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15 December 2011 Boxing World 2011 Year End Awards

Page history last edited by Archer844 12 years, 1 month ago

Posted by Boxing World Online on 12/15/2011, 7:12 pm

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: KELLY ROWLAND. There were several promising fighters that debuted in 2011, but none exploded on the scene like last year's winner, Aly Michalka...except the girl who started her career by stunning Michalka and followed up by almost upsetting Anna Torv. It may well be that some of the other talented girls that bowed in 2011 will end up having better careers, but none had a better year than Rowland. (Note: If not for one previous fight against Eva Mendes, this award would have gone to Daniella Ruah.)

UPSET OF THE YEAR: KELLY ROWLAND VS. ALY MICHALKA. No question about this one. Rowland's KO of Michalka was the most unexpected result of the year, though Winona Ryder beating Virginie Ledoyen in the former's final fight was in the frame at the wire.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR: THE GAUNTLET. There were plenty of worthy nominees in this category, but any fight that featured FOUR Hall Of Famers and a few others who might someday join them has to top the list, especially considering the eleven round bout wasn't decided until the final round.

BEATDOWN OF THE YEAR: KRISTIN KREUK VS. ALYSON HANNIGAN. Several fights were in consideration here, including Hayden Panettiere's beating of Vanessa Hudgens, but no one laid a more one-sided beating on someone Kreuk did on rival Hannigan.

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR: JESSICA BIEL VS. TRICIA HELFER. Adrianne Palicki's thunderclap win over Cameron Diaz was impressive, but Biel's vicious body punch destruction of one of the best lightweights on the planet stood on its own.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR: SCEEJ. How could anyone have had a better year? The stable has three fighters and two of them won titles. The third was in the fight of the year and is one of the most visible fighters in the FCBA. (Extra points for being smart enough not to sign Prejean.)

COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: JESSICA BIEL. For those who think she doesn't really qualify, last January, Biel had lost four straight fights, dropped out of most top tens, and slipped well behind Kaley Cuoco as the top light at her own gym. Questions were flying about whether her days in the pound-for-pound discussion were over and if she'd become just another good lightweight. Since then, she's gone 7-1, pounded out Nichols and Helfer, then dominated and stopped Peregrym to regain the lightweight belts. It says here, she isn't just as good as she was before the slump, she's now even better. And a shiver just went down the spines of the entire lightweight division.

FIGHTER WHO'LL HAVE A BETTER YEAR IN 2012: KRISTIN KREUK. Before you ignore this prediction, keep in mind who we named last year. Jessica Biel. 2011 is, no doubt, a year Kreuk would like to forget. And, maybe she's not as good as that 11-2 she put up in 2008. But she's a lot better than the 2-5 she managed this year, and we think the three-time flyweight champ will prove that in 2012.

FIGHTER WHO'LL HAVE A WORSE YEAR IN 2012: JENNY MCCARTHY. Guess who was named here last year? Jenny McCarthy. And, after a 2010 campaign where she won sixty percent of her fights and earned a title shot, in 2011 she's gone 3-3 and took a recent bad beat from Poppy Montgomery. Jenny is now 39 and isn't likely to fare much better in a loaded division as she nears 40.

AND NOW FOR THE BIG ONES:

FLYWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: HAYDEN PANETTIERE. Hayden won this award last year after going 8-3 and earning a title shot. THIS year, she was BETTER. She went 8-1. And she didn't just fight for the title, she WON it, then defended it successfully three times. There's no question she was tops in the division in 2011.

BANTAMWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: ELISHA CUTHBERT. No question about this one. Cuthbert won not one, but TWO titles this year, earning both the bantamweight straps AND the JMD title. She won FIVE title fights and eight overall. Oh, and she went undefeated.

LIGHTWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: JESSICA BIEL. Another easy one. Biel has won seven of her last nine and avenged the one regulation loss (the other was to Taylor Cole in OT) with a scintillating knock out of Rachel Nichols. As we said before, she's back at the top of the lightweight division and has exactly one competitor for pound-for-pound honors...

WELTERWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: AMANDA RIGHETTI. Righetti won this award last year after going 12-2. This year, she went 12-3. That's right. She's won 24 or her past 29 fights. And, like Hayden, she was even better this year. She won the title again, her only non-avenged losses came to two other welterweight champions, Landry and Regan, and her victims included Henstridge, Kiebler, Nolin, LaRue, Theron, and another pound-for-pound contender, Durance