Bleacher Report's Boxing Awards for 2015

It's not hyperbole to suggest the boxing world went through a seismic shift in 2015. Not only did the sport's biggest star walk away at the height of his game, but a new promotion emerged from nowhere to challenge the entrenched powers-that-be.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. departs the sport rich, pretty and undefeated, if not beloved, leaving a void that has yet to be filled. While Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez both staked their claims, neither was able to confidently ascend the throne and proclaim himself king.

Premier Boxing Champions, led by Mayweather's mentor, Al Haymon, attempted to replace the superfight of yesterday with a constant deluge of televised boxing, running dozens of cards across a seemingly endless number of stations. It's a work in progress that will continue into 2016. While it's unclear whether there will be a financial payoff, it's certainly made for a lively year.

As always, there were moments of courage and savagery that can only be found in the squared circle. Bleacher Report's Briggs Seekins, Kevin McRae, Lyle Fitzsimmons, Kelsey McCarson and I took copious notes throughout the year to help curate the best of the best for 2015.

Have some thoughts of your own you'd like to gift our team? Allow us to unwrap them in the comments.

Card of the Year: Cotto vs. Canelo and Golovkin vs. Lemieux

HBO won the majority of votes with its two second-half pay-per-view offerings, proving boxing wasn't dead in a post-Floyd world. Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux lived up to expectations everywhere but the box office, providing paying fans with another vintage GGG knockout performance. Later in the year, Canelo Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto, though never living up to its billing as a firefight, was a competitive and exciting bout.

Those fights, despite being acceptable main events, wouldn't have been enough to earn either card an award on its own. In what will hopefully become a trend going forward, promoters also offered up a mix of exciting talent in well-matched bouts up and down the card.

On the Golovkin/Lemieux card, Tureano Johnson battered a game Eamonn O’Kane over the distance in a title eliminator to get the proceedings going and was immediately followed by a chance for American fans to see heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz dismantle Matias Vidondo. Playing the feature attraction was Ring's pound-for-pound No. 1 Roman Gonzalez in a pitched battle with the multi-division champion and former Olympian, Brian Viloria. Gonzalez too would win with a thrilling knockout.

While Canelo vs. Cotto never fully evolved into fireworks like the pre-fight hype suggested, Takashi Miura and Francisco Vargas engaged in a brutal back-and-forth war. Guillermo Rigondeaux, an elite amateur, tested fans' patience with science a little too sweet against Drian Francisco, and a somewhat spirited affair between Jayson Velez and Ronny Rios rounded out the card.

In the end, it was Miura vs. Vargas that we'll all cherish. It was the sort of fight that turns a good card into a memorable one—in this case into the fight card of the year.

Also Receiving Consideration: Mayweather vs. Berto

Trainer of the Year: Eddy Reynoso

Denis Poroy/Getty Images

The best trainers become household names, at least if that household subscribes to both HBO and Showtime and has spent the last year figuring out what Bounce is and locating truTV on their cable dial. If you're reading this, you know their names: Freddie Roach, Buddy McGirt, John David Jackson, the Mayweather clan and Roberto Garcia.

It's a tough group to break into. Much like in the ring, it's even harder if you don't have the English chops or personality to schmooze boxing writers and hangers-on. Foreigners must have a halcyon, breakthrough moment to earn that respect.

For Eddy Reynoso, much like his protege Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, that moment came at long last with a win over both Miguel Cotto and the famed Roach.

Reynoso learned the craft of boxing under his father, Jose Reynoso, a solid trainer in his own right who developed world title challengers such as Javier Jauregui and Jorge Solis. Eddy ultimately assumed the reins over the Alvarez fighting family, and their collective success has propelled Eddy into the spotlight and made him one of the top trainers not merely just in Mexico’s vibrant domestic scene but internationally as well.

Also Receiving Consideration: Abel Sanchez, Adam Booth, Peter Fury

Knockout of the Year: Canelo Alvarez over James Kirkland

While the sad demise of the legendary Roy Jones is fresh in our memories, it was Canelo Alvarez's knockout of James Kirkland that lingered in our subconsciousness.

The fight was pure distilled violence. Kirkland’s fearsome attack lived up to the hype, with his punches coming with the speed and fury of a whirlwind. But the Mexican pretty boy proved capable of weathering almost any storm. He made it look, if not quite easy, at the very least predestined, becoming one of those great fighters you just expect to win no matter what is happening in the ring at the moment.

When it was all over, Kirkland’s devastated body lay unconscious and crumpled on the campus while a stadium full of Canelo fans roared. The big win cleared the runway, allowing his subsequent victory over Cotto to launch his career back into the stratosphere.

Also Receiving Consideration: Enzo Maccarinelli over Roy Jones Jr., Daniel Jacobs over Peter Quillin, Krzysztof Glowacki over Marco Huck

Upset of the Year: Tyson Fury over Wladimir Klitschko

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

For a long decade, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko provided the stability that kept the heavyweight division from total collapse. The two shared world championship glory together for years until Vitali ultimately retired with his WBC belt, which left Wladimir, however briefly, the only recognized world champion at the sport’s most famed division.

Pundits suggested that Wladimir’s ability was such that he would and could not be challenged seriously by any existing fighters—that the only possibility a new champion might emerge was upon his retirement. Pundits, as anyone who watches cable news probably realizes, aren't nearly as smart as they think they are.

Tyson Fury had the tools to take the fight to the champion. The taller and younger challenger did something Klitschko simply never anticipated. Instead of the hard charge, Fury took the back foot and challenged Wladimir to come to him. The champion, so used to fighters coming forward to test his questionable chin, was either unwilling or unable to respond.

In the aftermath, the division looks more exciting than ever. Luis Ortiz and Anthony Joshua both emerged as real players this month, and Deontay Wilder proudly represents a growing contingent of American stars. Going into 2016, the heavyweight class is one of the most vibrant in all of boxing.

When was the last time anyone could say that?

Also Considered: Glowacki over Huck, Viktor Postol over Lucas Matthysse

Promoter of the Year: Golden Boy

Al Bello/Getty Images

While PBC was reinventing how boxing is promoted in America, flooding the market with fights that often provided no more than fleeting entertainment, an old standby walked away with promoter of the year.

Oscar De La Hoya is looking for fighters in his own image. The Golden Boy never skirted a challenge, and his eponymous fight promotion looks for champions cut from the same cloth. When De La Hoya has a fighter who is willing to take risks, he'll do all he can to turn potential into legend. 

Matching his fighters hard doesn't always pay off. Lucas Matthysse came up short against Viktor Postal, and David Lemieux lost his title to a rival's champion.

But when it works, it really works. Canelo Alvarez walks into 2016 as the face of boxing. That simply wouldn't be possible without a willingness, from both fighter and promoter, to take the hard route.

Also Considered: PBC/Al Haymon, K2 Promotions, Top Rank

Bust of the Year: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

Financially, there’s no way to suggest Mayweather vs. Pacquiao was a failure. It generated numbers like no other boxing match before and set a standard no fight in the future is likely to ever meet.

However, Manny Pacquiao’s failure to seriously challenge Mayweather and Floyd's utter refusal to even pretend to consider a finish inside the distance left many disappointed. Standards were impossibly high, especially among casual fans who seemed to expect the second coming of Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward and not Mayweather's typical yawning matador routine.

For many fans, it was a first glimpse at the world of big-time boxing. For some, it will be their last. In the aftermath, all the usual suspects opined that boxing, this time, was truly dead. 

By the end of the year, of course, the fight was long forgotten. A new heavyweight champion emerged, and Canelo vs. Cotto proved fans were still willing to open their wallets for the right fight. Things don’t seem so bleak anymore, proving the sun always rises—even over a sport as gloomy as boxing.

Also Considered: Guillermo Rigondeaux, Andre Ward, Manny Pacquiao, Adonis Stevenson, Wladimir Klitschko

Breakout Star: James DeGale

Mathieu Belanger/Getty Images

There was room at the top at super middleweight—a place waiting for a fighter with the quality and courage to seize it. In the last 12 months, Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler both retired, and stalwart consensus champion Andre Ward finally made the move up to light heavyweight, leaving all his belts behind.

In the wake of this massive sea change, a few new names emerged as contenders. But none of them shined brighter than James DeGale. His speed, skill, power, fan-friendly style and willingness to go on the road to fight world-class competition vaulted him to the top of the pack.

DeGale’s run to glory began way back in 2008 with his Olympic gold medal at the London games. A 2011 loss to George Groves delayed his championship prospects in the professional ranks, but an opportunity to compete for a vacant world title against Andre Dirrell finally emerged this May.

Surprising many, DeGale controlled the contest, dropped Dirrell and won the IBF version of the title. Afterward, he faced one of the few remaining names from the Super Six era glory days when he fought Lucian Bute. DeGale managed to win a competitive and entertaining fight in Bute’s own hometown, ending the year as one of PBC's most compelling fighters going into 2016.

Also Considered: Roman Gonzalez, Anthony Joshua, Viktor Postal, Tyson Fury

Fight of the Year: Takashi Miura vs. Francisco Vargas

JOHN GURZINSKI/Getty Images

Takashi Miura and Francisco Vargas weren’t big names to anyone outside the hardcore boxing bubble, but those in the know were aware that fans were in for a wild ride when the two men shared the ring on the Cotto/Canelo undercard.

Miura’s offense-first, hard-punching southpaw style meshed beautifully and violently with Vargas’ well-honed boxer/puncher template. It was a fight that had it all—multiple knockdowns, more than a little blood and a finish to remember.

Momentum shifted throughout the fight, with Vargas' early control giving way to a Miura rally that left the Japanese fighter up on the cards and seemingly on his way to victory. Instead, Vargas emerged from his corner in the ninth round to drop Miura with a sizzling combination and then forced referee Tony Weeks to intervene with an unyielding pursuit of the finish.

Vargas left the ring with a world championship at super featherweight and, perhaps more importantly, a newfound place in boxing lore. Championship belts abound. Fighters capable of a legendary performance are few and far between, making the new champion a hot commodity in 2016. 

Also Considered: Huck vs. Glowacki, Roman Martinez vs. Orlando Salido II, Matthysse vs. Ruslan Provodnikov, Andrzej Fonfara vs. Nathan Cleverly

Fighter of the Year: Canelo Alvarez

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The greatest fighter of his era, Floyd Mayweather Jr., won the most lucrative bout in prizefighting history. As an encore, he beat Andre Berto to finish his Hall of Fame career undefeated, equaling the great Rocky Marciano's record of 49-0.

That this wasn't enough to secure "Fighter of the Year" in our poll speaks volume to the Mayweather fatigue that overcame boxing in 2015. For years Floyd toyed with opponents and emotions, always doing just enough to win and never quite enough to thrill. That, and the incessant coverage of his persistent criminality, cheated the great champion of his victory lap.

He departed boxing the richest, most successful fighter in decades. He hasn't been missed.

As boxing's greatest villain faded from the scene, a hero emerged in the form of Canelo Alvarez. A former Mayweather victim, Alvarez re-established himself as a major player by taking the lineal middleweight championship from Miguel Cotto. Though he can't yet match Mayweather's box-office success, it was a good start—and a breath of fresh air for boxing fans who are looking to press the reset button on the last decade.

Also Considered: Floyd Mayweather, Tyson Fury, Gennady Golovkin