2022 fighter of year: Dmitry Bivol
Plus the 5 honorable mentions in order; past winners year-by-year
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After winning a lopsided decision over top contender and future titleholder Joe Smith Jr. in March 2019 to retain the WBA light heavyweight title, Dmitry Bivol was largely out of site and out of mind.
He fought once more in 2019, did not fight at all in 2020 (largely due to the coronavirus pandemic) and fought twice in 2021, but each of those three bouts were against lesser and somewhat obscure opponents in Lenin Castillo, Craig Richards and Umar Salamov. Although Bivol won each fight by unanimous decision — and he struggled against Richards — they were all forgettable and he did nothing to raise his stock.
Then came a monster 2022 in which Bivol was the only elite fighter to notch two highly significant victories, both in impressive fashion, to put himself on the pound-for-pound list. It was more than enough to secure his stamp as the overwhelmingly obvious pick as the Fight Freaks Unite fighter of the year.
Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), 32, of Russia, kicked off his year on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where he was a 5-1 underdog against Canelo Alvarez, the 2021 fighter of the year, the undisputed super middleweight champion, pound-for-pound king and boxing’s biggest star, who returned to the light heavyweight division in search of his second title at 175 pounds.
