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29 December 2014 Boxing World Magazine January 2015 Year End Awards Issue

Page history last edited by Vassago 9 years, 3 months ago

Posted by Boxing World Magazine on December 29, 2014, 8:25 am

ROOKIE(S) OF THE YEAR: ELIZA TAYLOR AND ALEXANDRA DADDARIO. Aussie beauty Taylor burst on the scene with three straight wins, not something that often happens in the FCBA, especially for an unmanaged fighter. She finally lost in her fourth outing, but took "Next Big Thing" Chloe Bennet deep into the tenth before succumbing. Daddario's first year record wasn't as impressive, no surprise for a big, but her results were. She fought a tough schedule, with opponents including Winstead, Yustman, and Robbie and managed two wins, against solid talents Pare and Pike, in five tries. She also got management and looks poised for bigger things in 2015...especially with charms that will, no doubt, make her an in-demand opponent.

UPSET OF THE YEAR: MILEY CYRUS WINS THE FLYWEIGHT TITLE. Cyrus beating Brenda Song or Jessica Lowndes would have been a mild upset. Cyrus beating Hayden Panettiere would have been an upset minus the word "mild". But, going Panettiere, Song, Lowndes to win the flyweight title tournament and claim the belt for the first time? Let's just say the odds were stacked against the lovely Miley, and she beat them along with three of the top flyweights in the FCBA.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR: YVONNE STRAHOVSKI VS. ANNA TORV. While there were many worthy nominees for this award, as always, this battle of Aussie blondes stands out for several reasons. First, it was a title fight. Second, it saw not one, not two, but three Strahovski comebacks that saw the champion rally from a four-point deficit after five, erase a three-point deficit with just two rounds to go, and then offset a Torv knockdown in the final round with a late one of her own to claw her way into overtime. And, third, it went overtime, an overtime in which Strahovski, yet again fell behind only to rally for a 13th round KO that got her a huge win smack in the middle of her impressive seven-fight winning streak.

BEATDOWN OF THE YEAR: KRISTIN KREUK VS. SARAH HYLAND. Anyone surprised to see an HISC fighter get this award? Kreuk's laying waste to a game Hyland began pre-fight when the veteran got all in the younger woman's head with taunts and "she's not worthy" quotes. After an aggressive first round, Hyland was picked apart for the next six minutes, then brutalized for three more, finally being KO'ed in the rack by a remorseless Krissy.

CASSIDY FREEMAN VS. BROOKLYN DECKER. Freeman/Decker was another nominee for fight of the year. A back and forth big girl title battle that saw Decker take a two-point lead into the final round. Freeman needed something huge and she got it, a late knockout that kept the belts around her waist, again, smack in the middle of her impressive winning streak.

COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: KERI RUSSELL. Few fighters have come back further than Russell, who had one FCBA fight in a different century (1999), lost it in less than six minutes, then burst back on the scene at the ripe old age of 37 to win two of three against a trio of Top 25 flyweights in 2014. We can't wait to see what 2015 holds for Russell and the rest of the Diamond Boxing Club stable.

FIGHTER WHO'LL HAVE A BETTER YEAR IN 2015: CHARLIZE THERON. 2014 wasn't the best of years for the Golden Goddess. She struggled to beat a talented but still green Phoebe Tonkin, then accomplished nothing more the rest of the year than providing the boost Anna Torv and Katy Perry needed to get title shots via being stopped by both Front Street fighters. Yes. The Goddess is now 39 and yes, she has over 300 fights. However. Have you seen her lately? She's in fantastic shape and she's still as talented as any fighter in the FCBA. She may not return to her GOAT form in 2015, but, it says here, she's likely to win more than one fight in 2015. Perhaps a lot more.

FIGHTER WHO'LL HAVE A WORSE YEAR IN 2015: CLAIRE HOLT. Don't get us wrong. We don't think Holt will have a bad year. We're believers, and who isn't at this point? Holt won her first eight FCBA fights before falling in a title fight to Olivia Munn. She then lost to Shay Mitchell, before beginning another five-fight win streak, including a rematch victory over Mitchell, that led her to the bantamweight belts after a win over Emily VanCamp. So, yeah. She's good. She is not, however, that good. No one is. It's simply math. So, no, we don't expect Holt to go undefeated in 2015. We do expect her to continue to fight well and win her share, but the career-opening run she's on simply can't continue. It's math.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR: VASSAGO. LCA is a six-fighter stable, and it's hard to imagine anyone doing more with six fighters than Vassago did in 2014. He took Selena Gomez from second banana at Bazz (and about fifth banana in the loaded Lookout! flyweight division) to rising 22-year-old star who amassed a 4-1 record in 2014 as she laid waste to her cohort. And Gomez is the least of it. There's also Odette Yustman, who's gone from .500 fighter to winning eight of her last nine, Jessica Lowndes, who's become one of the brightest stars in an overflowing flyweight galaxy and went 7-1 in 2014, winning the JMD Title against Michelle Williams and coming thisclose to winning the flyweight tournament. Oh, and let's not forget Cassidy Freeman, who drove a stake through the heart of the "two-fighter division" meme at welter and spent 2014 holding the title for nine months and going 5-1 against the cream of the division. Pretty good stuff for, again, a six-fighter stable.

STABLE OF THE YEAR: LOOKOUT! BOXING. How dominant was Lookout! in 2014? Well, for 360 of its 365 days, the stable held at least one of the four major titles. For 99 of those days, it held two. The stable competes in only three of the four divisions, and it claimed titles in all three in 2014. But, 2014 is no aberration. The stable has won multiple titles every year this decade, including three each in 2011 and 2013, and, in that 2011 campaign it also won belts in all three weights in which it competes. With a whopping seven former champions on the roster, including at least two at each weight, Lookout! has a strong claim to having the most talent under one roof in the FCBA and 2015 is likely to be another strong year for the stable.

AND NOW FOR THE BIG ONES:

FLYWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: MILEY CYRUS. Take away two fights against Vanessa Hudgens, one to start the year and one to end it, and Cyrus goes undefeated in 2014 with victims including Dobrev and Carter along with the previously-mentioned Song, Lowndes, and Panettiere. Hudgens herself has a claim here, especially since she didn't lose in 2014, but she didn't fight the schedule Cyrus did and she didn't go through that murderers row to win the belts. She also didn't do all that after going nearly two years without winning a fight and having been two of her last 11 when she started her run. No, this was Miley's year and that overflowing flyweight galaxy has yet another star.

BANTAMWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: CLAIRE DANES. When Danes moved up to bantam in 2012, there were doubters aplenty. All she's done since is win 12 of 15 fights at the weight including not one but two six-fight winning streaks. The latest of those saw her beat VanCamp, Spears, and Hewitt to earn a shot at McAdams, from whom she took the bantamweight titles. She followed with impressive title-defense wins over Kelly and Lilly before losing a one-point decision on a final round knockdown to VanCamp to end her run. Her management says there's another run in her. We have no doubt. None.

LIGHTWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: YVONNE STRAHOVSKI. There was zero question about this one, despite lightweight being as filled with talent as any division in the FCBA. But, none of that talent could match what Vonnie did in 2014, winning seven consecutive title defenses against the very best the division has to offer. Lawrence. Winstead. Kelly. Torv. Cuoco. Palicki. Durance. An all-star team of lightweights, and none could take the straps from Vonnie. A final-round knockout loss to Katy Perry ended Strahovski's 2014 on a sour note, but couldn't do anything to lessen what she accomplished by holding the titles for an incredible 359 days.

WELTERWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: CASSIDY FREEMAN. Breaking down the "two-fighter division" meme might just have been enough to win her this award, but she did so much more than that. Starting in late 2013 with a win over former champion Moon Bloodgood, Freeman went on a tear. She fought Amanda Righetti and stopped her to win the welterweight titles for the first time. She followed that with four consecutive defenses. The opponents? Taylor Cole, Brooklyn Decker, Katrina Law, and Gena Lee Nolin. Like Strahovski, Danes, and Cyrus, her year ended on a sour note, as she dropped the titles to Mandy Moore, but, that one result doesn't do anything to offset her 300-day run with the straps that made her the first welterweight other than Amanda Righetti to win this award.