Awards: Best of the rest…
George Bailey: Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan! Hey, Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
(and to think Kendall Holt, left, was down twice in the first minute of the same round. Photo courtesy Chris Farina/Top Rank.)
Not every award needs to be dissected into a million little pieces. Some, well, just deserve recognition with little explanation. There were plenty of things that happened in 2008 that I feel need to be recognized.
Round of the Year: Round 1 of Kendall Holt-Ricardo Torres II or Round 4 of Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez III. I’m torn. Can a round of the year only be like 70 seconds? Holt was dropped twice and looked to be on his way out when a body shot-head butt-right hand didn’t just KO Torres, he was out for a good 5-10 minutes. It was crazy, definitely worth searching the Net for the video.
But I’m not a fan of a round of the year being a KO, so I lean more toward Vazquez and Marquez again. Great, great stuff.
KO of the Year: OK, here’s Kendall Holt and Ricardo Torres. Torres’ body just goes limp. It’s kinda freaky.
Trainer of the Year: Freddie Roach. I’d love to pick the brain of this mastermind. Not only has he made Manny Pacquiao the best fighter in the world, he managed to upset Oscar de La Hoya in the process. Bonus points for that one.
Rivalry of the Year: Top Rank vs. Golden Boy Promotions. Hey, as long as the two work together to make the fights, I don’t really care who actually wins them. But they’re worse than a divorced couple on trying to agree to anything.
Prospect of the Year: I’m going go with James Kirkland. Always explosive and leads to a short, fun-filled night. But I was most impressed with DeAndre Latimore’s victory over Sechew Powell.
Local Prospect of the Year: Noah Zuhdi, lightweight. He went 4-0 with all wins by first-round KO this year. His final one gave him the Oklahoma Lightweight championship. And if Carson Jones could ever get a strong team behind him, he is a special talent. The light middleweight took a lot of early bad fights and his six losses is extremely misleading.
Comeback Fighter of the Year: Vic Darchinyan. The first time I saw him he was getting tattooed by Nonito Donaire. In 2008, Darchinyan came back with two KO wins, including a jaw-dropping outing against Cristian Mijares. Sets up a huge battle with Jorge Arce which should be fun for everybody.
Best show: For your money’s worth and most of the time from an entertainment persepctive, ESPN’s Wednesday Night Fights. Upsets galore in this spring/summer series, and Joe Tessitore is one of my favorite voices in sports. Maybe because he does boxing, horse racing and college football (all three I love, too). 2009 will not have a WNF, victim of cost-cutting measures in today’s economy.
Performance of the Year: Antonio Margarito TKO 11 Miguel Cotto. Margarito had never been on the big stage, and he had anything but stage fright. Even though he was probably down 5-1 in rounds halfway through the fight, he kept his cool. He walked down Cotto and buried him into submission. A case where you come in with a game plan and execute it to perfection.
Uh oh, HBO, Showtime is creeping up on you: Yeah, that’s not an award, more a statement. Not just with the quality of fights, but with things like the two hour documentary on the Vazquez-Marquez Trilogy. Next time I catch it, that is going on DVD. But please, both guys, fight someone else and make a little money.
Boneman’s Moment of the Year: I can’t do it. I have three, sorry.
- Bernard Hopkins staring down the media after the Kelly Pavlik fight. I’ve never been a huge B-Hop fan, but this was an incredible display of boxing. I thought Pavlik would give him a career-ending beatdown. No sir. Hopkins’ stare can scare just about anybody, IMO.
- Trainer Freddie Roach telling Manny Pacquiao “this is your job. Take him out” after the seventh round against Oscar de La Hoya. Roach was so fed up with the way Oscar had blamed Roach for DLH’s loss to Floyd Mayweather. PacMan had just obliterated Oscar in round seven and Roach was still calm. But you know deep down, that was one helluva night for Roach and company.
- Israel Vazquez won’t be denied in the 12th round against Rafael Marquez. This is my favorite round of the year. Not best because there isn’t two-way action. This is Vazquez stalking Marquez for three minutes because he knows the fight is on the line. This is Marquez tryin to survive when he can’t see out of his left eye. This was all that is beautiful about boxing on display. I was so pumped that I was shadow boxing at 2:30 a.m. when watching this for the first time. An incredible end to an incredible trilogy of fights.
Friday: The year that was boxing in 2008 and a 2009 Wish List.
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Deandre will ko Kirkland quick, when they fight. Latimore Can box and punch like a mule! Also can take a great shot. Also has the best trainer in the world kenny Adams. Kirkland can’t box !just punch a little!Bull in 6!