TheDailySportsHerald.Com Boxing Awards for 2009 - Part I

As we start a new year it seems appropriate now to officially hand out the awards for the Best in Boxing 2009. Remember, to win one of these awards you had to have participated in a truly significant fight which actually had some public appeal. Let's get started.

BIGGEST UPSET OF THE YEAR
Nominees:

A) Shane Mosley 9th Round TKO over Antonio Margarito
B) Josephy Agbeko unanimous decision over Vic Darchinyan
C) Andre Ward 11th Round technical decision over Mikkel Kessler
D) Marcos Maidana 6th Round knock out of Victor Ortiz

Winner? Mosley over Margarito.

Agbeko's upset of Darchinyan for the IBF Bantamweight Title was notable and took Darchinyan off of many people's pound-for-pound lists. Andre Ward's dominant victory over Kessler in the Super-Middleweight tournament made people take notice that the gold-medal winner is ready for elite status. Certainly the knockout loss of Victor Ortiz, and the manner he appeared to quit, was a noteworthy upset.

But all pale in comparison to the resurrection of Shane Mosley in 2009. With his utter domination of Antionio Margarito, Shane Mosley became the undisputed king of the welterweight division once again. Of course, some may point out that Margarito's gloves were "loaded" before the fight and that Mosley may have had the "benefit" of a fair fight that others, like Miguel Cotto, might not have had.

Fair enough, but it was Mosley's punching power that was especially impressive. No other Welterweight has been able to hurt Antonio Margarito the way Mosley did. Not Joshua Clottey, Paul Williams, Kermit Cintron, or Miguel Cotto. All landed clean shots to the head and had success early in their fights, but Margarito was essentially able to walk through anything they could give. Not this time. Shane Mosley pummeled the iron-chinned Margarito around the ring for 8 rounds. Manny Pacquiao is the only other welterweight who might have been able to score such a knockout, but that would be far from a guarantee.

MOST CONTROVERSIAL DECISION
Nominees:

A) Andre Berto unanimous decision over Luis Collazo
B) Juan Diaz unanimous decision over Paulie Malinaggi (Fight #1)
C) Nate Campbell majority decision over Ali Funeka
D) Kermit Cintron draw with Sergio Martinez
E) Paul Williams majority decision over Sergio Martinez
F) Joan Guzman draw with Ali Funeka

Winner? Tie (Joan Guzman v. Ali Funeka & Kermit Cintron v. Sergio Martinez)

2009 was a year full of bad decisions by judges. The 6 nominees were just some of the many poor decisions we see in boxing nearly every other week.

Diaz likely did not deserve the nod over Malinaggi in their first fight and certainly not by the lopsided scores given by 2 of the 3 judges. However, the Baby Bull did land some serious punches and kept up the offensive pressure for most of the fight and made the scoring debatable.

Andre Berto definitely struggled against Luis Collazo and, considering the point deduction for holding, would have a tough case to make that he won 7 of 12 rounds to earn the decision. However, he did finish strong in rounds 11 and 12 and had many good moments throughout that great fight, suggesting at least it was possible he deserved the decision.

Ali Funeka's close loss to Nate Campbell was tough to swallow, but it was a difficult fight to score in many ways. Additionally, the Williams-Martinez classic was also very close, and certainly the assinine 119-110 scorecard for Williams on its own is probably the worst judging scorecard of the year.

However it was the other injustices done to Funeka and Martinez during 2009 that were the real crimes. Funeka dominated Joan Guzman after the 2nd round when Guzman received a bloody nose and a cut above his eye. The fact that Guzman may have been unfairly hampered by a headbutt does not justify the reality that he did little or nothing for the last 8 rounds of the fight. Funeka's long jab and accurate punches battered Guzman throughout the fight and Guzman seemed lucky just to have survived after 12 rounds before the Judges gifted him a draw.

Even though Sergio Martinez was deducted a point in the 12th round for hitting behind the head there is no reasonable way that Kermit Cintron sneaked out of that fight with a draw. After cutting Cintron in the 5th round, Martinez knocked Cintron down at the end of the 7th round. Cintron stayed on one knee and tried to convince the referee that the obvious punch was a headbutt. As the referee counted to 10, Cintron rose...and in the confusion it appeared the fight was over until the referee basically changed his mind. Cintron thus received a huge break as he was able to recover for several minutes.

None of it should have mattered anyway as Cintron was sluggish and totally outclassed by Martinez and everyone in Cintron's own corner was aware of it throughout the fight. The final punch stats had Martinez landing 151 punches to 101 for Cintron, and Cintron deserved 3 rounds at the most. Yet two blind judges somehow gave Cintron 6 rounds to allow for a majority draw

FALLING STAR OF THE YEAR
Nominees:

A) Ricky Hatton
B) Jermain Taylor
C) Roy Jones Jr.
D) Antonio Margarito
E) Juan Diaz

Winner? Antonio Margarito.

Hatton and Jones each suffered early knockout losses. Taylor cemented his reputation as a fighter who has stamina problems, getting knocked in the 12th round by Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham. Diaz's 2 performances against Malinaggi were highly disappointing to say the least, as he looked helpless fighting against someone with footspeed.

But Antonio Margarito definitely dropped the farthest. Before his fight in January, Margarito was the undisputed king of the Welterweight division, and few believed he was even capable of being seriously hurt, let alone knocked out by another fighter. After being knocked out by 4-1 underdog Shane Mosley, Margarito appeared ordinary and his limited boxing skills were easy to see.

Additionally, he was banned from fighting in the United States due to having an illegal substance in his gloves. At this point, there is doubt that he will ever have a high-profile fight again.


RISING STAR OF THE YEAR

A) Andre Ward
B) Amir Khan
C) Edwin Valero

Winner? Andre Ward.

Amir Khan appears back on track after a successful 2009 which included a victory over Marco Antonio Barrera. He is certainly ready to fight the top Lightweights in the world and his sizeable British following will help make big fights.

Additionally, the 28-year old Edwin Valero is bound to be noticed in the upcoming year after knocking out 2 more opponents and claiming a world title belt in 2009. The Venezuelan has had problems getting fights because of a failed MRI in 2004 which prevented him from getting a New York license. Additionally, his open political support for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (Valero has a tatoo of the leader on his chest) has likely created additional Visa problems for him. But how long can his record, 26-0 with 26 KOs, continue to be ignored?

However, Andre Ward's stunning dismantling of Mikkel Kessler at 168-pounds in the Super Six Tournament gives him the award. The 2004 Gold Medalist is just 24 years old and set to fight Jermain Taylor in April 2010. At 21-0, he has the opportunity, thanks to the Super Six Tournament, to fight the top Super-Middleweights in the world in 2009. All indications are that he is ready for the challenge and set to be a household name when 2010 is done.


Manish Pandya
Staff Editor for TheDailySportsHerald.Com