Ranking the Top Candidates for 2015 Fight of the Year
When Timothy Bradley faces Brandon Rios this Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, there's a reasonable chance they will turn in a fight-of-the-year effort. They'll be chasing clubhouse leaders Lucas Matthysse vs. Ruslan Provodnikov and Krzysztof Glowacki vs. Marco Huck.
There's no standard criteria for judging one fight as better than another. But obviously, high-action offense is a big part of the equation in any case.
Beyond that, I look for the fighters to display courage and durability, qualities that the old-timers in the bare-knuckle era dubbed "bottom." Momentum shifts or dramatic finishes can also add greatness to any clash.
5. Jean Pascal UD Yunieski Gonzalez, July 25
1 of 5
The pace slackened a bit late in this fight, with both men showing signs of justifiable fatigue. This was a light heavyweight contenders fight, but both men rehydrated on fight night to nearly 190 pounds, so in reality, these were fighters the size of many heavyweight champions from earlier eras.
This was two big, athletic dudes chin-checking each other. Heavy damage was inflicted and endured on both sides.
Gonazalez did not significantly out-land Pascal, but he threw over 200 more punches, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, and consistently pushed the pace of the fight. He also landed more quality punches.
The judges disagreed, with all three handing Pascal the win, 96-94. It was good enough to get him a rematch in January 2016 with Sergey Kovalev.
A rematch with Gonzalez would probably be more appropriate. I had the Cuban winning, 97-93.
4. Roman Martinez D Orlando Salido, September 12
2 of 5
Orlando Salido and Roman Martinez have fought two great fights this year. Martinez knocked Salido down twice and won a unanimous decision to capture the WBO super featherweight title in April.
Their rematch took place on the undercard for Floyd Mayweather's pay-per-view fight with Andre Berto. Martinez vs. Salido was a kind of consolation prize for enduring the suspenseless sparring exhibition Mayweather turned in for the main event.
Salido brought everything he had with him, in what he knew could be his last chance to once more reign as a world champion. The Mexican warrior threw over 1,000 punches in the fight, landing more overall punches than Martinez—and more power shots. He put in impressive work to the body.
Salido clearly did enough to earn the win here, but Martinez was back and forth with him in nearly every round. The champion also dropped Salido in Round 3 and had him in trouble in the fourth.
It's an overstatement to call this one a robbery. But a contested decision in an all-action battle like this should only mean one thing: a rematch in early 2016.
3. David Lemieux UD Hassan N'Dam, June 20
3 of 5
Because David Lemieux dropped Hassan N'Dam four times in this bout for the vacant IBF middleweight belt, on paper it looks like it must have been one-sided. In fact, it was a high-action, back-and-forth battle in which N'Dam once more showed that he's one of the sport's most durable athletes.
The fight was extremely similar to N'Dam's 2012 loss to Peter Quillin. In that fight, Quillin knocked down N'Dam six times, but the latter still won five of 12 rounds with all three judges.
Without the four knockdowns in his fight with N'Dam, Lemieux would merely have escaped with a majority decision.
It takes a special kind of toughness for a fighter to sustain that kind of damage throughout a fight and still rally to win rounds.
The big story for this fight was definitely Lemieux's relentless offensive performance. He caught N'Dam with jolting lead hooks upstairs and also put in heavy, consistent attacks to the body.
But despite the pounding Lemieux put into his torso, N'Dam was still up on his toes, fighting on close terms, even at the end of the fight. It was a tremendously gritty performance.
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2. Lucas Matthysse MD Ruslan Provodnikov, April 18
4 of 5
Even though this fight came just two weeks before the so-called "Fight of the Century" between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, there was no way it was going to get lost in the shuffle. Lucas Matthysse and Ruslan Provodnikov have been two of the most exciting fighters of recent years.
Matthysse is the unstoppable force and Provodnikov the immovable object. It was a classic can't-miss fight.
It did not fail to deliver. Matthysse was consistently able to use a jab and a bit of movement to rough Provodnikov up from the outside and middle distance.
But the Siberian Rocky refused to be discouraged and continued to wade forward, where he put in some very heavy blows to Matthysse's body.
I was ringside for this fight and scored it even, though if I had to pick a winner, it would be Matthysse. I have to believe we'll see a rematch of this one at some point.
1. Krzysztof Glowacki KO 11 Marco Huck, August 14
5 of 5
The cruiserweight division rarely gets significant attention in the United States. This August 14 title defense for WBO champion Marco Huck on the Steve Cunningham-Antonio Tarver undercard was a rare opportunity to see the long-time German star in action on U.S. television.
His opponent, Krzysztof Glowacki, was undefeated but also largely unknown. There was no real reason to suspect that the Polish upstart would provide a significant challenge to Huck, who was one of the sport's longest-reigning champions.
Instead, Glowacki took the fight to the champion early, rocking him in Round 1 and hurting him again in the third. But in the middle rounds, Huck rallied and seemed to be taking control of the fight, though the action remained back and forth and competitive.
Huck dropped Glowacki in Round 6, but the Pole recovered quickly and came back to arguably win Round 7.
Just when it looked like Huck might be destined to escape with a hard-fought defense, Glowacki caught up to the champion with a right hook in Round 11 that sent him tumbling. Huck recovered and made it back to his feet, but a follow-up barrage knocked him through the ropes. It was a thrilling, knockout finish for the new champion.
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