Manny Pacquiao wins Comeback fighter of the year! 2013 “On The Ropes” boxing awards

21 Submitted by on Sat, 28 December 2013, 01:03

In a year that had many highlights and breakout performances, there are only a few fighters and moments from 2013 that received honors during the 5th annual “On The Ropes” boxing awards. The categories this year were; Trainer of the year, Prospect of the year, Comeback fighter of the year, Round of the year, Upset of the year, Fight of the year, KO of the year, and Fighter of the year. During the 205th edition of “On The Ropes” I announced all of the winners and went over the reasons why each won and also discussed some of the other candidates from this past year.

TRAINER OF THE YEAR With trainers like Sugar Hill and Robert Garcia having their fighters win on the big stage, it made this years race very interesting, but there was one trainer that brought their fighter to success on the biggest stage. Floyd Mayweather Sr, the trainer of Floyd Mayweather Jr took his son to two impressive wins in 2013.

First guiding his son to a victory over Robert Guerrero in May, and then helping him win a belt at junior middleweight in September against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, a fight that became the all time highest grossing fight in boxing history. When you can take the best fighter in the world and make him even better, you get our pick to be trainer of the year.

PROSPECT OF THE YEAR Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua has made headlines as a potential future heavyweight champion. Joshua is an Olympic gold medalist who debuted earlier in 2013 and scored 3 quick and impressive knockout wins, but besides just boxing skills, Anthony has the physical attributes to compete with any heavyweight he is matched with.

The 24 year old stands at 6’6 and has shown to be fairly quick for the weight class. Look for Anthony Joshua to develop even further in 2014. Runner up for prospect of the year was Vasyl Lomachenko, a two time Olympic gold medalist who made his official pro debut this past October.

COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR When it comes to this award there was one name that stood far above the rest. Coming off a 6th round KO defeat at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez, many wondered if Manny Pacquiao would ever be the same fighter again. Once his return was announced, and that he would be facing Brandon Rios, some thought the match up could be dangerous and the wrong type of fight for Pacquiao’s return.

On November 26th, Manny Pacquiao stepped back into the ring and put on a show for the fans in Macau, China. Pacquiao dominated the fight from the opening bell to the finish, winning almost every second of every round. He proved that he was not only back, but also still a force to be reckoned with in the welterweight division. Manny Pacquiao wins our comeback fighter of the year award, and we are looking for more great things from him in 2014.

ROUND OF THE YEAR Our pick for round of the year was the 10th round of the fight between Mickey Bey and John Molina. There were strong challengers for round of the year, like round 6 of Bradley-Provodnikov, and round 3 of Kirkland-Tapia, but these fights did not have the build up that our pick had. John Molina was getting outclassed from the opening bell of the fight, he had no answer for the quicker and more skilled Bey.

Bey was just seconds away from walking away with an easy decision win, but things took an unexpected turn as Molina connected with a flush left hook that badly hurt Bey and gave Molina the chance to stop the then unbeaten fighter. After a barrage of heavy blows, the referee was forced to stop the fight as Bey appeared to be out on his feet. The unexpectedness of that 10th round is what made it our pick for round of the year.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR 2013 was an action packed year, there were many fights that exceeded their expectations, fights like the rematch between Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler, Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II, and Denis Lebedev vs. Guillermo Jones. All these fights were great candidates to win fight of the year, but the one fight that stood out the most was the showdown between WBO champ Timothy Bradley and hard hitting Ruslan Provodnikov.

A fight which appeared to be a big mismatch on paper turned out to deliver nothing but action, as Ruslan nearly stopped the champ on several occasions. This fight brought the best out of both fighters, but it was Timothy Bradley who was able to emerge victorious by way of 12 round unanimous decision. Bradley vs. Provodnikov was an instant classic where both fighters showed their guts and determination to make it to the final bell.

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR There was stiff competition for 2013’s knockout of the year, there were many spectacular KO’s such as Gennady Golovkin’s KO3 win over Nobuhiro Ishida and Lucas Matthysse’s KO1 victory over Mike Dallas Jr, but our official pick for KO of the year comes from a fighter who emerged as one of the top light heavyweights in the world, Sergey Kovalev.

Kovalev had an impressive win earlier in the year when he demolished Britain’s Nathan Cleverly, but his most spectacular win came over Ismayl Sillakh. Sillakh was unable to offer any resistance to the quick attack of Kovalev and was ruthlessly KO’d in the second round. With this win, Kovalev now finds himself as a top contender at light heavyweight, and has made a name for himself as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport today.

UPSET OF THE YEAR The strongest candidate for us was Jhonny Gonzalez KO1 over the previously undefeated Abner Mares, but just a few weeks ago that pick shifted as we saw Showtime’s year end event that had Adrien Broner face off with Argentinean fighter, Marcos Maidana. Broner was touted as being the future of boxing, having similar style to that of Floyd Mayweather, and possessing impressive skills and natural talent. Many experts already had Broner high on their pound for pound list.

Broner went into the fight with Maidana as a significant favorite and everybody expected him to use his boxing abilities to keep the slower Maidana off. When the fight started, Maidana instantly put pressure on Broner and managed to knock him down in the second round. “The Problem” got floored for the first time in his career, not once but twice, on route to losing a unanimous decision to Marcos Maidana.

Broner was an unbeaten champ who had a lot of buzz surrounding him, maybe too much, as this fight exposed a few of his weaknesses in the ring, as well as showing that he does not really belong with the top fighters at 147 lbs. Marcos Maidana did what few thought he could do, win a decision against Broner, and that wins him the upset of the year award from “On The Ropes”

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR There were a few candidates for fighter of the year, with fighters such as Gennady Golovkin, Danny Garcia and Bernard Hopkins having impressive moments in 2013. But for us at “On The Ropes” there was one fighter that had a bigger year then the rest, and he is our 2013 fighter of the year, he is none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd not only fought two times this past year, a feat he has not accomplished in 6 years, but also had the two biggest PPV boxing events of the year. He returned to the ring after a 1 year absence in May, to defend his WBC welterweight title against his mandatory challenger Robert Guerrero. Mayweather won a 12 round unanimous decision, looking as good as ever in his first fight with his father as head trainer in over 10 years.

Floyd stepped back into the ring in September to face the undefeated WBC light middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The fight became the biggest event in boxing history, and Mayweather ended up winning a 12 round majority decision, in a fight that most saw him winning wide. Floyd Mayweather Jr proved again why he is the best pound for pound fighter in the world, and even at age 37 he is showing he is as good as he has ever been

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21 Responses to "Manny Pacquiao wins Comeback fighter of the year! 2013 “On The Ropes” boxing awards"
  1. Anonymous says:

    the chicken floyd became fighter of the year what a shame floyd ,,,,,

  2. free mercado says:

    Cockfighter of the Years since 19forgotten: You Weather

  3. Glen says:

    I’m a fan of Pacquiao, but i think he does not deserves winning the Fighter of the Year. He fought once and a predictable one. It is not even a surprise. Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, Golovkin are amongst the few who deserves it better.

  4. EdL says:

    How come the Greatest Coward and The Greatest Ducker of All Time Floyd Mayweather won the Fighter of the Year is beyond me. The guy is a certified coward an a duck and a chicken and yet he is able to fool a lot of people including the so-called experts. The man’s got no balls why should he be FOTY?

  5. Mike says:

    Floyd is not a fighter,so he should!nt be the fighter of the year,boxing experts are full of craps,they don’t know boxing as Mike Tyson said.Broner is more of a fighter he fought Maidana at his prime while Floyd ducked a prime Cotto,Margarito and now Pacquiao.

  6. kenneth says:

    amazing article, I’ll have to read it twice and thrice.

  7. Spectator says:

    Don’t you guys get it? They made fraud Mayweather the fighter of the year and manny the comeback fighter of the year hoping these two would fight each other already.

  8. jayfox says:

    hahahaha…… floyd should have COWARD of the year award rather than fighter of the year. shame on you floyd. be brave like the american soldiers. fight pacman now. no more excuses. BE A MAN!

  9. Mike H says:

    Jenna, I don’t know how you do it, I still can’t understand a word Mayweather sr. says. That dude needs subtitles, might as well be in French. The only thing I think I understood was that “Brandon Rios couldn’t fight out of a wet pickle bag” or something???? It doesn’t matter though, I love it. Good interview Jenna, keep it up allstar.

  10. Santosonly says:

    One of the statements made regarding Floyd is that ‘he fought 2 times in one year’. LOL! That’s the fighter of the year qualifier these days? Also, Floyd’s win over RG was not sensational. The Canelo fight also was not enough to make Floyd stand out. The Bradley/RP fight stood out. The AB/MM fight stood out. All of Triple G’s fights stand out. Heck, Kovelev stands out. Floyd gets by on controversy alone. Whatever the case may be, you have to FIGHT to be fighter of the year. Floyd was mover of the year in the Robert G fight and was not impressive as several of his contemporaries in his Canelo fight. Try again, please. Of your looking for sensational, according to boxing expert, Mike Tyson, look to PAC. He not only beat the odds but beat a guy that tested positive for drugs. Heck Floyd has used that excuse to NOT fight for several years now.

  11. pikkon says:

    After Manny Pacquaio KOed Hatton Floyd Sr who was then Hatton’s coach said he wont allow his son to fight Manny Pacquaio because he is machine…Since then the FEAR of Pacqauio was embedded in Floyd’s mind…Every time he was asked in any interview Floyd’s mood changed and tried to evade the question about Manny Pacquaio..When he was invited to George Lopez show together with De la Hoya ,George told Floyd in the telephone one of the questions to be asked would be about a fight with Manny Pacquaio…Floyd cancelled his appearance on that show…

    • Spectator says:

      So Floyd Sr made the Fraud feared PAC ever since. Now the mere mention of pacs name makes him pee in his panty. It makes sense.

  12. COWARD MAYWEATHER .COM says:

    then convince your DUCKING SON TO FIGHT PACMAN OLD DUCKING GAYWEATHER..

  13. bmizzac says:

    This version of Pac man can’t beat Floyd. You can obviously see that he’s not the same fighter that had clottey, cotto, and a younger Mosley afraid to throw punches. Rios was very game the whole fight. Marquez was just as sturdy vs Pac man as he was against Bradley. Floyd wins in 2014 by easy decision. In 2010 he gets carried out on a stretcher. Pac man’s body is different so I’d say he was juicing. Ariza is a notorious cheater so he may have not even known he was on the sauce.