Nominees announced for 2022 Boxing Writers Association of America awards
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The Boxing Writers Association of America on Monday announced the nominees in eight categories for its 2022 awards.
Here are the nominees, in alphabetical order, for each award:
Sugar Ray Robinson fighter of the year
WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol, who upset then pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez and routed Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.
WBA junior lightweight titlist Hector Luis Garcia, who upset Chris Colbert and Roger Gutierrez to win the title.
Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney, who traveled to Australia twice and routed George Kambosos Jr., first to fully unify the all four belts in the division and then again in an immediate rematch.
Undisputed bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, who blitzed Nonito Donaire in the second round of their rematch to unify three titles and then knocked out Paul Butler to become the first-ever three- or four-belt 118-pound champion.
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who moved up in weight on short notice and outpointed former titlist Carlos Cuadras to win the WBC junior bantamweight title, knocked out former two-time titlist Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in his first defense and outpointed Israel Gonzalez in his second defense before vacating to move down in weight.
Unified junior flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji, who knocked out Masamichi Yabuki in a rematch to regain the WBC title and then knocked out WBA titleholder Hiroto Kyoguchi to unify.
Muhammad Ali–Joe Frazier fight of the year
Jermell Charlo KO10 Brian Castano II (undisputed junior middleweight title)
Sebastian Fundora KO9 Erickson Lubin (WBC interim junior middleweight title)
Joe Joyce KO11 Joe Parker (WBO interim heavyweight title)
Sivenathi Nontshinga W12 Hector Flores (vacant IBF junior flyweight title)
Jai Opetaia W12 Mairis Briedis (IBF cruiserweight title)
Leigh Wood KO12 Michael Conlan (WBA “regular” featherweight title)
Eddie Futch trainer of the year award
Bill Haney (trains Devin Haney)
Derrick James (Jermell Charlo, Errol Spence Jr., Frank Martin)
Gennadiy Mashyanov (Dmitry Bivol)
Colin Nathan (Sivenathi Nontshinga, Hekkie Budler)
Bob Santos (Hector Luis Garcia, Carlos Adames, Alberto Puello)
Cus D’Amato manager of the year award
Luis DeCubas Jr. (manages Caleb Plant, Yordenis Ugas, David Morrell, Hector Luis Garcia, Alberto Puello, Erislandy Lara, Rolando Romero)
Bill Haney (Devin Haney)
Peter Kahn (George Kambosos Jr., Franchon Crews-Dezurn, Xander Zayas, Emmanuel Tagoe)
Vadim Kornilov (Dmitry Bivol, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, Bakhodir Jalolov, Israil Madrimov)
Brian Peters (Katie Taylor)
Marvin Kohn good guy award
Lee Groves (BWAA member, historian)
Sam Jackson and Andrew Roberts (Swanson Communications publicists)
Jose Ramirez (former unified junior welterweight titlist)
Gary Russell Jr. (former WBC featherweight titlist)
John Scully (trainer)
Sam Taub excellence in broadcast journalism award
David Dinkins (Showtime Sports executive producer)
Jim Gray (Showtime reporter)
Dave Harmon (longtime HBO producer)
Mauro Ranallo (Showtime blow-by-blow commentator)
James “Smitty” Smith (host, podcaster)
Barney Nagler long and meritorious service award
Ed Brophy (executive director of the International Boxing Hall of Fame)
John DiSanto (historian, chairman of the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame)
Gordon Hall (Showtime Sports senior vice president, “ShoBox” executive producer)
Henry Hascup (historian, amateur tournament organizer)
John Sheppard (founder of Boxrec)
John McCain-Bill Crawford courage award
Prichard Colon
Billy Dib
Bernard Fernandez
Jose Santa Cruz Sr.
Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko
The nominees were selected during the annual nomination meeting via Zoom on Saturday. Winners will be announced on Jan. 10 at 12 p.m. ET, after the winners are notified. There is a separate committee for women’s fighter and fight of the year and past winners vote for the Nat Fleischer award for career excellence in boxing journalism. All winners will be honored at the BWAA annual awards dinner on a date and at a location to be determined in the spring.
Fundora-Lubin photo: Esther Lin/Showtime
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Nontshinga-Flores was hands-down the most entertaining fight I watched this year. I would give Colin Nathan trainer of the year honors just based on his performance in Nontshinga’s corner.
Having said all that, I actually think Taylor-Serrano was the fight of the year, regardless of gender. You have to take the magnitude of the event into consideration.
Charlo-Castano was my favorite of those listed, but thought Taylor-Serrano was the best fight I saw this year. Thanks, as always, Dan.