By Gav Duthie: With the year drawing to a close I ask who was the king of the ring for 2014? It has been far from a blockbuster calendar year but it has seen some great performances, some new blood start to make a name for themselves and some solid comebacks. Based on level of performances, ring activity and the quality of opponents these are my 6 of the best.
6. Gennady Golovkin 31-0 (28) – The train keeps rolling through
With a lack of top class fights available at middleweight Golovkin’s philosophy is to remain active. Despite postponing dates in the early part of he year due to a family bereavement GGG has fought three times in 2014. He started the campaign with a much expected win over the durable Osumano Adamo in 7 rounds. Towards the second half of the campaign the Kazakhstan sensation faced two opponents that were said to be stern tests which he passed with ease. First was Aussie Daniele Geale a former world champion (3 rounds) and then the big punching middleweight/super middleweight Marco Antonio Rubio (2 rounds). He is already scheduled to face Martin Murray early next year which will again be a decent challenge but fans are hoping for more. Could Canelo, Froch or even Bernard Hopkins be on the agenda?
5. Roman Gonzalez 41-0 (35) – Future P4P great
The Nicaraguan has maneuvered his way into the top ten p4p as he continues to win world titles through the weight divisions. He was patient in his transition from lightweight to flyweight. Before fighting for world honors in September (WBC title v Akira Yaegashi) he had two warm up fights in the early part of the year which he won easily. He then knocked out Yaegashi in the 9th round and then successfully defended against Rocky Fuentes just the other week. 4 wins from 4 make Roman one of the most successful and most active fighters in 2014 and he has big plans next year which include a unification bout/rematch with Juan Francisco Estrada.
4. Alexander Povetkin 28-1 (20) – Superb comeback year
I have said before that Wladimir Klitschko doesn’t just beat his opponents the takes their heart and destroys them. Many of Wladimir’s victims are never the same again. Some take a year out, others start to lose and some just retire altogether. Povetkin however has refused to become one of those victims. In 2014 he has came back stronger than ever. Povetkin isn’t the kind of name that immediately springs to mind for fighter of the year but he is knocking over other contenders like Dominoes making him once again the worlds second bet heavyweight. In May he disposed of tough German Manuel Charr who had previously only lost to Vitaly Klitschko in 7 rounds and even more impressively knocked out Carlos Takam who was coming off the back of a good win over Tony Thompson and draw with Mike Perez. It is unlikely he will force a Klitschko rematch but other champions like Ruslan Chagaev and Bermaine Stiverne should be looking over their shoulders.
3. Terence Crawford 25-0 (17) – The new kid in town
American Crawford started the year as a dangerous looking prospect and has finished it as a dominant champion. In 2013 he fought his way into a mandatory position with the WBO after a string of impressive wins over the likes of Breidas Prescott and Andre Klimov. When he stepped up in class to go into the backyard of Scottish WBO champion Ricky Burns in March he didn’t disappoint. Despite worries of controversial scoring in previous fights in Scotland he dominated enough to see through with a unanimous decision. His next bout was even more impressive as he took on the stylish and skilful Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa. This turned out to be one of the best fights of the year with Crawford winning by 9th round TKO. He capped off the year in great style with a win over Mexican Raymundo Beltran who had a huge claim on the WBO title himself after his controversial draw with Burns the year previous. Crawford is without a doubt the top man at lightweight as we approach 2015.
2. Manny Pacquiao 57-5-2 (38) – He’s still got it
In December 2012 Manny Pacquiao’s hopes of a dream bout with Floyd Mayweather were in tatters as he laid bare faced on the canvas after a perfectly timed right hand from Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez. This came after a loss to Tim Bradley and his career seemed over. Even in 2013 a solitary win over Brandon Rios did little to convince fans that he still had the skills. This year however he has bounced back in style. In April he avenged his defeat to Tim Bradley with a slick and dominant boxing display to regain the WBO welterweight title. Later in the year many then feared Bob Arum had selected a very problematic opponent in the slick, awkward Chris Algieri that had the potential to ruin the party. Pacquiao not only won but showed that Algieri didn’t even belong in the same ring as him as he knocked him down several times on route to a landslide points victory. Once again and with perhaps more enthusiasm than ever he is calling out Floyd Mayweather, we can only hope that this time they can get it sorted.
1. Sergiy Kovalev 26-0-1 (23) – Has all the tools to dominate
It was close for top spot but I had to go for the Russian for his activity and winning tough fights without breaking a sweat. Not only does he finish the year as a 3 belt world champion with 3 huge victories he also scared his closest rival Adonis Stevenson off to the opposite TV channel without even throwing a punch. His first two wins over the year in March and August were both against undefeated opponents in Cedric Agnew and Blake Caparello. Both had padded records with little experience but the ease at which he disposed of Agnew was impressive. He was down in the first round against Caparello which was more a balance issue but cornered him in the second knocking him down 3 times before the fight was waved off. Only 3 months later he fought legendary fighter Bernard ‘The Executioner/Alien’ Hopkins. On November 8th Kovalev made Hopkins look less Alien and more old man as he punished and outboxed him over 12 rounds.
Who will be the top boxer in 2015? That will all depend on whether we get to see the big fights. Mayweather v Pacquaio, Stevenson v Kovalev, Froch v Ward. Whatever happens we look forward to a blockbuster year in 2015.
Comments are closed.