The boxing year is as good as over so it’s time to look back and pick out the highlights of 2014.
Below we pick out our standout performer, the best fight, knockout victory and breakthrough fighter.
Fighter of the Year
Sergey Kovalev
Sergey Kovalev started the year as a boxing bogeyman – he finishes it with confirmation he’s every bit as scary as we all thought.
The Russian is one of the hardest punchers in the sport today, and he has racked up three wins, with two knockouts in the past 12 months.
But it is the third fight, the one in which he had to rely on a decision, which sees him get the nod here.
Yes, Kovalev hits like a beast, but he showed plenty of ringcraft on his way to victory over wily veteran Bernard Hopkins last month.
It was an important and significant result for the 31-year-old for several reasons.
Firstly it unified three quarters of the light-heavyweight division, firmly making him the man at 175lbs – even if Adonis Stevenson still holds the ‘Ring’ title. And in beating a nailed on Hall of Famer in Hopkins, and doing so by executing a perfect gameplan, it elevated Kovalev to a whole new level.
Hopkins had been the favourite, but Kovalev brilliantly managed his range, staying busy with good variation. The American didn’t get a sniff and once Kovalev knew the job was done he came close to knocking Hopkins out in the 12th.
Earlier wins over Aussie prospect Blake Caparello and Cedric Agnew – both previously undefeated – saw Kovalev extended to a mere nine rounds. Other fighters, namely the likes of Terence Crawford and Roman Gonzalez have had fine years, but Kovalev’s career-best win, performace and three-belt collection make him a worthy winner.
Breakthrough of the Year
Nicholas Walters
The Axe Man has enjoyed a stellar 2014, adding some big names and a world title to his ever improving CV.
Walters destroyed Vic Darchinyan, a guy who only really loses to the best, inside five rounds in May.
But it was the way he blasted out Nonito Donaire in October which constituted his major breakthrough. The Jamaican took out the Donaire in the sixth round, with the Filipino simply unable to live with his power. With Jhonny Gonzales, Evgeny Gradovich and Vasyl Lomachenko the other men holding featherweight belts, it could be an exciting 2015 for that division.
Fight of the Year
Terence Crawford v Yuriorkis Gamboa
Omaha, USA, June 28
Having won his first world title by putting a beating on Ricky Burns in Scotland, Crawford enjoyed a pulsating victory in his first defence.
Nebraskan Crawford’s Omaha homecoming started with him having his head snapped back rep-eatedly as his Cuban opponent enjoyed the better of the early rounds. It was a high-level boxing match and Gamboa was having the last word in most of the exchanges.
That all changed in the fifth when Crawford dropped his man. All of a sudden the boxing match became an all out brawl and it was Crawford on top. Three more knockdowns followed with the last a brutal uppercut in the eighth which sent Gamboa to the canvas for the final time. There were more Balboa-esque fights this year – watch Lucas Matthysse/John Molina – but this had a bit of everything. Two quality fighters at the very top of their division, part boxing match/part brawl, shifts in momentum and an electric finish. What a fight.
Knockout of the Year
Carl Froch v George Groves
May 31, London
It was a bitter rivalry, his career was on the line, it was Wembley, there were 80,000 spectators, millions more on pay-per-view.
These are all good reasons why Carl Froch’s stunning eighth round KO of George Groves deserves to be number one.
To conjure such a destructive shot – Froch called it the best punch of his career – for a massive occasion like this, is quite remarkable.
Froch suckered Groves and he walked straight on to a bomb of a right hand. The referee didn’t even count.
Honourable mention to Andy Lee’s brilliant fifth round KO of John Jackson – a magnificent punch which got him out of trouble and put him on the road to a world title.