The Boxing Writers Association of America has finalized its ballot for the 2016 awards in eight categories.
The nominees, released Tuesday, for the Sugar Ray Robinson Fighter of the Year award are: ▪
Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton, the 2016 ESPN.com fighter of the year, who unified junior featherweight belts and then moved up to win a featherweight world title by beating Leo Santa Cruz in a fight of the year candidate. ▪
Junior welterweight world champion Terence Crawford, who unified titles by easily outpointing Viktor Postol in a match between the division’s top two fighters. Crawford won the award in 2014. ▪
Pound-for-pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who gave up the flyweight world title and moved up in weight and won a junior bantamweight belt from then-unbeaten Carlos Cuadras. It was the fourth weight class in which Gonzalez won a world title. ▪
Vasyl Lomachenko, who relinquished his featherweight title and moved up to junior lightweight to win a belt by devastating knockout of Roman “Rocky” Martinez before making then-unbeaten contender Nicholas Walters quit. ▪
Manny Pacquiao, who easily outpointed Timothy Bradley Jr. in their third fight, and then rolled past Jessie Vargas to win another welterweight world title. Pacquiao won the award in 2006, 2008 and 2009. ▪
Light heavyweight Joe Smith Jr., whose Rocky-like year included two massive upsets, a first-round knockout of top contender Andrzej Fonfara followed by knocking legend and former world champion Bernard Hopkins out of the ring in his farewell fight earlier this month.
Full members of the BWAA will vote on the awards. Ballots are due by Jan. 27 and winners will be announced in February. The winners will be honored at the annual BWAA awards dinner this spring, probably in May in Las Vegas.
Nominees for the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier Fight of the Year are Frampton-Santa Cruz; Gonzalez-Cuadras; the first battle between junior middleweights Jesus Soto Karass and Yoshihiro Kamegai; welterweight titlist Keith Thurman’s close decision over Shawn Porter; junior lightweight titlist Francisco Vargas’s draw against Orlando Salido; and the heavyweight elimination brawl between British countrymen Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora.
The nominees for the Eddie Futch Trainer of the Year award are Abel Sanchez, Manuel Robles, the late Arnulfo Obando, Shane McGuigan, Virgil Hunter and Jerry Capobianco.
Nominees for the Cus D’Amato Manager of the Year award went to Cameron Dunkin, Frank Espinoza, Egis Klimas, Barry McGuigan and Phil Capobianco.
The Sam Taub broadcast award nominees are former longtime HBO executive and “Boxing After Dark” creator Lou DiBella; Showtime’s Gordon Hall, executive producer of the network’s critically acclaimed prospect series “ShoBox: The New Generation”; HBO expert analyst Roy Jones Jr.; and England’s Jim Watt, the retiring longtime analyst for Sky Sports.
The nominees for the Bill Crawford award for courage in overcoming adversity are the family of brain damaged heavyweight Mago Abdusalamov, Main Events promoter Kathy Duva, Showtime blow-by-blow announcer Mauro Ranallo, beloved Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields.
The Barney Nagler Long and Meritorious Service award nominees are CompuBox founder Bob Canobbio, longtime publicist Bill Caplan, former Los Angeles Times sports editor and columnist Bill Dwyre, British newspaper reporter Gareth Davies and Dr. Margaret Goodman, a former ringside physician for the Nevada State Athletic Commission and current president of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
Nominees for the Marvin Kohn Good Guy award went to popular publicist John Beyrooty, former two-division world titleholder Timothy Bradley Jr., writer and columnist Norm Frauenheim, Andy Olson, whose Magna Media International handles press credentials for many of boxing’s biggest events; and longtime HBO publicist Ray Stallone.
