The 2008 K9's - Part I

The 2008 K9's - Part I
By Steve Kim (Dec 22, 2008)

Another year has come and gone in the sport of boxing. As always, it was an eventful stretch. And in what was an election year, all the precincts have reported and the votes are tabulated, so it's time to shine a light on the best (and worst) the game had to offer the past 12 months.

Just how prestigious are the K9 Awards? Think of the K9's as boxing's version of the MVP Award, Heisman Trophy and World Cup - but only more important.

So without further ado, let's get the proceedings underway....

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1- Manny Pacquiao: With big wins against Juan Manuel Marquez and Oscar De La Hoya, sandwiched around his dominant performance versus David Diaz, where he became the first Asian boxer to win world titles in four weight classes, 'the Pac Man' was the runaway winner. Not only has he carried his trademark power and speed up, but in 2008, under the tutelage of Freddie Roach, he has become a more complete technical fighter.

2- Antonio Margarito: Left for dead as a potential marquee name after his loss to Paul Williams in 2007, he bounced back big this year by halting Kermit Cintron to capture the IBF strap, and, in his big moment, he came up aces by grinding down Miguel Cotto in one of the sport’s best nights on July 26th. For years he was shunned and ignored; it'll be almost impossible to do that now.

3- Vic Darchinyan: Resurrected his status as one of boxing's big, lil' men by blowing out Dimitry Kirilov and then the highly acclaimed Cristian Mijares to unify three-fourths of the belts at jr. bantamweight.

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR

1- Kendall Holt TKO1 Ricardo Torres II: It's not often a fight that lasts just 61 ticks can provide so much excitement. But that's precisely what took place as Holt got off the canvas twice to jolt Torres in return with a blistering right hand (and perhaps the help of a clash of heads) that had the Colombian out cold.

2- Juan Manuel Lopez TKO1 Daniel Ponce de Leon: A sharp right hook that Ponce de Leon never saw coming would render the usually stout-chinned Mexican almost defenseless. What was supposed to be a pitched battle for the WBO 122-pound title instead became a blowout for the newest Puerto Rican sensation.

3- Edison Miranda KO3 David Banks: Say what you will about 'Pantera', but the guy can bang. Ask Banks, who was left dangling on the ropes.

4- Joel Casamayor TKO10 Michael Katsidis: Just when it seemed that the Cuban veteran was out of tricks, he pulls out a big left that Katsidis runs right into. While it wasn't the final punch, it basically won the fight - and the WBO belt - for Casamayor, and sealed his Hall-of-Fame credentials.

5-- Shane Mosley TKO12 Ricardo Mayorga: Mosley ended a night of struggles in emphatic fashion by coming home hard down the stretch of a close bout. And those who had the 'under' in this fight couldn't have been happier.

6- Juan Urango TKO4 Carlos Vilches: A crushing right hook knocks Vilches out cold on the canvas. Scary stuff.

Honorable mention: Rogers Mtagwa TKO10 Tomas Villa, Bredies Prescott TKO1 Amir Khan, Margarito TKO11 Cotto, Daniel Santos KO7 Joachim Alcine, Yuriorkis Gamboa KO1 Al Seeger, Paul Williams TKO1 Carlos Quintana II, Edner Cherry TKO10 Stevie Johnston, Eric Fields TKO1 Kelvin Davis, Jerry Belmontes KO1 Angel Rosada, Sebastian Sylvester TKO12 Javier Castillejo, Reynaldo Lopez TKO3 Mike Oliver, Julio Garcia TKO1 Jose Medina, Monte Barrett KO1 Tye Fields, Pacquiao TKO9 David Diaz

THE CHAPPIE BLACKBURN AWARD (for Trainer of the Year)

Freddie Roach: His work with Pacquiao speaks for itself. And he was pretty good at getting under De La Hoya's skin, too.

THE TEX RICKARD AWARD (For Promoter of the Year)

1- Top Rank: Put on the heart-stopping contest between Margarito and Cotto, but rebounded from Kelly Pavlik's disappointing loss to Bernard Hopkins with Pacquiao's shockingly easy win over De La Hoya. Once again, no company was as active as Top Rank or has done as good a job in cultivating talent and attractions. With Pacquiao, Margarito, Cotto, and Pavlik, they still have the sport’s best stable.

2- Golden Boy Promotions: Not only involved in some of boxing's biggest events, they continue to procure sponsors like nobody else in the business. Now, as they look ahead to a future without De La Hoya as a prizefighter, they have inked young stalwarts like Robert Guerrero and Victor Ortiz to promotional contracts.

3- Gary Shaw: Shepherded the rebound of Vic Darchinyan from his knockout loss to Nonito Donaire last year, led the Chad Dawson charge and got prospect Alfredo Angulo on HBO twice. Shaw's strength lies in adapting to changing climates and cultivating strong working relationships that always seem to come in handy.

THE DOC KEARNS AWARD (for Manager of the Year)

TIE - 1: Frank Espinoza/ Sergio Diaz and Francisco Espinoza: Espinoza saw his charge Israel Vazquez beat Rafa Marquez in a classic fight, while also bringing up a young crew of prospects beneath him. Without having promotional agreements, Espinoza keeps his kids as active as any manager in the business. Meanwhile, the duo of Diaz and Espinoza kept plugging away with Margarito and saw their faith rewarded when he defeated Cotto and ascended to stardom.

3- Cameron Dunkin: A perennial candidate for this award, Dunkin had another productive year with Pavlik making millions and young champions like Steven Luevano and Nonito Donaire behind him. Once again, Dunkin was on the amateur scene, grabbing his usual array of blue-chip prospects.

THE MATT RYAN AWARD (for Prospect of the Year)

1- Mike Jones: The one question with this long, lean, hard-hitting welterweight out of Philly is can he take a good punch? We'll soon find out.

2- James Kirkland: Yeah, I know he's on HBO now, but he's still a prospect. Kirkland is an exciting give-and-take fighter who never fails to entertain.

3- Alfredo Angulo: Some believe he's another Margarito. We'll see. Like Jones and Kirkland, some question his whiskers. While he doesn't have a lot of speed, his punches are short and compact.

4- Yuriorkis Gamboa: Some believe he's already been exposed, but it's hard to deny his physical talent. But how does he do against an elite professional boxer?

5- Deandre Lattimore: Like Kirkland and Angulo, gives good reason to believe that the 154-pound division will be very fun, very soon. Had a big win against Sechew Powell that stamped his arrival.

6- Mike Alvarado: This former wrestler out of Denver continues to develop and improve. Could be a player very soon in the jr. welterweight division.

Honorable Mention: Luis Ramos, Robert Marroquin, Vanes Martirosyan, Danny Jacobs, Miguel Garcia

THE BRETT FAVRE AWARD (for un-retiring)

Marco Antonio Barrera: Turned out he just wanted to quit Golden Boy Promotions.

THE ROY JONES AWARD (for easiest road on HBO)

1- Andre Berto: Did you know he's made more appearances on the network, already, than Margarito? And you could argue he still hasn't faced a top 20 welterweight. But that will change in January when he faces Luis Collazo.

2- Wladimir Klitschko: Joe Louis had 'the bum of the month club'; I guess Klitschko has the 'bum of the every fourth month'.

THE STAR JONES AWARD (for worst weight loss)

1- Oscar De La Hoya: Seriously, deer meat?

2- Chris Byrd: From the very early moments of his loss to Shaun George, you knew that he didn't just lose a lot of poundage, but his legs, too.

THE MR. BUBBLE AWARD (for biggest bath)

Madison Square Garden giving Don King $8.5 million for the Jones-Trinidad promotion. This couldn't have been any worse than if they were investing with Bernie Madoff.

THE BOBBY KNIGHT AWARD (for re-arranging of furniture)

Russ Anber, who back in January was thrown out of an amateur tournament and proceeded to curse and throw a chair ringside. No word if he was assessed a technical foul or not.

THE CLEMENS/McNAMEE AWARD (for finger pointing)

Shane Mosley and Daryl Hudson: It's clear now that Mosley took banned substances with BALCO back in 2003, but when he tried to blame Hudson, his former strength and conditioning coach shot back with his own defamation suit in return. As more and more comes out, you get the sense this could get real ugly for Mosley.

THE WATERBOARDING AWARD (for fights that were torture to watch)

1- Wladimir Klitschko W12 Sultan Ibragimov: A real yawner if there ever was one. They played patty cake all night.

2- Paulie Malignaggi W12 Herman Ngoudjo: Why did Showtime purchase this fight?

3- Grady Brewer W10 Cornelius Bundrage: Time to put these 'pretenders' to bed

4- Yuri Foreman W10 James Moore: Soon this award will be named after 'Bore-man'.

5- Cornelius Bundrage W10 Kassim Ouma: Or maybe Bundrage.

THE BEAR STEARNS AWARD (for falling stock)

1- Amir Khan: Not even Frank Warren could hide his shaky chin for long.

2- Sam Peter: Now his beard is even failing him. Looked shaky in his victory over Oleg Maskaev and was then dismantled by Vitali Klitschko, who hadn't fought in several years.

THE LEHMAN BROTHERS AWARD (for financial disaster)

Calzaghe-Hopkins: This promotion in Las Vegas was so bad that it was reported that Golden Boy Promotions gave back $2 million to Planet Hollywood. No wonder why Calzaghe thinks the business of boxing is dead.

THE SCREECH AWARD (for being saved by the bell)

Kevin Burnett W8 Horace Grant: Burnett, who is not the Dallas Cowboys linebacker, was planted by Grant (not the former NBA power forward) with a right cross that sent him to the canvas, badly buzzed and disorientated, where he juuuuuust beat the count at the final bell and won a decision.

THE LUIS SANTANA AWARD (for winning by losing)

Francisco Lorenzo DQ4 Humberto Soto: Just what in the hell was Joe Cortez thinking? He wasn't firm nor fair in this fight.

THE KOBE THROWING SHAQ UNDER THE BUS AWARD (for breaking man-law codes)

Floyd Mayweather not only called the HBO announcing crew racist, but worse, he talked of Jim Lampley's exploits at strip clubs. Oh, that is soooo wrong. C'mon Floyd, you're better than that.

THE DALBY SHIRLEY AWARD (for worst scorecard)

1- Doug Tucker (Cristian Mijares-Jose Navarro): It's rare that you see a split decision where the dissenting vote has it a 12-round shutout for the loser, which is precisely what Tucker had Mijares losing, at 120-108.

2- Francisco Mouret (Julio Cesar Chavez Jr-Matt Vanda I): His scorecard (100-90) was so outrageous on Chavez's behalf that even the Mexican fans felt compelled to hiss and throw beer into the ring.

3- Jerry Cantu (Jeff Lacy-Epifanio Mendoza): Cantu's 97-93 for Lacy seemed like a scorecard that was filled out in advance.

THE SEBASTIAN LUJAN'S EAR AWARD (for worst injury suffered in the ring)

Jorge Barrios’ lip versus Rocky Juarez: Not much to say except ewwww.

THE GORDIE HOWE AWARD (for best old guy still kicking ass)

Bernard Hopkins: Lost a razor thin decision to Calzaghe and completely outclassed Pavlik in his mid-40's. Simply amazing.

THE 'FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS' AWARD (for best series)

1- ShoBox: Not only did Gordon Hall continue to showcase young prospects, but in 2008 he picked up some championship fights for this series that otherwise would have gone untelevised in the United States.

2- Wednesday Night Fights: Any prospect or unbeaten fighter that appeared on 'the Deuce' in 2008 was in grave danger this past spring and summer.

THE BUTTERBEAN AND MIA ST JOHN AWARD (for worst pay-per-view undercard)

2- Jones-Calzaghe: Not only was it bad, it was so long that the main event didn't get started till around midnight. You thought this one would be hard to beat, till...

1- Pacquiao-De La Hoya: Now, if you like watching Larry Merchant, Emmanuel Steward and Lampley stretch for time, this was your show. This undercard, where no bout went into the third frame, was so bad that a stand-by bout was brought in (that actually went rounds).

THE JOSE LUIS CASTILLO AWARD (for inability to make weight)

1- Joan Guzman: It's a shame since so many fans were looking forward to his match-up with Nate Campbell.

2- Jose Luis Castillo: It's a shame that a very good career will be tainted by his inability to make weight. The latest incident took place in March in Mexico, when he couldn't get down to 140 to face Tim Bradley in a WBC eliminator.

For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve: k9kim@maxboxing.com

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