My year-end awards
Knockout of the Year- Alexander Povetkin KO5 Dillian Whyte. It's an old cliche but this was a classic instance of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Whyte, the clear favorite, had dropped Povetkin twice in the fourth round and was looking to finish in the fifth. Instead, Povetkin landed a bomb of an uppercut 30 seconds in and finished the fight victorious with that one lone punch.
Round of the Year- Jose Zepeda vs Ivan Baranchyk, Round 5. A slugfest where both fighters had been down multiple times coming into this round. Ivan swung away as Round 5 started, standing his ground rather than trying to recover. He connected with a beautiful right, sending Zepeda down in the corner. Zepeda got up and Ivan looked to finish. When the action resumed, Ivan charged ahead and Zepeda caught him flush with a left hook to the chin that took away his legs and had his head slam against the mat for a sick and sudden end to the fight.
Fight of the Year- Juan Estrada KO11 Carlos Cuadras II. Edging out the above pairing due to a greater display of technical skill, they also outdid their excellent fight three years earlier. Two of the top four flyweight/bantamweight fighters of the past decade, they staged an excellent duel in an empty arena in Mexico where both men hit the canvas before Estrada finally finished off his foe late.
Fighter of the Year- Tyson Fury. Ordinarily, I would not give this award to a fighter who fought only once; unfortunately, that became the rule in 2020, not the exception. That being the case, there is no better example of a fighter making the most of his one fight this year. Fury defied conventional wisdom by going right at the world's most dangerous man Deontay Wilder. Pushing the bully back in a manner reminiscent of Evander Holyfield in his first fight with Mike Tyson, Fury stayed inside the range of Wilder's lethal right hand, beating him to the punch inside and using his massive frame to push Wider back and wear him down. Wilder had no answer and was systematically beaten down and eventually stopped, an outcome few could have foreseen.