What is the fight of the year so far through the first six months of 2022?
Here are the top candidates and my selection
The first half of 2022 is in the books, so which fights are contenders for fight of the year honors through the first six months?
I have your answers right here. I present the top candidates (in chronological order) with my pick for the first-half winner at the end:
Viktor Faust TKO2 Iago Kiladze
When/where: Jan. 1 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida
Stakes: Heavyweight prospect Faust aimed to take a modest step up in opposition against the veteran brawler Kiladze.
The fight: In the opening bout of the PBC New Year’s Day Fox Sports pay-per-view card headlined by heavyweights Luis Ortiz and Charles Martin, Faust (9-0, 7 KOs) stopped Kiladze (27-6-1, 19 KOs) in the second round of a wild and bloody fight that featured five knockdowns. In the first round, Faust dropped Kiladze with a left hook less than a minute into the fight before Kiladze creamed Faust with a right hand to send him staggering backward and down. Faust then dropped Kiladze for the second time in the round with a clean left hook. In action did not abate in the second round as Kiladze dropped Faust with a right hand before he rebounded to floor Kiladze with a left-right combination. Although Kiladze beat the count and said he wanted to go on, referee Samuel Burgos questionably waved it off at 1:44 to the disgust of Kiladze, who pleaded to continue, and certainly every fan watching.