OK, after a short intermission we return to hand out the remaining K9’s, as we take a look back at the weird, the wild and the wacky that boxing had to offer in 2007.
FIGHT OF THE YEAR
1-Israel Vazquez TKO 6 Rafael Marquez II: Conventional wisdom says that the winner of the first bout will usually win the rematch. But Vazquez put that theory to bed with a determined effort that smothered Marquez throughout and never let him get into his groove from the outside.
After some heated exchanges, Vazquez would finally overtake a game Marquez in six. The great back-and-forth action we saw between the two in 2007 over 13 rounds has fans salivating over their rubber match in March.
2- Kelly Pavlik TKO7 Jermain Taylor: There’s always something special about a guy who gets off the canvas to win a fight in dramatic fashion, which is what took place when Pavlik was buzzed hard in the second round by Taylor and nearly sent out. But he dusted himself off and with his straight, accurate punches, he was able to wear down Taylor.
3- Michael Katsidis TKO5 Graham Earl: This bout may have been a tad one-sided, but the second frame was a memorable one, with each guy hitting the canvas and the towel that was thrown in to stop the fight was kicked away. Earl battled hard throughout, but he succumbed to the all-out pressure of Katsidis.
4-Michael Katsidis W12 Czar Amonsot: Cut badly over both eyes, Katsidis would cement himself as the heir to Arturo Gatti by hanging in there and banging away at the tough Filipino, who reportedly suffered a blood clot in his brain from this battle.
5- Sakio Bika TKO8 Jaidon Codrington/Marquez TKO7 Vazquez I: Bika’s slugfest over Codrington in the season three finale of ‘the Contender’ may have been a bit of a bar room brawl, but it certainly didn’t lack for action.
Marquez and Vazquez? first go-around was hitting a crescendo but had a rather anti-climatic end as Vazquez would call it a day due to his injured nose.
Honorable mention: Cristian Mijares TKO19 Katsushige Kawashima, Rubin Williams Draw12 Antwun Echols, Juan Manuel Marquez W12 Marco Antonio Barrera, Jean-Marc Mormeck W12 O’Neil Bell, Terry Smith W10 Kelvin Davis, Pavlik TKO7 Edison Miranda, Miguel Cotto TKO11 Zab Judah, Takefumi Sakata W12 Roberto Vasquez, Fernando Montiel TKO12 Luis Melendez, Kevin Finley W6 Brandon Wooten, Carl Johanneson TKO6 Michael Gomez
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR
1- Nonito Donaire TKO5 Vic Darchinyan: With one perfectly timed left hook, Donaire not only captured the IBF flyweight title, he may have stripped Darchinyan of his cloak of invincibility.
2-Pavlik TKO7 Taylor: What Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright and Cory Spinks could not do (which was to leave it out of the hands of the judges), Pavlik did with his two-fisted barrage that left Taylor dazed and disoriented.
3- Andy Lee TKO3 Carl Daniels: Yeah, Daniels is faded, but the sight of him being frozen by a big right hook from Lee was unforgettable.
4- Daniel Ponce de Leon TKO1 Rey Bautista: He doesn’t connect cleanly that often, but when he does, Ponce de Leon can wreck havoc.
5- Michael Sprott KO3 Audley Harrison / Darnell Wilson TKO11 Emmanuel Nwodo: There’s nothing quite like a heavyweight knockout, is there? Harrison was knocked out stone cold, and Nwodo wished his fight with the ‘Ding-a-Ling Man’ would’ve been halted 30 seconds earlier.
Honorable mention: Gerry Penalosa TKO7 Jhonny Gonzalez, Mauricio Pastrana TKO8 Antonio Escalante, Pavlik TKO8 Jose Luis Zertuche, Ulisis Solis KO8 Rodel Mayol, Ricky Hatton KO4 Jose Luis Castillo, Art Binkowski TKO8 Raphael Butler, Darling Jimenez KO3 Mike Anchondo, Victor Ortiz TKO1 Max Cuevas, Arthur Abraham TKO11 Kheron Gevor, Lucien Bute TKO11 Alejandro Berrio, Luis Ramos TKO1 Cristian Reyes, Andres Ledesma TKO5 Gary Stark, Jorge Linares TKO8 Gamaliel Diaz
MANAGER OF THE YEAR
1- Cameron Dunkin: In addition to the rise of Kelly Pavlik, Dunkin had a banner year with Steven Luevano and Nonito Donaire also winning major world titles. He also oversaw the continued development of James Kirkland and Victor Ortiz.
Nobody bird-dogs the amateurs like Dunkin.
2- Al Haymon: You simply can’t deny his influence and power. Nobody can get his fighters big money mismatches on the major networks quite like Haymon.
3- Floyd Mayweather: Disagree? Well, just look at the money he made this year without even having much of a fan base.
THE OJ SIMPSON AWARD (For biggest robbery)
1- Joel Casamayor W12 Jose Armando Santa Cruz: Around ringside, nobody gave the Cuban more than two or three rounds. Perhaps not even Casamayor himself, if he was honest.
2- Kid Diamond W12 Miguel Huerta: ‘Versus’ announcers Nick Charles and Wally Matthews called it the worst decision they have ever covered. That about says it all.
3- Demetrius Hopkins W12 Steve Forbes: One of two really bad decisions on this March 17th show that took place in Las Vegas.
4- Daniel Ponce de Leon W12 Gerry Penalosa: See above.
5- Prawet Singwacha Draw12 Jose Cotto: A draw in Puerto Rico against a Cotto? What does that tell you?
THE APPALACHIAN ST-MICHIGAN AWARD (Upset of the Year)
1- Donaire TKO5 Darchinyan: Donaire didn’t just defeat a fighter many had pegged as unbeatable at 112 pounds, he knocked him out. Not many had given the untested ‘Filipino Flash’ much of a chance against Darchinyan.
2- Troy Browning W10 Julio Garcia: While Garcia slept walked, Browning pounced on his opportunity to pull the monumental upset.
3- Jesse Feliciano TKO8 Delvin Rodriguez: One thing about Feliciano, the guy never quits. And Rodriguez didn’t react well when Feliciano stuck around and kept punching back.
4- Mauricio Pastrana TKO8 Antonio Escalante: Pastrana, despite being a blown up jr. flyweight, showed that he can still bang. A perfect right hand on the button would send Escalante to the canvas.
5- Ramon Guevara TKO4 Jorge Paez Jr: Don’t you just love it when some unknown guy brought in as cannon fodder for a prospect turns the tables?
THE PEYTON MANNING AWARD (For getting over the hump)
Daisuke Naito: Manning had the Patriots, this guy had Pongsaklek Wongongkam, who had stopped him twice in prior meetings. But in their third fight, he would beat the rugged Thai to capture the WBC flyweight title.
THE GARTH BROOKS AWARD (For coming out of retirement)
1- Felix Trinidad: Announced he will take on Roy Jones on January 19th. It’ll be his first fight since getting decisioned handily by Winky Wright in May of 2005.
Nobody is happier about this than Don King.
2- Mayweather: He doesn’t really retire, but goes on ‘vacations’.
THE LIFE ALERT AWARD (They fell and they couldn’t get up)
Jesus Chavez/ Jameel McCline: In title fights against Julio Diaz and Nicolay Valuev, both Chavez and McCline would both suffer knee injuries that halted their bouts.
THE JACKIE EARLE HALEY AWARD (For best comeback)
1- HBO Boxing: After an abysmal first half, they bounced back strongly with a series of solid cards in the second half of 2007.
2- Henry Maske: After more than a decade away from the ring, he would gain revenge on Virgil Hill.
3- Gerry Penalosa: This old guy proved he still had something left in his tank.
THE TEX COBB AWARD (For being crazy tough)
1- Jesse Feliciano vs Kermit Cintron: He nearly drove Cintron to tears again by sticking around as long as he did.
2- Librado Andrade vs. Mikkel Kessler: Andrade actually ate as many jabs from Kessler as Cobb did against Larry Holmes.
THE ANGELO DUNDEE AWARD (For quick thinking in the corner between rounds)
The corner of Andre Berto between rounds six and seven after he had been hurt by Cosme Rivera. Coincidentally, there was a problem with Berto’s gloves and Berto got a longer reprieve and used it to outpoint Rivera.
LINDSAY LOHAN AWARD (For failed rehab)
Scott Harrison: Forget about what happened to his career, what happened to this guy?s life?
QUOTES OF THE YEAR
Wladimir Klitschko, after his knockout of Ray Austin: “He sharply criticized my balls, my chin, my stamina and my heart.
Dana White: “I’ll put up a million dollars of my own money if Floyd Mayweather can sell more than ten tickets without Oscar De La Hoya.”
Shannon Briggs, after his loss to Sultan Ibragimov for the WBO heavyweight title, “With all due respect to Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, I’m the greatest of all-time because I did it with asthma. I won the heavyweight title twice with a disease.”
LAZARUS AWARD (For staying alive)
Larry Merchant: Before public pressure got to Ross Greenburg, HBO wanted to send their sage out to pasture. Thankfully, it didn’t occur.
THE BRITNEY AND K-FED AWARD (For custody battle)
Top Rank and Golden Boy share promotional rights to Manny Pacquiao: OK, but who gets him on weekends?
THE JASON AND JOUMANA KIDD AWARD (For divorce)
Carl Morreti – Main Events Floyd Mayweather Sr – Oscar De La Hoya Robert Guerrero -John Bray Jermain Taylor – Emanuel Steward
THE BEATLES AWARD (For best British invasion)
Ricky Hatton?s fans: They turned Las Vegas into a ‘Hatton Wonderland’ twice in 2007.
ISHTAR AWARD (For worst fight)
1- Andre Dirrell W10 Curtis Stevens: How ‘di-readful’ was Andre? Well, Lou DiBella, who had options on him, turned them down. Now how often does that occur?
2- Yuri Foreman W10 Anthony Thompson: If this fight wasn’t so desultory, people would’ve actually given a damn about the questionable verdict.
THE RUPERT MURDOCH AWARD (For big media purchases)
Golden Boy purchases Ring Magazine: You wonder what Nat Fleischer would think of all this.
THE ROGER CLEMENS/BARRY BONDS AWARD (For alleged involvement with illegal performance enhancing substances).
Evander Holyfield and Joey Gilbert: Both proclaim their innocence, but it’s clear that this issue affects boxing like it does in any other major sport.
