It?s time for some heart-felt congratulations and back-patting.
That?s right, as the Hollywood glitterati ramp up for the Academy Awards, and music gears up for the Grammys, our staff buckles down, Ramon Aranda fires up the flapjack griddle, and David Lee takes his yearly bath.
That can only mean one thing: It?s time for the fourth annual 3morerounds.com Scrappy Awards!
The Scrappys are here to celebrate the best (and less-than-best) in boxing the previous year. This year we moved it to the first week of February, so the adrenaline coursing through your veins for the Super Bowl can carry over into the awards. (Or, my computer broke. One of the two.)
As always, the ballots were culled from nominations four times throughout the year by our staff, and narrowed into a ballot voted on by staff as well as select members of the boxing world and a few lucky readers. Any ties were broken by 3 More Rounds?s editor-in-chief, Ramon Aranda.
Let?s start the 2012 Scrappy Awards by severely beating someone about the head and shoulders!
The Klitschkos are no stranger to beating people down. Standing approximately 9?32? and weighing a metric ton, the Professors of Pugilism pummel opponent after opponent largely relying on their solid frame, hammer-like jab, and a strong 1-2 when needed. Small men are lucky to survive to the twelfth round. Hyperactive fighters will find the jab faster than the Top 1% will find tax loopholes. But combine the two impediments, and you have the unfortunate story of Tomasz Adamek.
Adamek was always considered a small heavyweight ? a normal thought, considering until late 2009 he was a cruiserweight. Upon entering the heavyweight ranks, his opponents were less-than-remarkable, with the biggest name being his April 2010 majority decision over an overweight Chris Arreola. Only five months after a unanimous twelve-round near-shutout of Kevin McBride in April 2011, he was handed over to the elder Klitschko.
It was not a good day to be Tomasz Adamek. Game little scrapper that he was, his worst fault of the night was being a game little scrapper. He repeatedly ran into Klitschko?s hammering jab, and was lured in before realizing there was that mighty right behind it. The judges had a perfect shutout going for Vitali Klitschko before it was mercifully stopped in the tenth round, giving Klitschko his 43rd win.
