Ranking Boxing's Biggest Surprises in 2014
For awhile now I have been calling 2014 "The Year of the Mismatch" in boxing. But the fact is, there have been plenty of great surprises as well.
Aside from his biggest fans, who would have predicted Miguel Cotto would become the lineal middleweight champion and the first four-division champion ever from Puerto Rico? Who could have imagined Marcos Maidana turning in such an entertaining effort against Floyd Mayweather?
Other rising stars, like Nicholas Walters and Terence Crawford, have emerged more quickly and explosively than predicted. Meanwhile, aging stars have reclaimed belts.
I don't feel like this year in boxing has been quite as good as last year and the year before were. But on balance, there have still been plenty of surprises.
10. Bermane Stiverne Stops Chris Arreola to Win the WBC Heavyweight Crown
1 of 10
I expected Bermane Stiverne to beat Chris Arreola when they fought for the vacant WBC heavyweight belt last May. He'd already busted Arreola's nose in a unanimous-decision victory in 2013.
But the series of right hands that Stiverne used to put Arreola away in Round 6 were a surprise. Arreola has limits as a fighter, but his chin isn't one of them. The longtime contender is incredibly durable.
Stiverne knocked him silly. Not even Vitali Klitschko managed to rock Arreola as badly as Stiverne did.
Stiverne's showdown next January with knockout artist Deontay Wilder will be the most anticipated heavyweight fight on U.S. soil in years.
9. Cornelius Bundrage Takes the IBF Light Middleweight Belt from Carlos Molina
2 of 10
Cornelius became the newest member of the "champions over 40" club when he regained the IBF light middleweight title from Carlos Molina in October. Molina had previously wrested the belt from Ishe Smith, the man who took it from Bundrage in February 2013.
Bundrage is a longtime contender who has improved with age during his career. He's a rugged, physically imposing fighter and if he had managed to catch up to Molina with a big punch and win by stoppage, that would have actually surprised me less than the manner in which he won.
I considered Molina one of the sport's better ring generals. For Bundrage to out-work him and earn a decisive unanimous decision, at 41, was a big surprise to me and a major accomplishment for a longtime veteran.
8. Kell Brook Beats Shawn Porter for the IBF Welterweight Title
3 of 10
In retrospect, it's hard to see how anybody could have doubted that Kell Brook would beat Shawn Porter to capture the IBF welterweight belt. The undefeated Brit looked physically imposing and technically solid against his American opponent.
But Porter was a red-hot fighter coming into the bout and viewed as a heavy favorite. The Ring panel picked Porter in a 21-0 shutout. I was on the record picking him as well.
The strong objections of my U.K. readers did not sway me. I'd heard similar sentiment in the past when I picked Raymundo Beltran to beat Ricky Burns and Sergey Kovalev to trounce Nathan Cleverly. British fans love their fighters and often overrate them.
But this was a case where they were completely correct. Brook showed that his unbeaten record was for real, as he put his name in the discussion at the top of the 147-pound division.
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7. Juan Manuel Lopez Turns into a Punching Bag
4 of 10
This sad decline for a fighter who was among the sport's hottest stars only a few years ago has really been developing for some time now. Juan Manuel Lopez suffered tough stoppage-losses to Orlando Salido in 2011 and 2012. He was brutalized in four rounds by Mikey Garcia in 2013.
But Salido was a world-class veteran and Garcia one of the sport's fastest rising stars. When Lopez rebounded with his own early stoppage of former champion Daniel Ponce De Leon earlier this year, many took it as a sign that the Puerto Rican star still had it in him to be a factor in the super featherweight division.
Those hopes were short lived. In July, Lopez was pounded in a Round 3 TKO loss to unbeaten contender Francisco Vargas. In September, he got knocked out in two by WBA interim featherweight champion Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar.
6. Nicholas Walters' Power Show
5 of 10
Nicholas Walters certainly entered this year with a reputation as a big puncher. He had captured the vacant WBA "regular" world championship by stopping Daulis Prescott in seven in December 2012. In November of last year, he improved to 23-0 with 19 KOs when he stopped Alberto Garza in four.
But Walters stepped up his level of competition this year and brought his power with him. In May, he knocked out multi-division world champion Vic Darchinyan in Round 5.
In October, Walters became a legitimate world champion by knocking off WBA "super" world champion Nonito Donaire in a unification fight. Walters flat-out overwhelmed the big-punching Donaire and stopped him by TKO in 6.
Walters is an extremely strong and powerful featherweight. He's a big part of why 126 pounds is currently one of the sport's hottest divisions.
5. Marcos Maidana Gives Floyd Mayweather a 12-Round Scrap
6 of 10
I had Floyd Mayweather pitching near shutouts against Saul Alvarez and Robert Guerrero in his last two fights before facing Marcos Maidana last May. I didn't expect the tough Argentine to do any better than they had. The most I expected him to win was two rounds.
Instead, Maidana forced a brutal pace on the pound-for-pound champion and gave him his toughest fight in over a decade. When the time came for the judges' decisions to be read, I was pretty sure Mayweather had won. But it was the first time in years I wasn't positive.
On a second watching, I felt the fight was less close. A lot of punches that Maidana gets credit for if you score the fight a draw, or even 115-113, simply didn't land.
But Maidana deserves credit for forcing such a frantic pace in the fight that judging accurately became difficult. While there is no doubt that Maidana fought in a brawling, dirty manner, it's up to the referee to enforce the rules. Maidana deserves credit for grabbing every inch of an advantage he could against such a great opponent.
Mayweather won the rematch in September decisively. But Maidana's effort in the first fight made for one of the most suspense-filled moments of the year.
4. Naoya Inoue Hammers Adrian Hernandez for the WBC Light Flyweight Belt
7 of 10
I suspect for hardcore Japanese fans, this one wasn't a true surprise. Even for the segment of fans who truly follow the lowest weight classes, it was less than a complete shock.
But it certainly took me by surprise. It's not that I thought Adrian Hernandez was a world-beater. But he was a very experienced world champion with outstanding length for a light flyweight.
He's not the kind of guy I expected to see losing to a 21-year-old kid with just five professional fights.
Then again, Naoya Inoue is not a typical 21-year-old kid. As he demonstrated in his Round 6 TKO of Hernandez, he's a phenom. And in December, he's jumping all the way up to 115 pounds, to battle longtime super flyweight champion Omar Narvaez.
Inoue could be exactly the kind of exciting opponent that the great Roman Gonzalez has deserved.
3. Terence Crawford Stops Yuriorkis Gamboa in His First Defense
8 of 10
Coming into 2014, I had my eyes on Terence Crawford as a potential superstar. His title win over WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns on the road in Scotland only made me more confident in Crawford's upside.
When Crawford agreed to face Yuriorkis Gamboa in his first defense, it was one of the most exciting fight announcements of 2014. It was clearly going to be the biggest lightweight showdown in years.
The undefeated Gamboa was a former featherweight champion and hugely talented Cuban amateur. An explosive puncher with elite skill, many considered him a pound-for-pound talent.
I actually picked Crawford to win the fight by hustling out a decision. But what happened instead was shocking.
After Gamboa used his speed and ring craft to jump out to an early lead, Crawford switched to southpaw and completely adjusted to the challenger's tricky right hand. In the space of a round, Crawford went from fighting for his life to completely controlling the fight.
Crawford dropped Gamboa in the fifth and the eighth and twice in the ninth before the count was waved off. It was clear the sport has a new rising star.
2. Jermain Taylor Becomes a World Champion Again
9 of 10
A small part of me met the news of Jermain Taylor's world-title victory over Sam Soliman with pleased nostalgia. It's always nice to see a former champion win another belt in the back side of his 30s.
But Taylor's status as a world champion says more about the lunacy of the alphabet-soup era than it does about his true relevancy at 160 pounds.
At 41, Soliman had captured the belt against a seriously faded Felix Sturm in May. Taylor deserves credit for turning in his best performance in years last October, knocking the champion down three times en route to taking his belt.
But Taylor has a history of brain injuries, and I would fear for his safety against Gennady Golovkin or Peter Quillin. His rebound feels like a nice story, in a way, but it also feels like it could be the prelude to a bigger tragedy.
Still, if you had offered me 100-1 odds at the start of this year that Taylor would end 2014 with a world title around his waist, I'm not sure I'd have been willing to risk more than $10 on the proposition.
1. Miguel Cotto Becomes Lineal Middleweight Champion
10 of 10
I'll be clear: I think that Miguel Cotto's world-title win over Sergio Martinez last June says more about Martinez's decline than it does about Cotto's resurgence. Still, when Cotto came out in the first round and blasted the Argentine great for three knockdowns, the jaws of boxing fans across the world dropped.
In December 2012, Cotto looked like he might be all but done when he lost a one-sided decision to Austin Trout. The fact that two years later he is the reigning lineal middleweight champion is astonishing.
In 2015, Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez will potentially be the biggest-grossing fight of the year. Cotto's triumphant return to near the top of the sport is something only his most passionate fans could have predicted.
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