By David Martinez, Boxing Historian
I have assembled personal choices in boxing for THE BEST OF 2010 in the major categories, and they are:
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: Sergio Martinez
On April 17, Sergio scored an impressive upset victory over Kelly Pavlik to win the WBC / WBO Middleweight Championship. Then on November 20, he avenged a previous loss to Paul Williams with a spectacular second round knockout to retain his middleweight belts.
FIGHT OF THE YEAR: Humberto Soto vs. Urbano Antillon (Dec 14)
This was 12 rounds of toe-to-toe non-stop action and a fight fans dream fight. Soto retained his WBC Lightweight Championship by a close, unanimous decision in this fight for the ages.
Runners Up: Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana … Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katsidis … Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler
ROUND OF THE YEAR: Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana / Round 10 (Dec 11)
This fight started off with Khan registering a first round knockdown over Maidana. With Khan ahead on all scorecards going into the 10th round, a desperate Maidana landed a huge right hand to Khan’s jaw. THis buckled Khan’s legs and it appeared he would be knocked out. A vicious right hand followed by a left literally had Khan out on his feet. He weathered the storm to retain his WBA Junior Welterweight title with a unanimous, but close, 12 round decision.