2020: The Nominations
To say 2020 was kinda crazy is to state the obvious to the point of trivializing what was an unprecedented year of chaos, upheaval, crisis and death on a monumental and global scale. And yet, despite the protests and riots, despite the political unrest and uncertainty, and despite a highly contagious and deadly virus, amazingly, professional boxing carried on. As Larry Merchant famously said, nothing can save boxing and nothing can kill it. The way pugilism responded to the events of 2020 lends credence to the latter part of that statement. Boxing is like cockroaches; it just keeps surviving.
And so, while the temptation was strong to throw in the towel and decide an abbreviated year with less action and fewer competitive match-ups maybe doesn’t deserve scrutiny or awards, we decided at the last minute to go the other route and give credit where credit is due for the athletes who did answer the bell, often before rows of empty seats.
So, time to take stock with our six categories and highlight the best fights and fighters, the biggest surprises, and the stand-out performances. Check out the nominations below. Our winners will be announced in the days to come. Let’s get to it!
Upset Of The Year:
Alex Povetkin TKO5 Dillian Whyte
Jeison Rosario TKO5 Julian Williams
Teofimo Lopez W12 Vasiliy Lomachenko
Robert Helenius TKO4 Adam Kownacki
Maxi Hughes W10 Jono Carroll
Round Of The Year:
Jose Zepeda vs Ivan Baranchyk, Round Two
Clay Collard vs Raymond Guajardo, Round One
Gervonta Davis vs Leo Santa Cruz, Round Six
Kazuto Ioka vs Kosei Tanaka, Round Four
Juan Francisco Estrada vs Carlos Cuadras II, Round Five
Jose Zepeda vs Ivan Baranchyk, Round Five
Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder II, Round Three
Knockout Of The Year:
Alex Povetkin TKO5 Dillian Whyte
Gervonta Davis KO6 Leo Santa Cruz
Eleider Alvarez KO7 Michael Seals
Naoya Inoue KO7 Jason Moloney
Joe Smith Jr. KO9 Eleider Alvarez
Jose Zepeda KO5 Ivan Baranchyk
Performance Of The Year:
Roman Gonzalez TKO9 Kal Yafai
Kazuto Ioka TKO 8 Kosei Tanaka
Tyson Fury TKO 7 Deontay Wilder
Teofimo Lopez W12 Vasiliy Lomachenko
Gervonta Davis KO6 Leo Santa Cruz
Joe Smith Jr. TKO9 Eleider Alvarez
Juan Francisco Estrada TKO11 Carlos Cuadras
Fight Of The Year:
Jose Zepeda KO5 Ivan Baranchyk
Juan Francisco Estrada TKO11 Carlos Cuadras
Roman Gonzalez TKO8 Kal Yafai
Alex Povetkin TKO5 Dillian Whyte
Masayoshi Nakatani TKO9 Felix Verdejo
Fighter Of The Year:
Tyson Fury
Teofimo Lopez
Joe Smith Jr.
Katie Taylor
