It’s the things that make you go “Hmmm,” the things that make you go “Ouch!” and the things that make you go “Whaaaa?” It’s the best (and worst) of boxing in the second annual Scrappy Awards!
2009 has come to a close, and no matter whether our year personally was good or bad, we can all safely say that it was a pretty solid year for boxing. It wasn’t perfect, by any means, but we can all walk away from 2009 saying, “Yeah. I feel pretty okay about it.”
It’s with that usual flippant attitude combined with our love of the sport and our addiction to best-of/worst-of lists that makes the 411mania Boxing staff break out their tuxedos and bowties each and every year around this time to hand out our end-of-year boxing awards…
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2009 Scrappy Awards!
Here’s how the voting process worked: Nominees for the awards were culled from the 411mania.com staff. Editor Ramon and I then took the nominees and whittled them down to usually about four or five deserving choices, sometimes more, sometimes less. We then had the staff put it to a vote. We also had you, the fans, sending in your votes to [email protected], because in the case of a tie (and yes, there were some), you guys casted the deciding vote!
We start with our yearly tribute to one of our favorite fictional boxers, with the Rocky Balboa award.
The Rocky Balboa Award – Beatdown of the Year The nominees are: Alfredo Angulo on Harry Joe Yorgey, Nonito Donaire Jr. on Raul Martinez, Vladimir Klitschko on Chris Arreola, Denis Ledebev on Enzo Maccarinelli, Manny Pacquiao on Miguel Cotto, and Manny Pacquiao on Ricky Hatton.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Alfredo Angulo on Harry Joe Yorgey – We knew that when Alfredo Angulo suffered his first loss at the hands of a rejuvenated Kermit Cintron, that it wouldn’t be long until we saw him back in action. And when we heard he would be back in against someone named Harry Joe Yorgey, we figured it was going to be an easy night. And it was… for everyone except Yorgey, who suffered three of the most brutal rounds and a knockout that people felt through the TV at the hands of “El Perro,” a man with vengeance on his mind. –Ryan Bates
The Naseem Hamed Award – Best Ring Entrance of the Year The nominees are: Arthur Abraham, Manny Pacquiao (against Miguel Cotto), Manny Pacquiao (against Ricky Hatton), and Wladimir Klitschko.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Arthur Abraham – The Germans love a gaudy entrance. Give them ridiculous pyro, a group of actors dressed up in creepy/homoerotic costumes, and more smoke than Snoop Dogg’s dressing room and you’ll have them walking home very happy. The only country that loves a gaudy entrance more than the Germans is the Japanese which is ironic given the circumstances of WW2. I guess losing a war makes one love gaudy entrances (on a side note both nations take the lead in love of perverted pornography) and few fighters meet those expectations like King Arthur Abraham. This German based fighter embraces the traditions of the locals with some entrances that seem to more fit for an off Broadway show.
I have a dream that the King eventually moves to Heavyweight to fight Wlad Klitschko only for the reason that those two combined entrances may signal the end of civilization. – PJ Cassidy
The Thanks But No Thanks Award – Worst Fighter of the Year The nominees are: Andrew Golota, Enzo Maccarinelli, Jeff Lacy, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Junior Witter, and Ricky Hatton.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. – Boxing promoters love two things, Money, and second generation fighters. Why else would we be consistently bombarded with pedestrian fighters who are presented as world beaters simply because of their shared ancestry with a legend? No one fits that criteria more than Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. We’re not saying he’s the worst fighter in the world but he’s certainly the worse fighter whose presented as a world class fighter. Chavez Jr has yet to face anything close to a contender and yet at over 40 fights he’s yet to shown any form of improvement that would make you believe he can challenge for a title. He has trouble with even the most pedestrian of opponents as Matt Vanda proved and that’s not the recipe for a champion.
Look no further than his fight with journeyman Troy Rowland on the Pacquiao/Cotto undercard. Here he was presented with an easy late replacement opponent on the biggest stage of them all. He was expected to dominate the fight but rather took way too many punches on his way to a boring UD victory. This fight proved to many journalists that its time to forget about Junior Chavez and move on… – PJ Cassidy
The I Want My Money Back Award – Worst PPV of the Year The nominees are: The Battle of East & West, Firepower, Number One/Numero Uno, Road to Redemption, and Two World Title Fights — One Night!
And the Scrappy goes to…
Two World Title Fights – One Night! (Cotto/Pavlik split site) – Two of the sports biggest and most exciting fighters on one PPV card sure sounds exciting, doesn’t it? You’d think seeing Miguel Cotto and Kelly Pavlik on the same PPV card would be well worth your forty dollars but it doesn’t really work out when you stick them in with two fighters who would be more comfortable fighting in bingo halls rather than in a championship fight. Cotto and Pavlik easily walked through their overmatched opponents but what was even worse was the fact that Michael Jennings and Marco Antonio Rubio never even attempted to make it a fight. Instead, the audience was subjected to a night of uninspired fights that made you feel truly wronged for having to pay for such crap. It doesn’t help when you’re undercard features John Duddy trying to show that he can box rather than slug. Add it all up and you have a craptastic night of fights. – PJ Cassidy
The No Mas Award – Most Flagrant Display of Quitting in 2009 The nominees are: Anges Adjaho, Junior Witter, and Victor Ortiz
And the Scrappy goes to…
Victor Ortiz – This may have been the easiest award to give out. Ortiz came into 2009 with high hopes as he was elected the ESPN prospect of the year for 2008 and picked to be the breakout star of 2009. His 2009 started out well as he fought his first bout televised on HBO against Mike Arnaoutis. He scored a technical knockout of Arnaoutis in the second round, winning the U.S.B.A title and retaining the WBO NABO title. But disaster struck for Ortiz in his next fight as he took on Marcos Maidana. In one of the more exciting fights of 2009, Ort?z and Maidana were knocked down in the first round. Ort?z knocked Maidana to the canvas twice in the second round. Ort?z suffered a cut in the 5th round and was knocked down in the 6th round. The fight was stopped when Ortiz was taken to the ring doctor and elected to stop the fight. But it looked as if Ortiz and not the doctor was the one who elected not to continue.
In a most bizarre display, Ortiz said in his post fight interview, “I’m young, but I don’t think I deserve to get beat up like this. So I have a lot of thinking to do.” This is a fighter that was signed by Golden Boy and HBO to be on of their top stars. It just doesn’t seem like Ortiz has the courage to be a great fighter. He has been criticized by everyone in boxing from Chris Arreola to Max Kellerman. When things were going his way, Victor fought hard. But his heart disappeared when Maidana took his best shots and spit right back in his face. Great fighters show tremendous courage and resolve. They argue against a fight being stopped. Think about Diego Corrales screaming at the doctor to give him one more round. Think about how Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti fought their butts off just to finish a fight when a normal guy would have been done much earlier. The quitter label was always be on Ortiz until he can prove he has the heart in his next big fight. – Jonathan Yaghoubi
The If We Promise To Miss You, Will You Go Away? Award – The Fighter in 2009 Most In Need of a Retirement Party The nominees are: Andrew Golota, Enzo Maccarinelli, Evander Holyfield, Jeff Lacy, Jermain Taylor, Kevin Kelley, Ricky Hatton, and Roy Jones Jr.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Jeff Lacy – Dear Jeff: Go home. Please. Since you were spanked from the UK back to America by Mr. Calzaghe in March of 2006, you’ve just never been the same. After ending last year with a loss to Jermain Taylor (who himself was a front-runner in this category), you barely squeaked out a majority decision over Otis Griffin (who?) and then got pummeled by another front-runner in this category, Roy Jones Jr. When two of your challengers for this award beat you… I’m just saying… – Ryan Bates
The Step It Up, Soldier Award – Most Poorly Promoted Fighter of 2009 The nominees are: Cory Spinks, Devon Alexander, Nate Campbell, Paul Williams, and Zsolt Erdie.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Cory Spinks – Unless you look at the rankings, you probably don’t even know that Spinks is a top junior middleweight and a titleholder to boot. “The Next Generation” is a pretty good fighter and although he lacks punching power, he’s a talented technician. Don King Promotions however needs to step it up and put him on TV pronto. He’s wasting away. – Ramon Aranda
The Pink Slip Award – Worst Referee of the Year The nominees are:Eddie Cotton, Frank Santore Jr., Joe Cortez, Johnny Callas, Laurence Cole, and Terry O’Conner.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Joe Cortez – For the second year running, the “fair but firm” Joe Cortez wins the Pink Slip, for being anything less than firm. When it’s mentioned that Cortez is refereeing a bout, heads shake and people groan, as he’s become more concerned with being a notable referee than a good one. Inside fighters can’t stand him, since the moment you get too close, there’s a call to break. It’s even gotten to the point where fighters themselves don’t want Cortez refereeing their fights, calling him biased towards Latino fighters. Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know, but as a referee, there shouldn’t even be any question. – Ryan Bates
The WTF? Award – Worst or Most Questionable Decision in Boxing in 2009 The nominees are: 115-113 scorecards in Dawson/Johnson II, Diaz over Malignaggi in the first fight by unanimous decision, Dirrell over Froch by split decision, Anyone deciding to fight in Houston, Funeka draws against Guzman, Fury over McDermott by points, Hatton deciding to barrel in head-first against Manny Pacquiao, John draws against Juarez in the first fight, Marquez deciding to fight Mayweather, Martinez draws against Cintron.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Funeka draws with Guzman – There were some exceptionally bad decisions made in boxing this year. Bad to the point where people are now recognizing judges’ names (Gale Van Hoy, we’re looking at you, asshole).But throughout all the bad decisions, nothing was so vile as this one.
After a rocky start where Joan Guzman’s straight-from-Floyd’s-playbook tap-and-run tactics were working for the first two rounds, Ali Funeka powered up and began controlling the fight handily. Not just controlling the fight, but truly dominating it. He would catch up to Guzman, and slather him with straight rights and left hooks for ten of the twelve rounds, making you wonder if the new IBF lightweight champion would be able to unify against some of the other champions.
That answer would be “no,” as judges shocked the world by turning in two 114-114 scorecards, while a third gave Funeka eight of the twelve rounds. Are you kidding me? Four rounds for Guzman is questionable in and of itself. But draws? What were these idiots doing, j***ing off during the fight? Is that why they couldn’t focus long enough to see a clear victory for Funeka? You know, they say if you do it too much, you’ll go blind. – Ryan Bates
The Milana Dravnel Award – The Most Deplorable or Despicable Moment in Boxing in 2009 The nominees are: Mayweather’s $600,000 Advantage, Marco Antonio Barrera being allowed to keep fighting, James Kirkland goes to jail for parole violation, Shaq vs. Oscar, and the Summer of Blood.
And the Scrappy goes to…
Summer of Blood – One tragic loss is too many, but boxing had to suffer through three: the questionable suicide of Alexis Arguello, the even more questionable “suicide” of Arturo Gatti, and the cold-blooded murder of Vernon Forrest. – The quality isn’t perfect, but the HBO tribute speaks more words than all of us at 411Boxing could put together. — Ryan Bates
