I have assembled my personal choices in boxing for the past year 2015 in the five major categories and my “pound for pound” ranking for the year ending 2015. Picks are solely my opinion, as I sincerely respect and welcome the opinions of others – thank you!

 

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR:  Gennady Golovkin

WBA Super World  / WBC interim / IBF middleweight champion (34-0 / 31 by KO)

Three successful title defenses and unification win: Martin Murray (KO 11) February 21, Willie Monroe (KO 6) May 16, David Lemieux (KO 8) October 17

*** Runner Up – Canelo Alvarez

 

FIGHT OF THE YEAR:  Lucas Matthysse vs. Ruslan Provodnikov (W 12)

Welterweights / April 18

*** Runner Up – Francisco Vargas vs. Takashi Miura (KO 9) November 21

 

ROUND OF THE YEAR:  Omar Figueroa vs. Ricky Burns (Round 11)

Super Lightweights / May 9

*** Runner Up – Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergio Mora (Round 1) August 1

 

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR:  Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland (KO 3)

Junior Middleweights / May 9

Runner Up – Francisco Santana vs. Kendal Mena (KO 1) January 9

 

UPSET OF THE YEAR:  Viktor Postal vs. Lucas Matthysse (KO 10)

Vacant ~ WBC Super Lightweight Championship / October 3

*** Runner Up – Tyson Fury vs. Wladimir Klitschko (W 12) November 28

 

My top dozen (12) “pound for pound” ranking ending December 31, 2015

1) Roman Gonzalez (44-0 / 38 by KO)

2) Gennady Golovkin (34-0 . 31 by KO)

3) Guilllermo Rigondeaux (16-0 / 10 by KO)

4) Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1 / 25 by KO)

5) Andre Ward (28-0 / 15 by KO)

6) Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2 / 38 by KO)

7) Terence Crawford (27-0 / 19 by KO)

8) Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1 / 32 by KO)

9) Timothy Bradley (32-1-1 / 12 by KO)

10) Leo Santa Cruz (31-0-1 / 17 by KO)

11) Juan Francisco Estrada (33-2 / 24 by KO)

12) Danny Garcia (31-0 / 18 by KO)

Honorable Mention (in order): Naoya Inque, Vasyl Lomachenko, Shinsuke Yamanaka, Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, Keith Thurman, Kell Brook