Welcome to The Queensberry Rules' annual year-end awards, continuing throughout the week. Here's how we do it around these parts:

The major categories are Knockout of the Year, Round of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. The final leg is a pu-pu platter of awards ranging from Trainer of the Year to more frivolous topics.

For each category, I give five finalists, with video and/or relevant info. You tell me if my finalists and honorable mentions are lacking, and give your vote on who you think should win. Maybe you sway me to adjust the list, and maybe you sway me on the eventual winner. On the second day after a category is introduced, I give that winner and explain why. (There are no major fights left in 2011, but we reserve the right to change our category winners if something crazy happens.)

So, up now: Fighter of the Year candidates. On deck: Fight of the Year winner and Fighter of the Year winner. Previously: Knockout of the Year and Round of the Year candidates, followed by the winners in both categories, and Fight of the Year candidates.
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Welcome to The Queensberry Rules' annual year-end awards, continuing throughout the week. Here's how we do it around these parts:

The major categories are Knockout of the Year, Round of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. The final leg is a pu-pu platter of awards ranging from Trainer of the Year to more frivolous topics.

For each category, I give five finalists, with video and/or relevant info. You tell me if my finalists and honorable mentions are lacking, and give your vote on who you think should win. Maybe you sway me to adjust the list, and maybe you sway me on the eventual winner. On the second day after a category is introduced, I give that winner and explain why. (There are no major fights left in 2011, but we reserve the right to change our category winners if something crazy happens.)

So, up now: Fight of the Year candidates. On deck: Fighter of the Year candidates, Fight of the Year winner and Fighter of the Year winner. Previously: Knockout of the Year and Round of the Year candidates, followed by the winners in both categories.
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It had to have been nightmarishly familiar for James Kirkland to find himself on the deck in the 1st round of his long-anticipated junior middleweight fight against Alfredo Angulo. Kirkland -- a kind of Great Black Hope who had once exhibited the potential to reenergize black boxing fans with his Mike Tyson-esque qualities in the ring -- months prior to the Angulo fight wandered out of a jail stint and right into a shocking 1st round knockout loss to the completely unknown Nobuhiro Ishida.

So here this deja vu was, creeping up on him again. There were those who expected something like this, maybe even his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions. The theory coming in was that GBP recognized that Kirkland wasn't ever going to get back to the beast he once was, so they might as well feed him to Angulo, himself in the pipeline to become the next beloved Mexican action fighter. And fans had wanted the fight for so long that they figured, even if it was over quickly because Kirkland was a spent force, it would be fun for a couple rounds.

It looked as though it would be just one round. Angulo and Kirkland weren't about to play footsie in there. It didn't take long (30 seconds) for Kirkland to walk into a big punch, which, judging by the track record, was one of his favorite things to do. He was hurt by that counter right, too; it wasn't a flash knockdown.

But a couple things saved him. One, he had reunited with old trainer Ann Wolfe, whose bizarre training habits -- I heard she makes him wrestle a bear, a tiger and a giraffe simultaneously to prepare him for fights -- had clearly given him the stamina to survive the follow-on onslaught. And that follow-on onslaught by Angulo? Boy, was it airheaded. After about a minute, it became clear to anyone watching that Kirkland had more or less recovered from the knockdown. It was clear even to HBO's Roy Jones, Jr. -- who hasn't had a good year behind the mic or in the ring being on the wrong end of Knockout of the Year candidates -- that Angulo was in danger of punching himself out.

Punching himself out is exactly what Angulo did. And that gave Kirkland his own chance to punch out Kirkland, too. Slowly, Kirkland began the uphill climb back into the fight. In a fight filled with echoes, with 30 seconds to go, Kirkland reached the top of the hill. A combination finished by a straight left hurt Angulo badly, and a few moments later, Angulo was on the ground from another combination.

Suddenly, the echoes of the past had stopped haunting Kirkland, and he was the one making the noise, halting Angulo in the 6th. In so doing, he completed his comeback from jail; he completed his comeback from the Ishida fight; he completed his comeback from the 1st round knockdown by Angulo. And it was Angulo, not Kirkland, who looked as though he was the spent force.

In the end, Kirkland-Angulo was neither the ritual sacrifice some feared nor the Fight of the Year that some expected. But for one round, it was everything we could have wanted. no comments

You've been bad boxing fans. That's the only explanation for there being virtually nothing to watch this week. It's the pugilistic equivalent of getting coal in your stocking. Or maybe just a poorly knitted sweater.

Not much else to say. The pic is to commemorate the most amusing Asian megalomaniac Elvis ever.

• Pongsaklek Wonjongkam vs. Hirofumi Mukai, Friday, Bangkok Thailand. It's a night of mismatches in Thailand, headed by the king of them, The Ring's flyweight champ Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. Wonjongkam (83-3-1), whom many rate as a pound-for-pound fighter, is fighting Japan's Hirofumi Mukai, who has a total of six fights under his belt. He hasn't even won them all, with his record sitting at 5-1. I don't know why Pong fights guys like this all the time, I really don't. Expect him to win in dominant fashion. If a fight can be arranged after this against the recently triumphant Brian Viloria or hard-punching Tyson Marquez, that would be the best possible result. Co-featured is The Ring's number one junior flyweight, Adrian Hernandez (22-1-1). He's taking on Kompayak Porpramook (43-3-0), whose glossy record belies lacklustre opposition, almost exclusively in Thailand. Probably not much of a competition. Also fighting is The Ring's number six straweight, Wanheng Menayothin (19-0) against another hopeless opponent in Michael Rodriguez (12-30).

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Floyd Mayweather is going to jail. According to TMZ and the live stream they provided, Mayweather pleaded no contest and was sentenced today to six months in prison for assaulting his ex-girlfriend by Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa. Three months of the prison term will be suspended, which leaves three to serve, beginning Jan. 6. On top of the prison term to be served in the Clark County Correction Center, Mayweather will also have to complete 100 hours of community service, pay a fine of $2,500 and attend domestic violence counselling program for a year.

The sentence should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Mayweather's career in any detail. The guy just can't keep out of trouble. He has a long list of ugly run-ins with the law behind him including allegedly poking in the face and harassing various security guards. But this incident, an assault on his ex-girlfriend Josie Harris in September 2010, sounds particularly ugly, taking place in front of his children.

All this takes place just as all signs were beginning to point to the biggest fight in boxing, Manny Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, finally taking place on May 5. I'm no math whiz, but I'm pretty sure that 87 days in prison (three months minus time served) starting in January would have Mayweather coming out in March. That likely would not leave enough time for the media tour and training that a mega fight like that would require.

There was always a chance that this could happen, considering Mayweather's legal troubles. The best boxing fans can hope for is that some time in prison does Floyd some good, attitude-wise. A fight with Pacquiao isn't necessarily off, but it's now looking as unlikely as it ever was. Since we're talking about Floyd here, there's always the chance that he suspected the game was up all along and was just playing with Pacquiao in regards to the May 5 date.

If you were Manny, would you feel like waiting around for Floyd to get out of prison? No, you'd want to be making money by fighting either Juan Manuel Marquez again or Tim Bradley. If you were Bob Arum would you be waiting around for Floyd to get out of prison? Hell no.

This brief has about as many TMZ references as you'll ever find in a TQBR post, but at least they provide on ray of sunshine; R Kelly has written 32 (32!) new chapters of Trapped In The Closet, his magnum opus. no comments

There was an element of the cartoonish about what Nonito Donaire did to Fernando Montiel's face in the 2nd round of their Feb. 19, 2011 rendezvous. You can imagine the artists and writers at a Warner Bros. storyboard session, coming up with a scenario where, during a zany bit of fisticuffs, one 'toon caves in the face of another 'toon, perhaps with an anvil hidden in his glove.

Only Donaire's weapon was not an anvil; it was a left hook that the Filipino bantamweight used to dent the face of the Mexican he had flirted with fighting for more than two years. By the time they finally met, both had ascended to just outside the upper ranks of the sport, and it was that punch that finally heralded Donaire's undisputed arrival as one of the best fighters in the world not just based on raw talent, but because of what he did with it. It was an awe-inspiring shot, not unlike the one that put him on the map to begin with -- his 2007 KO of the Year against Vic Darchinyan.

Yet as amazing-to-the-point-of-absurd as it was, there was something deadly serious about it, too. Referee Russell Mora tainted the picture-perfect quality of the knockout by allowing the bout to continue when a completely blitzed Montiel somehow climbed to his feet. Moments before, Montiel had been lying on the ground, his feet and hands swimming in the air like he was dreaming that he was a cockroach, or that he was riding a bicycle underwater, or that he was Spider-Man scaling a wall. He might as well have had Tweety Birds circling around his head. (That Montiel rose to his feet at all was one of the most amazing/absurd aspects of the whole encounter.)

But back to the deadly seriousness, literally. Mora just last week admitted that he nearly got Montiel killed by allowing that fight to continue for a few more punches before stepping in and halting the contest. Not only did he besmirch the beauty of the knockout, then, but Mora almost did something far, far worse.

Even if it should've ended sooner, Mora couldn't completely ruin everything. Donaire landed the best punch of the 2011, that's for sure. The official knockout came. It was just a few seconds later. no comments

Welcome to The Queensberry Rules' annual year-end awards, starting today and continuing throughout the week. Here's how we do it around these parts:

The major categories are Knockout of the Year, Round of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. The final leg is a pu-pu platter of awards ranging from Trainer of the Year to more frivolous topics.

For each category, I give five finalists, with video and/or relevant info. You tell me if my finalists and honorable mentions are lacking, and give your vote on who you think should win. Maybe you sway me to adjust the list, and maybe you sway me on the eventual winner. On the second day after a category is introduced, I give that winner and explain why. (There are no major fights left in 2011, but we reserve the right to change our category winners if something crazy happens.)

So, up first: Knockout of the Year and Round of the Year candidates. On deck: Knockout of the Year and Round of the Year winners, followed by Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year candidates.
no comments

Welcome to The Queensberry Rules' annual year-end awards, starting today and continuing throughout the week. Here's how we do it around these parts:

The major categories are Knockout of the Year, Round of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. The final leg is a pu-pu platter of awards ranging from Trainer of the Year to more frivolous topics.

For each category, I give five finalists, with video and/or relevant info. You tell me if my finalists and honorable mentions are lacking, and give your vote on who you think should win. Maybe you sway me to adjust the list, and maybe you sway me on the eventual winner. On the second day after a category is introduced, I give that winner and explain why. (There are no major fights left in 2011, but we reserve the right to change our category winners if something crazy happens.)

So, up first: Knockout of the Year and Round of the Year candidates. On deck: Knockout of the Year and Round of the Year winners, followed by Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year candidates.
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Insofar as pound-for-pound lists are debate fodder -- and it's one of the main ideas -- there's a lot to debate to be had with at the end of 2011 with this accounting of the top fighters in the world regardless of weight class. More than any time in a couple years, there's a real argument to be had about who the best fighter in the world is based on resume. Everybody from three to six could be mixed up and there'd be a good case. The bottom end of the list could read like any damn thing.

Let's have at it, then. Soon, we will do a review of 2011 with awards for Fighter of the Year and Knockout of the Year and the like, so this is something of a prelude to that. As usual, the strong preference is for fighters who beat top competition, especially of recent vintage, although the eyeball test -- a subjective evaluation of how a fighter looks -- is a secondary factor, among others. Departing the list from last update due to some losses: Giovani Segura, Amir Khan and Fernando Montiel.
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(Tom Casino, Showtime)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- It was, by turns, boring, exciting, sublime and ugly. Fitting finish for Showtime's Super Six tournament, yeah?

After a two-year grind than ended in a 12-round one, Andre Ward outclassed Carl Froch Saturday to win a unanimous decision and become the lineal super middleweight champion of the world. Ward was utterly too fast, and so much more skilled. The two scorecards that had it 115-113 for Ward were way off; the 118-110 card was far more accurate.

Ward dominated a low-contact first few rounds with his left hook, mostly from the outside, although the 1st round was somewhat close. By the middle rounds, he was thrashing Froch soundly, and you had to wonder how much longer the iron-chinned Brit could stand up to it. But after the 6th, both men's energy level appeared to tail off.

Froch, though, had more in reserve in the late rounds, and he won some of them on sheer aggression. Those late rounds were unfortunately marked by excessive clinching and wrestling. Froch, too, wasn't so terrible inside, how I thought he would be, and was able to hold his own in there when things turned to rabbit punching, head butting and other shenanigans.

Not that it mattered, ultimately. Froch just had a terrible time hitting Ward clean, whose defense is really exceptional. Froch grew increasingly frustrated, even at one point trying to punch Ward after the bell. He admitted as much in post-fight remarks: "He was very tricky. He was slick and elusive and did a good job of keeping himself out of harm's way. It was quite hard to hit him."

Ward said he hurt his left hand in training, then re-injured it the 6th round when he hit Froch on the top of the head. That could explain his fade after that round, and he never really hit Froch as hard with it in the second half of the bout. It couldn't keep him from doing the other things he wanted to do, though. "We told you this is what we wanted to do, we wanted to fight on the inside and on the outside, and we pulled it off tonight," he said. "We were able to beat him to the punch and that's what won us the fight."

Next for Ward, after a long rest, could be Lucian Bute, the last top super middleweight standing. That only a couple thousand or so showed up for this fight -- the announced attendance of 5,626 cannot be taken seriously -- could give Bute a bit more leverage about bringing the bout to his home turf of Montreal. Another option could be a Ward rematch with Mikkel Kessler on Kessler's home soil of Denmark, but I don't want to see that one -- the first fight was pretty conclusive. Ward also might have to defend one of those sanctioning belts of his soon, maybe against Anthony Dirrell.

This tournament has had some excellent moments, some wonderful brawls, like Kessler-Froch, and great drama, like Ward's coming out party against Kessler or Froch redeeming himself after the Kessler loss against Arthur Abraham. It's also had some unpleasant moments, like Abraham's disqualification loss against Andre Dirrell, and some ho-hum moments, like Ward's perfunctory defeat of Abraham. This fight had all of those elements, all wrapped up in one package. It only makes sense.

Ward is the tourney's big winner, both literally and in esteem. His fighting style won't please everyone, to say the least. But there should be no doubt after what he did against Froch Saturday and what he's done in this tournament overall that Ward is one of the ultra-elite boxers in the world. Ward will also probably be the consensus 2011 Fighter of the Year. Thrown into the tournament's fire, he came out of it forged into steel. no comments