By Paul R. Jones! Each year, EAST SIDE BOXING hands out its “ESBY” awards to honor boxing’s best fighters, fights, knockouts, and moments.
Here are our 2022 ESBY Award Winners and Nominees:
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR, MALE
🏆 WINNER: DMITRY BIVOL
Our top honor, Fighter of the Year, goes to DMITRY BIVOL, a fighter who ratcheted up his level of competition and took significant risks in 2022.
BIVOL bested former pound-for-pound kingpin, CANELO ÁLVAREZ, and formerly undefeated WBO world titlist, GILBERTO “ZURDO” RAMIREZ over a 12-month span — opponents boasting a combined 101-1-2 record going into their fights with BIVOL. Considering that ÁLVAREZ and RAMIREZ were still in their respective primes, and that ÁLVAREZ vs. BIVOL qualified as a bona fide UPSET OF THE YEAR candidate, it’s easy to see how BIVOL was well-deserving of our FIGHTER OF THE YEAR honors.
NOMINEES
JESSE “BAM” RODRIGUEZ
Naoya Inoue
Jermell Charlo
Devin Haney
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR, FEMALE
🏆 WINNER: CLARESSA SHIELDS
The Female Fighter of the Year is a no-brainer: CLARESSA SHIELDS. Earlier in the year, SHIELDS upended the formerly undefeated, EMA KOZIN, to defend her middleweight world titles. For an encore, SHIELDS beat long-time rival, SAVANNAH MARSHALL, in October. The fact that SHIELDS’ victory over MARSHALL came on MARSHALL‘s home turf, against another undefeated fighter, was icing on the cake. More important, the MARSHALL win was a legacy play, marking SHIELDS’ third time as an undisputed champion.
SHIELDS’ 2022 campaign added teeth to her “GWOAT” claims, and made her, hands-down, the Female Fighter of the Year.
NOMINEES
Katie Taylor
Natasha Jonas
Alycia Baumgardner
Yokasta “Yoka” Valle
FIGHT OF THE YEAR, MEN’S BOXING
🏆 WINNER: LEIGH WOOD TKO12 MICHAEL CONLAN
LEIGH WOOD and MICHAEL CONLAN put on modern classic in their bout for dibs on WOOD’s World Featherweight crown. Their thriller saw WOOD rally back from a first-round knockdown to return the favor to CONLAN in the penultimate round. WOOD then closed the show in the 12th round with a buzzer-beating knockout that parked CONLAN outside out of the ring.
Because WOOD vs. CONLAN had it all: high-stakes, huge momentum shifts, blood and cuts, multiple dig-deep moments, and a KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR candidate, this matchup was more-than-worthy of our ESBY’s for Fight of the Year.
NOMINEES
Sebastian Fundora RTD9 Erickson Lubin
Sivenathi Nontshinga SD12 Hector Flores
Jermell Charlo KO10 Brian Castaño
Alen Babic UD10 Adam Balski
FIGHT OF THE YEAR, WOMEN’S BOXING
🏆 WINNER: KATIE TAYLOR SD10 AMANDA SERRANO
In a revolutionary year for Women’s Boxing, KATIE TAYLOR and AMANDA SERRANO fought in arguably the most important fight to date. And, unlike many marquee matchups, TAYLOR vs. SERRANO actually lived up to the hype, featuring a nip-and-tuck battle between two highly-skilled fighters in their primes. And while a razor-thin split decision went TAYLOR‘s way, many in the hometown crowd believed SERRANO did enough to warrant the nod.
Factor in the competitiveness displayed by both fighters, their guaranteed seven-figure paydays, the buzz associated with the event, and widespread disagreement about who won the fight, and there’s little doubt that TAYLOR vs. SERRANO was Women’s Boxing’s Fight of the Year.
NOMINEES
Alycia Baumgardner SD10 Mikaela Mayer
CLARESSA SHIELDS UD10 SAVANNAH MARSHALL
ERICA FARIAS SD10 SANDY RYAN
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: MATCHROOM BOXING (EDDIE HEARN)
Having a hand in our consensus picks for FightER of the Year (DMITRY BIVOL), Fight of the Year (WOOD vs. CONLAN; TAYLOR vs. SERRANO), and Breakout fighter of the Year (JESSE ‘BAM’ RODRIGUEZ), made MATCHROOM BOXING and promoter EDDIE HEARN our surefire pick for Promoter of the Year.
NOMINEES
PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS
(HAYMON BOXING)
TOP RANK
(BOB ARUM)
Golden Boy Promotions
(oscar de la hoya)
Queensberry Promotions
(Frank Warren)
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: LEIGH WOOD KTFO12 MICHAEL CONLAN
WOOD vs. CONLAN not only earned our top honors as the Fight of the Year, but it also featured our pick for KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR: LEIGH WOOD’s emphatic 12th round knockout of MICHAEL CONLAN.
With time running out in their clash, WOOD locked in on CONLAN’s chin and reeled off a final flurry that culminated with CONLAN deposited outside of the ring. WOOD’s knockout win was a storybook ending to an epic fight, and ensured that his WBA title would remain around his waist.
NOMINEES
CALEB PLANT’s GRAVEDIGGER KTFO9 ANTHONY DIRRELL
JOE CORDINA MONSTER KTFO2 KENICHI OGAWA
NAOYA INOUE’S HIGHLIGHT-REEL TKO2 NONITO DONAIRE
JORDAN GILL’S COMEBACK KTFO9 KARIM GUERFI
TRAINER OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: DERRICK JAMES
DERRICK JAMES easily walked away with our TRAINER OF THE YEAR award. All JAMES did in 2022 was coach ERROL SPENCE to his 3rd World Title as a unified champ, lead do-it-all lightweight, FRANK MARTIN, from blue chip prospect to the verge of stardom, and help JERMELL CHARLO reach a career milestone by becoming only the 7th undisputed champ in the modern 4-belt era (at the time). Having one undisputed or unified champ in your stable is a major accomplishment. Having two of them is rare air.
NOMINEES
JOEL DÍAZ
ROBERTO GARCIA
SHINGO INOUE
FREDDY ROACH
COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: KELL BROOK
After being stopped by Terence Crawford in 2020, many wrote Kell Brook off as washed. BROOK, who admitted prior struggles with depression and alcohol, even flirted with retirement following the CRAWFORD shellacking.
However, a long-awaited scrap versus Amir Khan was just what the doctor ordered for Brook after a 15-month layoff. Brook went on to lay waste to Khan over 6 rounds, effectively closing the book on their bitter fued.
BROOK’s ability to conquer his personal demons, end the Khan–Brook rivalry in style, and finish his career on his own terms, made him our pick for Comeback Fighter of the Year.
NOMINEES
Keith Thurman
ABNER MARES
Danny Garcia
Sergey Kovalev
MOST IMPROVED FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: JAI OPETAIA
Our Most Improved Fighter of the Year is JAI OPETAIA. OPETAIA emerged in 2022 with a signature win over former IBF Cruiserweight Champ, MAIRIS BRIEDIS. What made the upset win over BRIEDIS more impressive was that OPETAIA fought a significant portion of the fight with a broken jaw, and BRIEDIS entered the bout on a 5-fight-win-streak dating back to a decision loss to former undisputed Champ, OLEKSANDR USYK, in 2018. Not a bad year for the 27-year-old Aussie, who wrestled away BRIEDIS‘ World Title, and quickly established himself as an elite Cruiserweight.
NOMINEES
Fernando Martinez
Alexis Rocha
Zaur Abdullaev
Isaac Cruz
UPSET OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: DMITRY BIVOL UD12 CANELO ÁLVAREZ
Few oddsmakers gave DMITRY BIVOL more than a snowball’s chance of beating perennial pound-for-pound star, CANELO ÁLVAREZ. However, BIVOL and veteran trainer JOEL DÍAZ executed a flawless gameplan, featuring a pesky jab, volume punching, and persistent pressure. The strategy proved successful, earning BIVOL the biggest win of his career (versus a prime CANELO) and our pick for UPSET OF THE YEAR.
NOMINEES
Mark Magsayo MD12 Gary Russell Jr.
Jai Opetaia UD12 Mairis Briedis
HECTOR GARCIA UD12 CHRIS COLBERT
Fernando Martinez UD12 Jerwin Ancajas
BREAKOUT FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: JESSE RODRIGUEZ
JESSE “BAM” RODRIGUEZ took the boxing world by storm in 2022, becoming the youngest Super Flyweight World Champion in history. And RODRIGUEZ went through a gauntlet to shift the paradigm at 115 lbs., including besting former champs CARLOS CUADRAS and SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI, and world title challenger, ISRAEL GONZALEZ — not too shabby for a 22-year-old. RODRIGUEZ’s activity level, strength of schedule, and history-making campaign netted him our vote for BREAKOUT FIGHTER OF THE YEAR.
NOMINEES
JAI OPETAIA
Jared Anderson
Zhanibek Alimkhanuly
David Morrell
PROSPECT OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: FRANK MARTIN
In a lightweight division bursting at the seams with talent, Frank Martin sewed up our Prospect of the Year honors by displaying elite skills and staying busy in 2022. The undefeated lightweight fought 3 times, effectively transitioning from blue chip prospect to a full-fledged breakout fighter in a year. The fact that Martin consistently increased his level of competition, and gave fits to opposing fighters despite often ceding height and reach advantages, also bolstered his case. Add Martin’s win over MICHEL RIVERA in their WBA lightweight title eliminator to the equation, and there’s little doubt that Martin’s the real McCoy when it comes to boxing prospects.
NOMINEES
Xander Zayas
Keyshawn Davis
Diego Pacheco
Bakhodir Jalolov
WORST DECISION OF THE YEAR
🏆 WINNER: JOSH TAYLOR SD12 JACK CATTERALL
The WORST DECISION OF THE YEAR goes to the two judges responsible for awarding JOSH TAYLOR a “win” over JACK CATTERALL. Of course, CATTERALL did enough to win the fight. TEAM CATTERALL even went as far as calling the decision a robbery. As CATTERALL‘s trainer, JAMIE MOORE, put it, “[CATTERALL] has worked all his life to wait for that moment . . . on the promise that he would get the opportunity. He gets the opportunity, he performs like that and beats the champion in his own back yard, and get absolutely robbed.” “Think about the message that sends,” MOORE added, “It’s absolutely disgusting.”
Although opinions on boxing Twitter were mixed (e.g., CARL FRAMPTON tweeted, “the wrong man got his hand raised #TaylorCatterall”), CompuBox stats showed CATTERALL out-landing TAYLOR in all but one round. And, while TAYLOR held slight advantages in total and power punches landed, there was little doubt that CATTERALL was the busier fighter. Factor in the British Boxing Board of Control’s reported investigation into the bout’s scoring, and it’s easy to see why the ongoing debate about the judging in TAYLOR vs. CATTERALL qualifies as our boxing’s worst decision of 2022.
NOMINEES
ILUNGA JUNIOR MAKABU SD12 THABISO MCHUNU
BADOU JACK SD10 RICHARD RIVERA
BRIAN PARRELLA SDRAW10 KEVIN SALGADO
TEÓFIMO LÓPEZ SD10 SANDOR MARTIN
DID WE GET IT RIGHT?
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Finally, dear readers, I wish you all the best in the New Year!
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About the Author:
Paul R. Jones! is a longtime writer and ringside photographer for EAST SIDE BOXING. His articles, photographs, and commentary have appeared in Boxing News 24, Round by Round Boxing, Boxing Insider, Medium.com, and more.
Follow me on Twitter @boxingepicenter. Email me or send me a secure tip at prjones1@hotmail.com.
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