WBC 2008 Boxing Awards; SI's 2008 Boxing Awards

WBC BOXER OF THE YEAR - Manny Pacquiao, Philippines: Manny won the World Boxing Council super featherweight world title by decision against defending champion Juan Manuel Marquez in March, then won the WBC lightweight world title by TKO against defending champion David Diaz three months later in June. Manny finished the year in December with a sensational TKO win against Oscar De La Hoya in the welterweight division..

WBC HONORABLE MENTION BOXER OF THE YEAR
Edgar Sosa, Mexico: Edgar successfully defended the WBC light flyweight world title four times, defeating top level opponents which included mandatory challenger Juanito Rubillar of the Philippines in November.


WBC COMEBACK OF THE DECADE
Vitali Klitschko, Ukraine: He came back as WBC Emeritus Champion in the heavyweight division in October after almost four years without fighting. He won the WBC heavyweight world title for the second time with an impressive performance in his TKO win against defending champion Samuel Peter in October.

WBC FIGHT OF THE YEAR
Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez: The third fight between these two great Mexican champions in March was a spectacular battle. Vazquez was knocked down in the fourth round, but came back to knock down Marquez in the twelfth round and retain the WBC super bantamweight world title by decision.

WBC MOST DRAMATIC FIGHT OF THE YEAR
Carl Froch vs. Jean Pascal: Froch, the new British sensation, won the vacant WBC super middleweight world title by decision against Canadian warrior Pascal in an intense and dramatic fight in December.

WBC KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR
Vic Darchinyan, Australia: The new WBC super flyweight world champion knocked out talented and accomplished defending champion Cristian Mijares of Mexico, and fulfilled his dream of winning the green and gold belt.

WBC GREATEST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
Samuel Peter vs. Oleg Maskaev: For the first time ever, a heavyweight world championship fight was held in Mexico - it was a top-notch promotion and great success in paradisiacal Cancun in March. The atmosphere in the bullring was electric with a capacity crowd in attendance, and the broadcast on HBO was excellent. Interim champion Peter, a native of Nigeria living in Las Vegas, Nevada, won the WBC heavyweight world title with a ninth-round TKO against defending champion Maskaev, a native of Russia living in Sacramento, California.


HOPKINS, MARQUEZ AND ORTIZ WIN BIG IN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’S 2008 BOXING AWARDS

LOS ANGELES, December 22 - As a spectacular 2008 boxing campaign comes to an end, Golden Boy Promotions is pleased to congratulate three of its top fighters on the awards they received from the world-renowned and respected Sports Illustrated.

Named on SI.com’s 2008 Boxing Awards list were future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins, whose stirring victory over Kelly Pavlik on October 18, 2008 was voted Upset of The Year; pound-for-pound superstar Juan Manuel Marquez, whose knockout of Joel Casamayor on September 13, 2008 earned Knockout of The Year honors; and rising star Victor Ortiz, who went 3-0, 3 KO’s in 2008 was celebrated as SI’s Prospect of The Year.

“I’d like to congratulate Bernard, Juan Manuel and Victor on their well deserved awards,” said Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. “It was an exciting year for all of us at Golden Boy and we’re gearing up for an even bigger 2009.

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What Is The WBC Thinking?

By Paul McCreath: The World Boxing Council: The alphabet group that created such a mess a few months ago that they actually had three of their own world heavyweight champions all at the same time! It is a good thing there were no unification bouts with the belt holders of other organizations or we might have had four champs. As it is we had Oleg Maskaev as the regular belt holder after he took the title by KO from Hasim Rahman. They also had Vitali Klitschko as the champion emeritus (whatever that means) and later they added Sam Peter as their interim world champ. Sam of course had to win two eliminators over James Toney and then defeated Jameel McCline to become the interim belt holder. McCline had qualified for the title shot by losing in three rounds to Nicolay Valuev, the WBA champ. Does anyone see a lack of logic here?

At any rate after many months of changed decisions and threats of legal action the three titles were gradually whittled down to one when Peter stopped Maskaev for the regular title then in turn lost it to Vitali. Before all this came about all three fighters were held up from earning a living while the WBC diddled and dithered while trying to avoid court action and reach a decision about who would fight whom first.

Meanwhile the mandatory challengers were piling up. Juan Carlos Gomez defeated Oliver McCall to qualify for a title shot but the WBC made him fight still another eliminator this time against Vlad Virchis. He won again in September to become the mandatory. Not satisfied to have one mandatory the WBC then sanctioned another in November between Jameel McCline and Mike Mollo. McCline had qualified by losing an earlier eliminator in March to John Ruiz while Mollo got there by losing in 12 rounds to Andrew Golota. Are you still with me?

Are these guys nuts?

You might wonder what happened to John Ruiz while all this was going on. He skipped over to the WBA and lost a title bout to Valuev. After all, as the winner of a WBC eliminator he could hardly expect a title match with that organization since only the losers get that chance, right?

Would you not think that after all these foul-ups the WBC would have learned their lesson? This past week they were at it again... Jose Sulaiman the WBC president announced that Vitali Klitschko was obliged to defend his title not later than April 30 against Gomez, with of course the possibility of an extension as late as June 30. I have no problem with Gomez getting his chance. At least they got one thing right. Gomez has earned his shot twice, just like Sam Peter had to do earlier. But of course the alphabet boys never get anything entirely right do they?

In addition to that possible time extension from April 30 they also announced that Oleg Maskaev would get the next title shot within 120 days or maybe 180 days from the date of the Vitali vs Gomez fight. Maskaev qualified for this chance by getting KO'd by Sam Peter before he in turn got stopped by Vitali. That must make him the ideal opponent, but what happened to McCline who won his eliminator?

The real reason Maskaev will get this opportunity in my opinion is that he presently is suing the WBC over the way he was treated while he held their title. He was not allowed to fight a voluntary defense against Wlad Klitschko and there are also issues over the purse split in the bout with Sam Peter. It looks to me that the naming of Maskaev as a mandatory is just an attempt by the WBC to avoid going to court. Maskaev has won only one tune-up fight with Robert Hawkins since losing his title. It that is enough to warrant a title match then I guess we can expect the undefeated prospect Denis Boytsov to be named soon too. He also beat Hawkins this year.

The sad part about all this is that the fight that everyone would prefer to see will possibly be washed out by all these manoeuvres. That would be the already agreed to match between Vitali Klitschko and David Haye. They want to fight in June but it seems unlikely now. The WBC could have avoided all the trouble and controversy by simply ordering a final eliminator between Haye and Maskaev with the winner to meet the Vitali-Gomez winner but that would be much too logical for these guys.

The long and the short of it is that the WBC have messed up again and once more the sport of boxing and the fans are losers. How can we get rid of these clowns?

Merry Christmas and happy new years Everybody!

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Team Sauerland dismisses Holyfield protest

Team Sauerland will reconsider its plan to offer Evander Holyfield a rematch against WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev following Tommy Brooks´ outrageous remarks in the press. The coach of the 46-year-old boxing legend, who lost a close majority decision by the scores of 116-112, 115-114 and 114-114, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “I think it was just some home cooking for a promoter’s fighter. I think somebody was just greasing somebody’s palms..”


Wilfried Sauerland was shocked when he found out about the statements. “I can understand his disappointment,” the manager said. “After all, his fighter put on a an impressive performance for which he deserves our respect. However, I cannot comprehend his remarks at all. They are derisive, outrageous and absolutely untrue. I would not have expected such unsporting behaviour from him. We offered Holyfield a rematch straight away but now we will have to reconsider it.”

Sauerland managing director Chris Meyer admitted that the bout was difficult to score. “It was a very close fight. The judges agreed on just four rounds. Also, the fight looked much different on TV than it did from inside the arena. Most of the experts at ringside had Valuev winning. It is funny to see how the European and US media disagree about the outcome.”

A string of highly-respected boxing writers – just like WBA president Gilberto Mendoza - had Valuev ahead. Among them Phil Woolever of The Sweet Science (“For the record, I had it 115-113 Valuev”), Ron Lewis of The Times and Gareth A. Davies of The Telegraph. All three of them were at ringside.

Here is what Ron Lewis wrote in his blog article titled ‘Valuev was a worthy winner’:

“Sometimes, I guess you think the world has just gone mad. After one very long night in Zurich, I returned home this morning to discover everyone up in arms that Evander Holyfield was supposedly robbed against Nikolay Valuev in their WBA heavyweight title bout on Saturday night. That was certainly not the case.

“Yes the crowd booed, but they booed Valuev before the start. They booed him after he beat Ruiz in August and that was one-sided. Ringside - where I watched the fight from - opinion was split about who had won. Everyone sitting near me had Valuev a clear winner and I had him ahead by five rounds. No one in Holyfield's camp roared "robbery". Sure, they said they thought they did enough to win, but that was it. Expect that to change by the time they get back from America, when they discover that the power of television has whipped up support in their favour.”

Gareth A. Davies of The Telegraph holds a similar opinion. He wrote in his blog:

“Why was it that so many who saw the fight on television thought Holyfield had won ? Because you see a different on tv - plus commentary, plus crowd support - than what is in front of you. Live coverage enhances perception, not television. That's why we go to these events.

“From ringside, there were varying degrees in opinion, and on the judges' cards, it came down to the final round. From my position, I thought Valuev had won the fight. Yet to call it a fix, as some websites and commentators have done, is wrong.”

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Hatton: Pension if Defeat Pac Man & Mayweather Jr.

MANCHESTER - Champions boxing class light welter Ricky Hatton admitted that he will soon stop rising ring in the upcoming 2009. However, with conditions he has successfully defeat Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr..



Hatton feel this in 2008, is the best moment for a splash in the sports world boxing. In later 2009, he will complete the defeat of two boxer who deem it best at this time.

"This is my best year. Mayweather and Pacquiao is the best two rival at this time, because I was obliged to overcome them," says Hatton This such as the AP, Friday (26/12/2008).

For the first target Hatton beat intend fall Pac Man (nickname Pacquiao-red). As has been broadcasted, the Manchester boxer origin of the city that it intended to duel with the Filipino on 2 May 2009 that will come.

"Target is the first Pacquiao, he is the best time this ditch after De La Hoya. Meanwhile, Mayweather must wait for my turn robohkan," he said again.

If completed, the boxer running the new Hit Man is satisfied, and he was, when it is the right time for him to resign from the boxing arena.

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