Canelo: 2021 fighter of year
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After Canelo Alvarez pummeled Caleb Plant with three brutal right hands to the head that drove him to the canvas for the second time in the 11th round, and referee Russell Mora immediately waved off the fight, the pound-for-pound king raced across the ring and climbed the ropes in victory.
At ringside inside the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on the electric night of Nov. 6, Showtime blow-by-blow man Mauro Ranallo captured the moment with his call.
“The coronation is complete,” Ranallo roared. “All hail King Canelo! Viva Mexico’s first undisputed champion!”
Indeed, not only was Alvarez’s coronation complete as the first undisputed super middleweight world champion, and the first Mexican boxer to become an undisputed champion in any weight division in the three- or four-belt era, he also sealed the deal as the clear choice as Fight Freaks Unite and The Ring magazine 2021 Fighter of the Year.
Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs), 31, of Mexico, became the first undisputed champion in the 37-year-history of a 168-pound weight class that many greats have called home but who never could be called undisputed, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roy Jones Jr., James Toney, Joe Calzaghe, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler and others.
Alvarez began his three-bout 2021 campaign with the expected destruction of WBC mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim on Feb. 27 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, and easily putting him away in three lopsided rounds. But it is what Alvarez did in his next two fights that really mattered when it came to fighter of the year as he knocked out two well-respected undefeated titleholders in Billy Joe Saunders and Plant in dominating fashion to take their belts and make the history he had set out to achieve.
On May 8, Alvarez faced Saunders, the unbeaten WBO titleholder, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and drew a United States indoor boxing record crowd of 73,126 on Cinco de Mayo weekend in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Alvarez broke Saunders’ cheek and orbital bone and forced him to retire after the eighth round.
With the WBC, WBA and WBO belts in his possession, along with The Ring title, it left just one piece of hardware remaining for Alvarez to collect — Plant’s IBF title. Although Plant fought well and won some rounds, he was trailing on all three scorecards going into the 11th round and no match for Alvarez’s diverse and punishing attack, which culminated with Alvarez pouring it on, scoring two knockdowns and the stoppage, and sending Plant to the hospital.
Alvarez had reached his historic undisputed goal as only the sixth man to fully unify a division in the four-belt era, joining middleweight Bernard Hopkins (2004), middleweight Jermain Taylor (2005), junior welterweight Terence Crawford (2017), cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk (2018) and junior welterweight Josh Taylor (2021).
During his in-ring celebration, a member of Alvarez’s team placed a gold crown on his head, symbolic of his position as the king of the super middleweights and all of boxing.
I interviewed Canelo and wrote more extensively about his fight of the year campaign for The Ring. Please read the full story here: https://www.ringtv.com/632621-canelo-alvarez-is-the-ring-fighter-of-the-year-for-2021/
Other contenders
Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs)
Ukraine’s Usyk upset Anthony Joshua by clear unanimous decision on Sept. 25 on Joshua’s turf in London to take his three heavyweight world titles and become only the third former cruiserweight champion to also win a heavyweight title. He joined Evander Holyfield, his idol, and David Haye in the club.
Josh Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs)
Scotland’s Taylor traveled to Las Vegas and put his two titles on the line against two-belt titlist Jose Ramirez on May 22, and beat him to become the undisputed junior welterweight world champion. He dropped Ramirez in the sixth and seventh rounds and they proved to be the difference in a 114-112 decision on all three scorecards. He became just the fifth man to fully unify a division in the four-belt era.’
Nonito Donaire (42-6, 28 KOs)
The four-division champion “Filipino Flash” continued to add to his Hall of Fame resume with two resounding fourth-round knockout wins. On May 29 in Carson, California, Donaire brutally knocked out Nordine Oubaali to take his WBC bantamweight title and, at age 38 years, 204 days, break his own record as the oldest fighter to win a bantamweight world title. And on Dec. 11, also in Carson, Donaire, now 39 and the second-oldest reigning titleholder in boxing behind Gennadiy Golovkin, retained the title when he knocked out Filipino countryman Reymart Gaballo with a pulverizing left hook to the body.
Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs)
England’s Fury retained the heavyweight championship by 11th-round knockout in an all-time great fight with rival Deontay Wilder in their trilogy bout on Oct. 9 in Las Vegas. The first fight in 2018 was declared a split draw before Fury easily won the February 2020 rematch by seventh-round knockout. The third fight, however, is the one that will be remembered forever. Fury dropped Wilder in the third round and then survived two knockdowns in the fourth round to rally. They slugged it out nonstop with Fury knocking Wilder down again in the 10th round and out in the 11th.
Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs)
Three-division titlist Crawford finally got the top welterweight opponent he had been desperate for and shined in a knockout win over good friend and former two-time titlist Shawn Porter to retain his title on Nov. 21 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Crawford dropped Porter in the 10th round of an excellent and competitive fight before Kenny Porter, Shawn’s father and trainer, threw in the towel later in the round.
Rafael’s fighters of the year
2021-Canelo Alvarez
2020-Tyson Fury and Teofimo Lopez
2019-Canelo Alvarez
2018-Oleksandr Usyk
2017-Terence Crawford
2016-Carl Frampton
2015-Canelo Alvarez
2014-Terence Crawford
2013-Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2012-Nonito Donaire
2011-Andre Ward
2010-Sergio Martinez
2009-Manny Pacquiao
2008-Manny Pacquiao
2007-Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2006-Manny Pacquiao
2005-Ricky Hatton
2004-Glen Johnson
2003-James Toney
2002-Vernon Forrest
2001-Bernard Hopkins
2000-Felix Trinidad
Alvarez, Donaire photos: Esther Lin/Showtime; Usyk photos Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing; Taylor, Crawford photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Fury photo: Ryan Hafey/PBC
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Usyk because his was more of an surprise to most of those who were watching the fight, no one expected the outcome of the three Saul fights to end in any other way then a win. Usyk was given a challenge and met that challenge and will have a chance to repeat that win with another challenge.