Manny Pacquiao named the 2014 Fighter of the year! “On The Ropes” boxing awards – PART TWO

With the 2014 year coming to close, it’s time to close things off with part two of our year end awards. The 6th annual boxing awards were held during the 227th edition of “On The Ropes” boxing radio, and the very best performers of the year where acknowledged for their achievements. In part one of our awards article, the best trainer, prospect, comeback and upset were all named, saving the most prestigious awards for last including, fighter of the year, knockout of the year, round of the year and fight of the year.

Knockout of the year – Carl Froch vs George Groves II

There were many knockouts that stood out in 2014, such as Danny Garcia’s second round stoppage of Rod Salka, or Alexander Povetkin’s KO7 win over Manuel Charr. But the one that stood higher than the rest was the knockout that ended the grudge match between Carl Froch and George Groves.

Following their first bout which ended in a controversial stoppage, Groves and Froch met once more on May 31st in front of a packed Wembley Stadium to settle the score. Unlike the first fight, Carl Froch was able to avoid any early damage and was able to control the pace of the fight, forcing Groves to fight a high paced battle.

As the fight wore on, Groves was visibly tiring under the pressure and in the eight round, Froch unleashed a picture perfect right hand which knocked George Groves unconscious. Carl Froch ended any doubt of who the superior fighter was with a spectacular one punch knockout and added another highlight to his Hall Of Fame career.

Round of the year – David Lemieux vs. Gabriel Rosado (Round four)

Canada ‘s David Lemieux made his US debut in style as he stopped tough Philadelphia native, Gabriel Rosado in the tenth round. The fight proved to be no walk in the park for Lemieux though, as he engaged Rosado in a toe-to-toe battle. The fourth round proved to be the most action packed in the fight, as Lemieux came out charging at Rosado and appeared to be on the verge of getting a stoppage, but Rosado had other plans in mind.

A back and forth battle ensued, as Gabe Rosado managed to drive Lemieux back and land some shots of his own on the Canadian slugger. The tide seemed to sway in Rosado’s favor for a moment until Lemieux landed a hard left hook that stunned Rosado in the closing stages of the round. The round concluded with Gabriel Rosado waiving Lemieux forward, daring him to come at him.

Notable mention: Crawford vs. Gamboa round nine

Fight of the year – Lucas Matthysse vs. John Molina

The Stubhub Center in Carson, California featured 2014’s fight of the year. Lucas ‘La Maquina’ Matthysse is known as one of the most vicious punchers in the sport and many penned him to get an early stoppage over John Molina who had fought for the most part in the lightweight division. The fight quickly took a turn when Molina knocked the Argentinean down in round two. A war quickly ensued between both of the heavy fisted fighters.

Molina would go on to floor Matthysse once more in the fifth round but he began to wear out as the fight dragged on. Eventually it was Lucas Matthysse’s superior stamina which prevailed and helped him overwhelm Molina in the later rounds. After being knocked down in the eight round, Molina was beginning to quickly deteriorate under the pressure of ‘La Maquina’ and in the eleventh round, the referee deemed that John Molina was taking far too much punishment and stopped the fight.

This fight was a true display of the unpredictable nature of the sport of boxing. Watching come from behind victories and sudden fight changing moments are what draws so many people to the sport. Lucas Matthysse vs. John Molina fight of the year.

Notable mentions: Crawford vs. Gamboa, Salido vs. Kokietgym

Fighter of the year – Manny Pacquiao

Following a tumultuous year in 2012 which saw the eight division world champion lose two consecutive fights, breaking a fifteen fight unbeaten run, many questioned whether Pacquiao would ever regain his status in the sport. First a controversial decision loss to Timothy Bradley, followed by a devastating KO loss at the hands of long time rival, Juan Manuel Marquez, sent ‘Pacman’ tumbling down from the top of the sport.

While Pacquiao rebounded from the losses with a decision win over Brandon Rios in 2013 the “comeback” was fully completed in 2014, as Manny Pacquiao set the record straight with Timothy Bradley in April to put the controversial loss in the rear view mirror. Pacquiao ended his 2014 with a outstanding, dominate win in a November bout with unbeaten light welterweight, Chris Algieri in which Pacquiao managed to send Algieri to the canvas six times.

The real deciding factor in naming Manny Pacquiao our “Fighter of the year” was he accomplished what no one else did during the calender year, as Pacquiao secured a win over a top 5 p4p fighter, with his win over Timothy Bradley. Bradley was not only coming off a terrific win over the dangerous Ruslan Provodnikov, but he also definitively beat Juan Manuel Marquez who had just come off a knockout win over Pacquiao. This factor separated Pacquiao from a close field that included Terence Crawford and Gennady Golovkin.

Besides defeating two unbeaten fighters in 2014, Pacquiao also brought back the Mayweather-Pacquiao talks, a fight that many felt had passed it’s relevancy, is now once again the most anticipated fight in boxing, with people believing that Pacquiao can be the person that can take Floyd Mayweather’s “0” away. In 2013 Manny Pacquiao was named our “Comeback fighter of the year”, and we said that we expected him to have big year in 2014, but the Filipino great even surpassed our expectations, and is without a doubt, our “Fighter of the year.”

Notable mentions: Terence Crawford, Gennady Golovkin

Also see Part 1 of our “On The Ropes” awards in which we named Freddie Roach trainer of the year.

FREDDIE ROACH WINS 2014 TRAINER OF THE YEAR. “ON THE ROPES” BOXING AWARDS, PART 1

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