Mentoch's Mindtakings: Year End Boxing Awards

[Mentoch the Mindtaker]

After a break from blogging over the holidays, I'm back to take on my year end boxing awards. The way I'll be doing this is by running down one award a day for this entire week. Today we have Knockout of the Year, Wednesday we have Prospect of the Year, Thursday we have Round of the Year, Friday we have the incredibly anti-climatic Fighter of the Year, and then on Monday we have Fight of the Year. This posts could be a little on the small side, so let me know if I should've just rolled them all up into one big post.



#5 - Arthur Abraham KO12 over Jermain Taylor



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8-tl...embedded#at=58

The opening bout of the "Super Six" Super Middleweight tournament being put on by Showtime pitted Middleweight belt holder (who was moving up in weight) Arthur Abraham taking on former unified Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. Abraham is an undefeated Armenian fighter fighting out of Germany, and since his entire career has taken place overseas more Americans probably arent aware of just how great he is, and this fight was really his coming out party. Taylor is well known to boxing fans for his two wins vs. Bernard Hopkins, and his two losses to Kelly Pavlik.

This fight was just sheer domination by Abraham who hid behind his "Peek-a-Boo" style (reminiscent of Winky Wright) and picked apart Taylor, who was clearly showing his age. This all came to a head during the 12th round, when Abraham despite knowing he could easily win on points went all out for the knockout (and the bonus point in the tournament) and finally got it when a devastating short right hand put Taylor down for the count. With that one punch Abraham cemented himself as the odds on favorite to win the tournament, and Taylor's career was dealt a serious blow. It seems that Taylor will continue on in the tournament to face Andre Ward, but its a huge mistake that only further jeopardizes his future health.



#4 - Alfredo Angulo KO3 over Harry Joe Yorgey



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz4l5...layer_embedded

Alfredo Angulo came into this year as one of the hottest prospects in boxing, and was expected to compete for a title in the Junior Middleweight division. However in his first fight this year, he lost a close decision to Kermit Cintron, and was sent back to the drawing boards to a certain degree. For his second fight back after that loss club fighter Harry Joe Yorgey was selected. Up until 3 fights ago Yorgey was basically a local draw around the Philadelphia area, until he decided he wanted to try his luck on a bigger stage. Well he got his bigger stage vs. Angulo and it did not go well.

From the first minute of the opening round it was obvious that Yorgey neither had the defense to keep Angulo at bay, nor the smarts to know when to tie up. This led to a wildly entertaining 3 rounds with Angulo just beating the tar out of a game Yorgey who simply refused to go down. After already putting Yorgey down twice in the fight Angulo unleashed a lethal left hook, which was followed by a short right hook, which was totally unnecessary as the first had him out on his feet.

You have to credit Yorgey for being such a game fighter, but I legitimately feared for his health while watching this fight, and seeing him get up after it was a big relief.[/quote]

#3 - Juan Manuel Marquez KO9 over Juan Diaz



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-cw4...ayer_embedded# - KO @ 2:15

A knockout of the year contender in a fight of the year contender. Who would've figured? Coming into this fight the big question was which type of fighter would be able to fight their fight. Either Diaz would get his way and we'd be in for a high paced slugfest, or Marquez would manage to slow Diaz down, if even slightly, and be able to take over with his counter punching. Turns out that despite Diaz's fight coming to fruition, it didnt change the result. Diaz dominated the early rounds with his constant activity, however his lack of power really showed as he wasnt ever able to even stun Marquez.

By the time the 9th round rolled around, despite Diaz still leading on all cards Marquez had stemmed his momentum, and you could really see the fight changing. About halfway through the round

As the fight progressed Marquez was able to use his superior smarts to be able to start to control Diaz. He switched to the uppercut to catch the aggressive Diaz on his way in, and used his footwork to create the space he needs to counter-punch effectively. He had cut Diaz open the previous round, which clearly impacted Diaz's effectiveness. At the 2 minute mark of the round Marquez caught him with a lethal 3 punch combo. Diaz got up from that one, but he was critically hurt, and he wasnt smart enough to tie up and survive the round. Almost immediately after Marquez caught him with a brutal uppercut to end the fight.

Great fight, great finish.

#2 - Randall Bailey KO4 Francisco Figeroa



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tCFhWJg1Z8

Bailey is an old veteran and he's always been famous for incredible one punch power, however has always been viewed as more of a gatekeeper than a champion. In this fight had fought his way back from his last loss to Herman Ngoudjo to earn an eliminator for the IBF title vs. Frankie Figeroa. While this KO is devastating at first glance, what makes it all the better is the little things that Bailey does to set it up. As Teddy Atlas states in the video the jab that he showed just before the devastating right had no intention of doing any damage. It was just being put out there to screen Figeroa's vision and allow his right cross to be totally invisible til the latest possible second. While Bailey does have power, that power is just unstoppable when his opponent cant see it coming. Nothing hurts more than the punch you cant see. I was very tempted to put this at #1, but nothing can top the legend that is Manny Pacquiao.

#1 - Manny Pacquiao KO2 over Ricky Hatton



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKfE1Bhcubg - KO @ 7:40

Coming into this fight there were still some questions about the dominance of Manny Pacquiao. Yes he had beaten Oscar De La Hoya, but he was viewed as a washed up old man having to make welterweight for the first time in almost a decade. Hatton on the other hand was the recognized champion at Jr. Welter, and though he had lost to Mayweather there was no shame in that.

Pacquiao however used this chance to prove just how devastating he can be because Hatton gets knocked absolutely stiff in the 2nd round to mercifully end a fight that Pacquiao dominated pillar to post. During the bout Pacquiao showed his incredible hand speed, but it was really his footwork that allowed him to capitalize so easily on Hatton's mistakes. He was able to close the distance so easily and that is what let him set up his brilliant left hook to put Hatton on queer street. Manny, Manny, Manny!

On deck tomorrow. We have prospect of the year.

[Brooklyn]

Lol. This blog makes me wanna quote Chris Tucker from the movie Friday
"You Got KNOCKED The Fuck Out!!!!!"

[Zuma]

That was pretty awesome. I loved being able to watch the links and see the actual knockouts. I actually saw half these fights, which surprised me. The Hatton knockout was awesome. You saw it coming, and you knew it was gonna happen - but DAMN, he got KNOCKED OUT.

I'm developing a huge fandom for Abraham.

[Mentoch the Mindtaker]

Originally Posted by Zuma

I'm developing a huge fandom for Abraham.

If that's the case check this fight out.

Arthur Abraham vs. Edison Miranda - September 23rd 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klvpu...x=0&playnext=1

The broadcast is in German, but it doesnt matter. Miranda is I think the hardest puncher in the sport today and at the time was a hot prospect (he's still one of my 5 favorite fighters). The fight was really dirty, and like most German bouts was terribly officiated, but its probably most notable because Miranda broke Abraham's jaw, but he continued to fight on, and won a high disputed unanimous decision.

Solid fight.

[Zuma]

I think they showed this fight on HBO. Was one of the Klitschko brothers also on the card? For some reason, this feels familiar. Maybe it was one of your "fights of the week" when you were doing that way back when?

[Mentoch the Mindtaker]

This fight definitely wasnt on HBO, it was broadcast only in Germany I believe. This was two or three fights before Miranda fought Pavlik to see who would fight Jermaine Taylor, which means he wasnt a very big deal yet.

He's one of my favorite fighters.