Floyd Mayweather, Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Joshua Earn WBC 2015 Awards

Floyd Mayweather has been handed the Lifetime Achievement Award at the WBC Annual Convention in Kunming, China.

Mayweather was the recipient of what Boxing News 24 described as “the highest honour ever presented to a boxer.”

The ceremony also heralded Saul “Canelo” Alvarez after his brilliant 2015 and British heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua, as noted by the WBC’s official website. 

Mayweather hung up his gloves after fighting Andre Berto last September. It saw the American end his career with an immaculate record of 49 wins from 49 fights, putting him alongside the great Rocky Marciano and, in the eyes of many, among the best competitors the sweet science has seen.

JOHN GURZINSKI/Getty Images

As sports statistician Mohandas Menon noted in the aftermath of Mayweather’s win over Berto, he is one of only a few professional fighters to have retired undefeated after so many outings:

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Undefeated boxers 51-0 Ricardo Lopez 1985-2001 49-0 Rocky Marciano 1947-1955 49-0 Floyd Mayweather 1996-2015 46-0 Joe Calzaghe 1993-2008

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) September 13, 2015"

While some fight fans have never been a huge fan of Mayweather’s conservative fighting style, few could argue against him receiving such an accolade.

In terms of boxing fundamentals, none have come close to the man known as Money in this generation. It may not have always been entertaining viewing, but the manner in which Mayweather went about his business often left his opponents wafting at thin air.

As noted by Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden last month when referring to a different award, Mayweather definitely deserves some recognition:

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Floyd Mayweather retired undefeated. He headlined the most lucrative event in #boxing history. But he's not fighter of the year? Really?

— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) December 23, 2015"

There are many who don’t feel as though Mayweather is done with boxing quite yet, given the money he could make and prestige potentially up for grabs should he return. But the future of the sport seems to be in safe hands.

Al Bello/Getty Images

Canelo is a competitor set for a big year, and he picked up two awards courtesy of the WBC. The first was for the Champion of the Year, which he shared with middleweight rival Gennady Golovkin. The other was for the KO of the Year, when Alvarez almost decapitated James Kirkland with a brutal right hook.

Here’s a reminder of that particular shot and some of the other shuddering punches Kirkland had to take that night:

Joshua may not be as far along as Canelo, but he too seems set for big things in the future, as is evident by the Prospect of the Year gong he picked up.

The 2012 Olympic heavyweight champion fought five times in 2015, winning all of his bouts inside the scheduled distance, including a thrilling win over Dillian Whyte last month, where he took a couple of big shots from his opponent.

As Breathe Sport noted here, Joshua’s professional record reads very well indeed:

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Anthony Joshua's 15 knockouts: R1 R2 R2 R2 R1 R1 R2 R3 R2 R1 R3 R2 R2 R1 R7 Deadly. pic.twitter.com/iror9FOQg2

— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) December 13, 2015"

It’s certainly an exciting time for the sport. Canelo seems to be on a collision course with Golovkin in the middleweight class in what’s likely to be the biggest fight of 2016.

Joshua’s progress will also make for intriguing viewing, and given his compatriot Tyson Fury is currently the heavyweight champion, there will be a swell of momentum to fast track the youngster to the top.

JUSTIN TALLIS/Getty Images

We’re also likely, at some point, to receive a clear indication of whether Mayweather will return.

After beating Manny Pacquiao in 2015, there was something extremely underwhelming about the manner in which the iconic fighter ended his career, with Berto clearly not up to standard. As the months tick by, the competitive itch is one Mayweather will surely be tempted to scratch.