Ring Magazine Awards 2021
The Ring magazine was established in 1922 and has named a 'Fighter of the Year' since 1928. The award, selected by the magazine editors, is based on a boxer's performance in the ring and has always been respected for its independant process and decision-making.
The list of awards has grown substantially over the past 93 years to include awards for fighters, fights, rounds, prospects, trainers and more.
These are the awards for 2021:
Fighter of the Year
Canelo Alvarez
Four-weight ruler and Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez made history in 2021 by defeating Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant to become the sport's first ever undisputed super-middlewight champion. It only took 11 months to achieve this historic feat, starting with Callum Smith in December 2020. This is the 31-year-old's second time winning 'Fighter of the Year', two years on from his first title.
Runners Up:
Tyson Fury
Oleksandr Usyk
Josh Taylor
Terence Crawford
Fight of the Year
Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder III
The thrilling finale of this heavyweight trilogy took place in October and offered incredible drama with Fury scoring the first knockdown in round three, looking like he would live up to his promise of a quicker finish than their second fight, but then Wilder rallied back with two knockdowns in an incredible fourth round. Even after another knockdown in round 10, looking absolutely exhausted, the ex-champ still fired back at Fury, but a decisive finished from the Brit wrapped up the rivalry in round 11.
Runners Up:
Roger Gutierrez (UD12) Rene Alvarado
Masamichi Yabuki (TKO10) Kenshiro Teraji
Juan Francisco Estrada (SD12) Roman Gonzalez
Stephen Fulton Jr. (MD12) Brandon Figueroa
Trainer of the Year
Eddy Reynoso
The long-term trainer of Canelo Alvarez has been involved in the Mexican's career for many years but is only recently beginning to get the credit he deserves as the world's leading trainer, after guiding the careers of notable names Oscar Valdez; Julio Cesar Martinez;Ryan Garcia; Frank Sanchez and Andy Ruiz Jr. Like his student, Canelo, in 2019, he also becomes a two-time winner of this award.
Runners Up:
Sugarhill Steward
Shane McGuigan
Ben Davison
Anatoly Lomachenko
Upset of the Year
George Kambosos Jr. (SD12) Teofimo Lopez
Unified lightweight champ Teofimo Lopez was a 13-1 favourite to defeat the unheralded Australian challenger, especially having dethroned all-time great Vasily Lomachenko to become king. Instead of his predicted first-round finish, it was Lopez looking up from the canvas after a first-round knockdown, then contnued to lose most of the early rounds before rallying back a little too late, scoring a knockdown in round 10, but ultimately losing via a split on the scorecards.
Runners Up:
Sandor Martin (MD10) Mikey Garcia
Leigh Wood (TKO12) Xu Can
Mauricio Lara (TKO9) Josh Warrington
Kiko Martinez (TKO6) Kid Galahad
Performance of the Year
Shakur Stevenson (TKO10) Jamel Herring
At just 24-years-old, Shakur was mature and dominant when dethroning WBO World super-featherweight champion Jamel Herring in October to become a two-weight world champion in just his 17th fight.
Runners Up:
Brandon Figueroa (KO7) Luis Nery
Terence Craword (TKO10) Shawn Porter
Nonito Donaire (KO4) Nordine Ouballi
Vasiliy Lomachenko (UD12) Richard Commey
Knockout of the Year
Gabriel Rosado (KO3) Bektemir Melikuziev
Age and experience beat youth and power when Freddie Roach-trained Gabriel Rosado scored a thunderous one-punch knockout over previously unbeaten super-middleweight Bektemir Melikuziev. The 35-year-od had just lost his last fight to Daniel Jacobs and the fast-rising 'Bully' from Uzbekistan was looking to add a big name to his resume but he fell into the veteran's trap and paid the price.
Runners Up:
Callum Smith (KO2) Lenin Castillo
Anthony Dirrell (TKO4) Marcos Hernandez
Efe Ajagba (KO3) Brian Howard
Kiko Martinez (KO6) Kid Galahad
Round of the Year
Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder III (Round 4)
During the Ring Magazine's 'Fight of the Year', there was a specific stanza that stood out – round four. Wilder had started the trilogy brightly, varyng shots to body and head, but then the WBC champion downed the Alabaman in round three and his prediction of a quick KO looked to be coming true. Howerver, then came the fourth round where a retreating shaky Wilder caught Fury with a right cross to the temple that shuddered through the giant Briton's body like a shockwave to leave him crashed out on the canvas in a dramatic turn of events. 'The Gypsy King' got back up again and survived an onslaught from the ex-champ, even scoring shots back, but then he was back down again under the relentless attack and blinking in shock while still on the floor. A nod to the corner to show he was ok and he was once more on his feet, but the round ended and the crowd erupted, baying for more.
Runners Up:
Juan Francisco Estrada vs Roman Gonzalez (Round 12)
Kid Galahad vs Kiko Martinez (Round 5)
Gervonta Davis vs Mario Barrios (Round 8)
Stephen Fulton vs Brandon Figueroa (Round 10)
Event of the Year
Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk
Tottenham Hotspur FC Stadum, London
AJ is still a stadium seller, despite now losing his World heavyweight titles for a second time. His second professional career defeat came at the hands of the brilliant Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in September at the new Spurs stadium in North London, witnessed by 68,000 live fans.
Runners Up:
Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders
Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder III
Canelo Alvarez vs Caleb Plant
Terence Crawford vs Shawn Porter
Comeback of the Year
Kiko Martinez (TKO6) Kid Galahad
Spain's veteran featherweight was meant to be a routine defence for the Sheffield stylist as he aimed for unification fights next year, but the 7-1 underdog suprised him and everyone else. After being dominated through four rounds, Martinez landed a well-timed crushing right hook late on in the fifth round that dropped the home fighter heavily. The IBF champ survived to the sixth, but his head wasn't clear, and he was knocked out cold by the Spaniard.
Runners Up:
Nonito Donaire (KO4) Nordine Oubaali
Jonathan Gonzalez (SD12) Elwin Soto
Prospect of the Year
Brandun Lee
The IBO Inter-Continental super lightweight champion fought three times in 2021 for a total of 11 rounds – all ending via KO. The 22-year-old Californian is now 24-0 with 22KOs – 13 of those were first-round knockouts!
Runners Up:
David Picasso
Frank Martin
Omar Aguilar
Xander Zayas
Most Inspirational
Bob Arum
The Hall of Fame promoter spent his 90th birthday on a flight to New York to promote his 2,120th card, headlined by Lomachenko-Commey at Madison Square Garden. It all started 55 years ago when he was working as an attorney for the Department of Justice and ended up promoting 27 Muhammad Ali fights and working as a promoter for over half a century.
Runners Up:
Canelo Alvarez for donating to children's cancer funds
Tyson Fury for donating to Liverpool children's hospital
P4P List
1. Canelo Alvarez
2. Oleksandr Usyk
3. Terence Crawford
4. Naoya Inoue
5. Josh Taylor
6. Errol Spence Jr.
7. Juan Franciso Estrada
8. Vasily Lomachenko
9. Kazuto Ioka
10. Tyson Fury
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