,” for the boxer behaving most badly: Some years this award goes to the boxer arrested and charged with the most heinous of crimes. Other years this award goes to a boxer who, like this award’s namesake, can’t seem to keep his name out of the news. This is one of those latter years.
That means the “Scott Harrison Award” goes to Johnny Tapia, the former three-division titlist whose rollercoaster of 2009 landed him eight “Boxers Behaving Badly” mentions, though, granted, many of those were updates on his cases.
He was arrested in February after relapsing on cocaine. After some time behind bars, he was released, only to be arrested again in July for violating probation by not getting permission before traveling. In September, he was sentenced to a year in jail.
Hopefully this will be his last stint behind bars, and, once out, he can finally defeat his demons.
Four Boxing Trainers Behaving Badly: With so many, here’s a quick rundown of who and what:
David Curran, a trainer and manager out of Australia, was arrested in March and charged with killing former Australian heavyweight titlist Vince Cervi.
Roger Mayweather was arrested in August and charged with one felony count each of coercion and battery for an incident with a female boxer who lived in a Las Vegas condominium he owns. He has a hearing scheduled for next year.
Scott Dixon, a former fighter from Scotland who became the coach for Malta’s national boxing team, was one of six people arrested in October after police seized nearly 1,000 pounds of marijuana. He pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to deal in cannabis, trafficking and being in possession of the drug. He is out on bail.
Frank Mulligan, whose pupils included a fighter who became featherweight champion, was sentenced to prison time in December after pleading guilty to sodomizing three teenage boys and sexually assaulting two others over a 13-year period from 1989 to 2002. He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison, served concurrently with a seven-year sentence he was handed last year for similar offenses.
Other trainers were arrested this year, but I couldn’t find enough updated information and didn’t feel comfortable listing their charges without being able to say where their cases have gone.
A Boxing Promoter Behaving Badly: Barry Hughes, who once was manager to aforementioned troubled featherweight Scott Harrison, was sentenced in July to 150 hours community service after a nightclub incident that happened the preceding December, according to newspaper The Scotsman.
It could’ve been far worse for the 31-year-old promoter. He, along with two others arrested, were originally charged with attempted murder.
A Boxing Commissioner Behaving Badly: Shane Crampton, a former tribal boxing commissioner in Michigan, pleaded guilty in October to a charge of wire fraud. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a charge of extortion arising from his allegedly demanding money in exchange for getting fights booked at a local casino, according to The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press.
Crampton had been accused of demanding $1,000 from Detroit-based promoters Clip Boxing Inc., saying the money could help get their fights hosted at the Little River Casino and Resort. His sentencing is scheduled for February.
A Boxing Journalist Behaving Badly: David Mayo of Michigan’s aforementioned Grand Rapids Press newspaper was arrested in February and charged with manufacturing marijuana and maintaining a drug house, according to, well, his employer.
Police said they found 71 marijuana plants and 32 ounces of packaged marijuana. Mayo’s lawyer told the newspaper that about 17 of the plants were big enough to be “harvestable,” while the rest were seedlings of about one or two inches in height. The lawyer said his client was not selling marijuana, but that the plants were for “personal use.”
Mayo pleaded guilty in June to manufacturing marijuana. He was sentenced to “three years probation, 240 hours of community services and $5,000 in fines, along with other conditions,” his newspaper reported. He returned to work in July.
A Boxing Judge Behaving Badly: Paul Smith was indicted in May and charged with Social Security fraud, accusing the boxing judge of improperly receiving about $250,000 in benefits, according to the Associated Press.
The charge apparently came from Smith’s continuing to work despite his receiving Social Security due to his claiming to be disabled. A statement form a U.S. attorney noted the number of boxing matches Smith had worked between 1994 and 2005 and that Smith had also been involved with businesses not consistent with his disability status.
Smith is free and continuing to work boxing matches. His trial has been postponed until January. He is facing a maximum of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
The “Shaquille O’Neal Award,” for best pro athlete fighting crime: to Nate Campbell, who, alongside his adviser, Terry Trekas, helped police in Tampa, Fla., catch a pair of robbers, according to Fight News.
Campbell and Trekas were walking out of a grocery store in June when they saw two men allegedly grab a purse from a woman who was putting groceries into her vehicle. They chased after the men, who went into a nearby apartment and barricaded themselves inside. Police soon showed up and arrested the men, who were suspects in at least six other strong-arm robberies.
Prospect of the Year: Most years, this award goes to a blue-chip prospect, one who has beaten a number of veterans and gatekeepers over the past 12 months and done so in impressive enough fashion that he is on the verge of being considered a contender.
This year, we saw two top prospects – James Kirkland and Mike Alvarado – ruin their years with prison sentences. We saw some prospects suffer losses – Andre Dirrell, Victor Ortiz, Alfredo Angulo, to name a few.
Other prospects became contenders or make the jump to world titlist, which is better for their careers but does disqualify them from being considered for this honor. And so that means no Antonio DeMarco, no Andre Ward, no Nehomar Ceremeno.
My pick for this year’s best prospect probably won’t be picked by anyone else – it is welterweight Antwone Smith.
There are others who will probably go further in their careers than Smith – Daniel Jacobs and Danny Garcia, to name two – but I must go off who had the most impressive ledger for the year. Smith had four wins in four fights, and those wins came against 16-0 Norberto Gonzalez, 24-2-1 fringe contender Richard Gutierrez, and 22-0-1 Henry Crawford.
Even if he never makes it past the ESPN2 and “ShoBox” level of cards, Smith can say he arrived in 2009.
Fight of the Year: Is there a wrong answer?
Most years, there’s a clear winner, a standout bout that just puts every other good war to shame. In 2009, however, there were several fights that provided the perfect combination of action and drama. There was no Corrales-Castillo or Vazquez-Marquez that every other bout for the remainder of the year could never dare to match. Alas, that’s a very high standard.
Instead, we had Juan Manuel Marquez against Juan Diaz in February, Bernard Dunne against Ricardo Cordoba in March, Jean Pascal against Adrian Diaconu in June, and Paul Williams against Sergio Martinez in December.
That’s one handful of the top fights of 2009. If you wanted to compile this year’s canon, you could go back for at least a second serving. One friend, for example, wanted this scribe to make sure he included the May battle between Irving Garcia and Luis Carlos Abregu.
My standard: Which fight is the one I would most likely pull out of my collection, invite some friends over and say, “You have to see this”?
My pick: Juan Manuel Lopez UD12 Rogers Mtagwa.
Is it any surprise that Lopez-Mtagwa, like Dunne-Cordoba, took place at 122 pounds? That division has also been home to other great recent fights such as the Vazquez-Marquez trilogy, the first Barrera-Morales fight, and the 2006 battle between Somsak Sithchatchawal and Mahyar Monshipour.
Lopez was heavily favored against Mtagwa. The bout put the future star against a durable stay-busy opponent who had never been able to reach the next level.
Lopez, who had won his world title by dispatching Daniel Ponce de Leon within one round, dished out the punishment. Mtagwa, who just last year had taken punishment and come back to beat Tomas Villa, nearly pulled off the upset in October against Lopez.
Lopez was up on all three cards entering the 12th round. But Mtagwa, who had been able to return fire with hard shots throughout the fight, took command in the final stanza. He landed 36 of his 79 punches in those three minutes, and all of those landed shots were power shots. Lopez, in contrast, was trying to survive. He landed only 9 of 94 punches, but he lasted to the bell.
It was a dramatic ending to an action fight. The same could be said about several others.
Fighter of the Year: Is there any other answer?
Manny Pacquiao captured the lineal 140-pound championship with a stunning knockout of Ricky Hatton. Six months later, he captured a 147-pound title with a stunning knockout of one Miguel Cotto.
Wins over the No. 1 in one division, the No. 2 in another. Is there any other answer?
This makes Manny Pacquiao the best fighter of the year for the second year in a row, and for three of the past four years.
Pacquiao’s accomplishments should in no way be diminished by the manufactured controversy involving the recent fight negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the insistence that Pacquiao be randomly tested for performance enhancing drugs. It is reminiscent of high-school rumors that, repeated enough, are treated as facts.
Until proven otherwise, my pick sticks.
R.I.P.: Howie Albert, Jose Arboleda, Alexis Arguello, Yama Bahama, Daan Bekker, Mike Birmingham, Chuck Bodak, Cesar Brion, John Caldwell, Vince Carlill, Tony Castellano, Nicolas Cervera, Vince Cervi, Yamil Chade, Alexey Chirkov, Elias Cordoba Jr., Arthur Curry, Steve Dack, Bernard Docusen, Dennis Dueltgen, Larry Duran Jr., Al Fenn, Lou Filippo, Chris Finnegan, Benjamin Flores, Vernon Forrest, Ludumo Galada, Stan Gallup, Steve Garrett, Arturo Gatti, Mickey Goodwin, Bill Graham, Joe Grubba, Reg Gutteridge.
Sebastien Hamel, Cornell Harris Jr., Charles “Hank” Henry, Derrick Hoey, Octavius James, Sakai Jockygym, Ingemar Johansson, Harry Kabakoff, Noriyuki Komatsu, Terry Lawless, Marc Leduc, Oleg Lifanov, Edmund Lipinski, Charles E. Lomax, Billy Lotter, Raul Macias, Alfredo Marcano, Tom Mishou, Welsh Mnguni, Francisco Moncivais, Harold Moore, William Morelo, Santos Moreno, Norman Motsoaledi, Saensak Muangsurin, Andras Nagy, Marco Nazareth, Rod Nazario, Greg Page, Giovanni Parisi, Rudy Pena, Leo Podgorski.
Joey Roach, Francisco Rodriguez, Jiselle Salandy, Budd Schulberg, Edip Secovic, Hipolito C. Segundo Nunez, Bobby Sinn, Simon Skosana, Walter Smith, Fahpetchnoi Sor Chitpattana, Darren Sutherland, Tony Thornton, Jose Torres, Masatate Tsuji, Danny Valdivia, Vinnie Vecchione, Dave Wolf (2008), Andrey Yeskin, and all the other boxers, corner men, managers, officials, promoters, referees, journalists and people within and around the sport.
The 10 Count will return next year.
