2013 Year End Awards: Fighter of the year, KO of the year, Fight of the year, Upset of the year

002 Mayweather vs Canelo IMG_9443 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.

That said, this writer now gives his picks for the recipients of the following awards:

Fighter of the year. Fight of the year. KO of the year. Upset of the year.

See what you think:

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Mayweather: Pacquiao fight will not happen as long as he’s still promoted by Bob Arum

Mayweather: “We all know the Pacquiao fight, at this particular time, will never happen, and the reason why the fight won’t happen is because I will never do business with Bob Arum again in life, and Pacquiao is Bob Arum’s fighter. Bob Arum gives Pacquiao a date, whereas Floyd Mayweather gives Floyd Mayweather his own date. I will be fighting again in May and I will be fighting again in September,” stated undefeated pound-for-pound Floyd Mayweather, who made it crystal clear that he won’t be fighting multi-division world champion Manny Pacquiao as long as he’s still promoted by Bob Arum. Mayweather has long had a strained relationship with Arum, after breaking free from his former promoter to start his own promotional company with the help of powerful adviser Al Haymon.

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Floyd Mayweather: And the winner is…

Every December the boxing world buzz burns hot with the topic of who will Floyd Mayweather face next and what are the chances that it will be Manny Pacquiao.

All signs point to Amir Khan as the winner of the Money May Sweepstakes for May, 3 2014.

With numerous recent reports it would seem the only thing that needs to be figured out now is the place and undercard.

Obviously it needs to happen in a somewhat timely fashion in order to beat the drums of hype, something Golden Boy & Mayweather Promotions will need with the major backlash this fight has received any time it’s been mentioned since Amir was sparked out by Danny Garcia in the summer of 2012.

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Opalach, Samson ready for battle in Accra after weigh-in

The stage has been set for fireworks in Accra on Friday evening following a successful weigh-in at the Media Centre of the Accra Sports Stadium on Thursday afternoon by Prezmyslaw Opalach of Poland and Tanzanian slugger, Maisha Samson.

Opalach weighed 164 pounds and Samson 165 pounds ahead of their face off for the IBF International Super Middleweight championship at the DG Hathiramani Hall headlining the Warriors 2 boxing showpiece staged by Alex Ntiamoah-Boakye’s Box Office Sports Promotions in collaboration with Union Sports Promotions headed by Nana Ampofo.
“Boxing is a universal sport that brings people together so it doesn’t matter where it takes place. Agbeko comes from Ghana and he fought Rigondeaux who is from Cuba in USA so same way Opalach and Samson have come to Ghana to fight,” explained Box Office Promotions CEO Alex Ntiamoah-Boakye.

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Pacquiao Scores Another Court Victory

pac784 Three weeks removed from his decisive victory over Brandon Rios in Macau, Manny Pacquiao earned an even more decisive win in a federal courthouse.

On December 18, the United States Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit, one of the highest and most influential courts in the country, affirmed the dismissal of a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Pacquiao filed by a startup Texas promotional company named Imperial ED Promotions. Imperial ED filed the lawsuit in November 2010, claiming that Pacquiao failed to appear at a promotional event in September 2010. Imperial ED didn’t tell the court that they failed to pay the Filipino star the full appearance fee that had been negotiated.

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Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Abner Mares II Announced For Feb. 15

– Golden Boy Promotions will present a rematch of one of 2013’s biggest upsets when Jhonny Gonzalez defends his WBC Featherweight World Championship against former Three -Time & Three-Division World Champion Abner Mares, on Saturday, Feb.15 from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Calif. live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).

In their first bout on Aug. 24, 2013, at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., hard-hitting Gonzalez shocked the world with a first round knockout of Mares taking his title and his unbeaten record from him. On Feb. 15, Mares gets his shot at redemption.

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Vitali Klitschko may have vacated the WBC crown, but it could soon be back in the Klitschko family…

Wladimir aims to become undisputed heavyweight king

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.

There has already been talk of how Bermane Stiverne, the WBC number-one contender, could face either unbeaten banger Deontay Wilder for the vacant belt, or maybe Stiverne could face the experienced Chris Arreola for Vitali’s old crown. However, those fans who feel the WBC belt will be the property of one of these guys for long had better think again – because Wladimir, Vitali’s baby brother, has announced it is his intention to add his sibling’s old belt to his Ring Magazine, IBF, WBO, IBO and WBA crowns.

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Adrien Broner – the showman’s showdown

Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana attracted a record number of viewers according to the host network and it provided an answer to the question whether a character like Adrien Broner is good for boxing. It also answered the question whether Broner is a great boxer as the hype (mostly self-propelled) claimed.

Marcos Maidana has been in high profile fights before and he has a substantial Argentine/Latino following but he was hardly the main draw in this event. It was Adrien Broner although he had more people rooting against him than for him. Most of the viewers wanted to see Broner served right and they did not have to wait long. He has more “anti-fans” than supporters. Adrien has built a stereotype image for himself and has taken great pains to annoy everyone he can with his antics.

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The Pugilist KOrner: Shawn Porter, Paulie Malignaggi, Miguel Flores, Don Chargin, Jermall Charlo, and Hank Lundy

Tonight at 9PM EST/6PM PST, “JEK III Productions” presents the new IBF Welterweight Champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter, two division world champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi, undefeated Featherweight prospect Miguel Flores, Hall of Fame matchmaker and promoter Don “War a Week“ Chargin, undefeated Junior Middleweight prospect Jermall Charlo, and Junior Welterweight contender “Hammerin” Hank Lundy on tonight’s two hour episode of “The Pugilist KOrner”.

Pugilist KOrner listener line: 718-506-1506

Kicking off tonight’s two hour program will be newly crowned IBF Welterweight Champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KOs). The talented Akron, Ohio native will discuss his impressive title winning effort against two division world champion Devon Alexander. “Showtime” will also discuss the landscape of the packed Welterweight division, as well as last Saturday night’s epic in San Antonio, Texas between Adrien Broner and Marcos Maidana.

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Alex Ariza Explains The Maidana Video

After Adrien Broner suffered his first professional loss to Marcos Maidana this past Saturday night, the feeling of impending drama was fierce.

Maybe it wasn’t the loss itself, but instead the way Maidana took over and made it look like a high quality sparring session. Broner, the young champion that has been making high waves in the boxing community, suffered a similar fate as Andre Berto, who also appeared like a possible boxing sensation before the limit of his boxing ability was exposed.

Now, after all is said and done, Marcos Maidana and his team are under formal investigation for possibly, cheating. In a video posted by TMZ, Alex Ariza is holding a napkin, and at one point, in a low quality replay, looks like is placing a while pill-sized object onto the napkin, and then bringing that napkin to Maidana’s mouth.

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