You could argue Great Britain saved the best for last in terms of terrific action fights staged in 2013. Last night in Leeds, 33-year-old Darlington man Stuey Hall battled his way to the IBF bantamweight title in an incredibly exciting and at times brutal encounter with South African southpaw Vusi Malinga.
Hall, an unlikely world title challenger, fought through the pain and hindrance of a badly busted up left eye to out-point 34-year-old Malinga in a fight that could be argued as the best to have taken place in the UK this year. After decking his man in the 3rd, Hall had to dig deep to see it through to the end. The two warriors went toe-to-toe and inflicted as much hurt as they could on each other. The heart and courage shown by both was truly remarkable.
It’s that time of the year again: when fight fans take a look back at what went down in the fistic calendar. 2013 was, in many years one of the best for boxing in a long time. We saw some great action fights, we saw some superb displays of The Sweet Science, we saw a number of electrifying KO’s and we saw our share of controversy.
As fight fans have almost certainly read by now, Vitali Klitschko has vacated the WBC heavyweight title due to his political ambitions and has been declared The Champion Emeritus by the governing body. This news excited fans who crave a competitive heavyweight title fight, as they can now look forward to seeing two young studs battling for the vacated green belt. 
In sad news, it has been reported (though not widely) how always-exciting cruiserweight warrior Ezra Sellers passed away earlier today due to heart problems that only recently surfaced. The 45-year-old who lived in Pensacola, Florida was a humble fighter who let his fists do the talking and fellow fighters such as Roy Jones Junior and Al “Ice” Cole have expressed their sadness at Ezra’s unexpected passing.
U.K fight fans who were looking forward to meeting heavyweight legend Mike Tyson this week in London will be disappointed by the news that Tyson has been banned from entering the UK due to a change in UK immigration law.
After having endured 21-months of frustration and inactivity (both at least partly brought on by himself), always-exciting southpaw slugger James Kirkland returned to doing what he does best last night in Atlantic City: giving fans of a slugfest just what they want. In brutalizing a brave and previously unbeaten Glen Tapia, Kirkland came back in a quite roaring fashion.
The list of the next great fighters (and writers, promoters, photographers, etc) set to enter The Hall of Fame has been announced. To the dismay of absolutely nobody, ring greats Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad and Joe Calzaghe head the newest inductees.