January 2, 2024 – By Paul R. Jones! As we say goodbye to 2023, EAST SIDE BOXING hands out its annual “ESBY” awards to honor boxing’s top fighters, fights, knockouts, and moments.
Here are our 2023 ESBY Award Winners and Nominees:
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR, MALE
🏆WINNER: NAOYA ‘THE MONSTER’ INOUE
Our FIGHTER OF THE YEAR award goes to Naoya Inoue, a fighter who leveled up in 2023 by moving up the scales to take on and defeat stiff competition at 122 pounds (Stephen Fulton JR. and Marlon Tapales), and ultimately become a two-division undisputed world champ in just over a year. That’s rarefied air that the Monster is living in.
Taken together, INOUE’s activity level, willingness to take significant risks, ongoing KO streak, and the compressed timeline of his legacy play were enough to edge cRAWFORD — who notched the year’s most impressive victory — to earn our 2023 FIGHTER OF THE YEAR honors.
NOMINEES
Terence Crawford
JESSE “BAM” RODRIGUEZ
Devin Haney
David Benavidez
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR, FEMALE
🏆WINNER: Katie Taylor
Our Female Fighter of the Year award goes out to one-half of the duo responsible for producing women’s boxing preeminent prequel and sequel of 2023: KATIE TAYLOR.
TAYLOR’s greatness was undeniable in 2023, with the reigning undisputed lightweight world champ moving up to 140 pounds to chase greatness in May. Although Taylor came up short in her first bid to become a two-division champ versus CAMERON, and she saw her unblemished record erased, she showed resilience by chasing that loss with an immediate rematch that saw her edge CAMERON over 10 nip-and-tuck rounds. The victory was another career-defining win for TAYLOR, which made her the reigning undisputed champ at 140 and 135 pounds.
TAYLOR‘s ability to help sell out the 3Arena in Dublin (a testament to their star power), her legacy play to capture world titles in two divisions, and her ability to beat a prime and undefeated CAMERON in their rematch made the Ireland native well deserving of Female Fighter of the Year honors.
NOMINEES
Amanda Serrano
Yokasta “Yoka” Valle
SENIESA ESTRADA
YESICA Nery Plata
Savannah Marshall
FIGHT OF THE YEAR, MEN’S BOXING
🏆WINNER: Luis Nery KO11 Azat Hovhannisyan
Our FIGHT OF THE YEAR was simple: Luis Nery KO11 Azat Hovhannisyan.
With all due respect to the other worthy FIGHT OF THE YEAR candidates, including (but not limited to) Munguía vs. Derevyanchenko and Ramirez vs. Espinoza, we fought against the usual gravitational pull of recency bias to hand our top honors in this category to two pint-sized super bantamweights who put on an instant classic back in February. Mexico’s Luis “Pantera” Nery gutted out an emphatic win over a game Azat Hovhannisyan in an all-out war. Their matchup, a WBC Title Eliminator, set the early standard for action-packed fights in 2023, with both fighters wasting few punches, while trading heavy leather in a high-octane Mexican-style fight, which culminated in a 10th round stoppage win for Nery over Hovhannisyan.
NOMINEES
Jaime Munguía UD12 Sergiy Derevyanchenko
Joe Cordina SD12 ShavkatDZHON Rakhimov
Devin Haney UD12 VASYL Lomachenko
Emanuel Navarrete UD12 Óscar Valdez
Rafael Espinoza MD12 Robeisy Ramirez
FIGHT OF THE YEAR, WOMEN’S BOXING
🏆WINNER: Chantelle Cameron UD10 Katie Taylor
Although both scraps between KATIE TAYLOR and CHANTELLE CAMERON were compelling and worthy of top honors, it was the TAYLOR vs. CAMERON prequel that walked away with our 2023 FIGHT OF THE YEAR honors for Women’s Boxing, which featured CAMERON’s close (scorecards: 96-94 [twice], 95-95), but convincing upset win over the reigning Undisputed Lightweight Champ and then undefeated KATIE TAYLOR in a high-stakes, tactical matchup.
NOMINEES
Cameron MD10 Taylor – II
YESICA Nery Plata UD10 Kim Clavel
Amanda Serrano UD10 Erika Cruz
Alycia Baumgardner UD10 Christina Linardatou
Terri Harper Mdraw Cecilia Brækhus
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
🏆WINNER: PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS
(HAYMON BOXING)
Despite SHOWTIME Boxing shuddering its doors after more than 3 decades, ending the network’s iconic SHOWTIME Championship Boxing and ShoBox: The New Generation series, PBC promoted some of 2023’s most compelling matchups, including many of the bouts that helped to move the needle in the sweet science (e.g., SPENCE vs. Crawford, Benavidez vs. Plant, Ennis vs. Villa). Because PBC fights were associated with a potential PPV blockbuster (i.e., Davis vs. GARCIA with over 1M reported buys), some of the strongest live gate numbers of the year (i.e., SPENCE Jr. vs. Crawford), and this promotional outfit was able to strike a deal with Amazon to stream PBC fights moving forward (potentially to a larger audience), PBC was our surefire pick for 2023 Promoter of the Year.
NOMINEES
TOP RANK (BOB ARUM)
Golden Boy Promotions (oscar de la hoya)
MATCHROOM BOXING (EDDIE HEARN)
Queensberry Promotions (Frank Warren)
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR, MEN’S BOXING
🏆WINNER: Junto Nakatani KO12 Andrew Moloney
Undefeated Super Flyweight World Champ JUNTO NAKATANI‘s flatline KTFO of Aussie ANDREW MOLONEY on the undercard of Haney vs. Lomachenko certainly had the high stakes (a vacant WBO World Super Flyweight title was on the line) and wow factor (a spectacular walk-off KTFO) that we covet in a fight of the year candidate. And although this spectacular knockout happened after NAKATANI had already downed MOLONEY twice in the fight and was comfortably ahead on the cards, those shortcomings simply cannot outweigh the spectacle of NAKATANI’s must-see KTFO.
NOMINEES
Zhilei Zhang KTFO3 Joe Joyce
Mark Magsayo KtfO3 Isaac Avelar
Jose Valenzuela KTFO6 Chris Colbert
Ja’Rico O’Quinn KTFO5 Peter McGrail
SAMUEL ANTWI KTFO12 MASON CARTWRIGHT
Jordan White KTFO1 Eridson Garcia
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR, WOMEN’S BOXING
🏆WINNER: Julissa Alejandra Guzman KO8 Ramla Ali
In RAMLA ALI’s inaugural defense of her IBF Inter-Continental Super Bantamweight title, ALI was caught slipping like a transmission against the more experienced Julissa Alejandra Guzman. This upset knockout win for Guzman was our selection for Women’s Boxing’s knockout of the year with stakes, spectacle, and significance all tied into one.
NOMINEES
Mia Ellis KTFO2 Jessica Emerick
Maricela Cornejo KTFO1 Cynthia Lozano
TRAINER OF THE YEAR
🏆WINNER: Brian “BoMac” McIntyre
With the success of McIntyre’s stable of fighters that features the Pound-for-Pound kingpin, Terence Crawford, former Olympians (Shakur Stevenson, Keyshawn Davis), and Chris Eubank Jr., it’s hard to argue against “BoMac” as the 2023 trainer of the year. Any arguments to the contrary were nixed after “BoMac” developed the gameplan that CRAWFORD executed to thump the former unified champ, Errol Spence Jr., in July.
NOMINEES
SHINGO INOUE
Bill Haney Sr.
ROBERTO GARCIA
Calvin Ford and Kenny Ellis
Bozy Ennis
COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
🏆WINNER: Oleksandr Gvozdyk
Last seen being stopped by Light Heavyweight World Champion, Artur Beterbiev, in 2019, Oleksandr Gvozdyk returned to the ring in 2023 after a 3-year hiatus. And to his credit, Gvozdyk picked up where he left off, rattling off three dominant wins in a row (Obando, Bolotniks, Rodrigues) on his comeback trail. The Ukrainian “Nail” is clearly on pace to reenter the mix at 175 pounds, and, therefore, he’s our pick for the COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR.
NOMINEES
Jamel Herring
Dusty Hernández-Harrison
Adrien Broner
MOST IMPROVED FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
🏆WINNER: O’Shaquie Foster
O’Shaquie Foster may have flown under the radar of all but the most astute boxing fans, but make no mistake: FOSTER turned in a 2023 to remember. After easily outpointing then undefeated and reigning Featherweight World Champ, Rey Vargas, in February, to claim a vacant WBC World Super Featherweight title, FOSTER defended his crown in October with a marquee win over ranked contender, EDUARDO “ROCKY” HERNANDEZ. Importantly, FOSTER dropped HERNANDEZ twice, and stopped the Mexico native in the final round of their mandatory world title fight, with HERNANDEZ leading on 2 scorecards (107-102, 110-99) going into the final round.
Taken together, FOSTER’s active 11-fight win streak (dating back to 2016), his willingness to take risks, and his strength of schedule, made him a shoo-in for our most improved fighter OF THE YEAR award.
NOMINEES
Zhilei Zhang
Rafael Espinoza
Sam Goodman
Lamont Roach
Giovani Santillan
UPSET OF THE YEAR
🏆WINNER: Joseph Parker UD12 Deontay Wilder
Although a cogent case can be made for dramatic upsets in fights like Ramirez vs. Espinoza and Fundora vs. Mendoza, it was JOSEPH PARKER’s shutout win over vaunted puncher, DEONTAY WILDER, that took home our award 2023 UPSET OF THE YEAR.
In short, after recommending that PARKER should pack a pillow and expect to get knocked out in the WILDER vs. PARKER prefight buildup, it was WILDER who ended up failing to backup his prophecy, losing by wide UD to PARKER. In fact, it was PARKER who had WILDER in danger of being stopped in the 8th round of their matchup. Because virtually no one (including Vegas oddsmakers and yours truly), outside of, perhaps, JOSEPH PARKER and his Team, had PARKER beating, let alone shutting out DEONTAY WILDER on their bingo card, this was an easy choice for this superlative.
NOMINEES
Rafael Espinoza MD12 Robeisy Ramirez
Brian Mendoza KO7 Sebastian Fundora
Giovani Santillan KO6 Alexis Rocha
Agit Kabayel TKO4 Arslanbek Makhmudov
Mario Barrios UD12 Yordenis Ugas
BREAKOUT FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
🏆WINNER: Raymond Muratalla
Lightweight badass, RAYMOND MURATALLA, just missed the cut for our PROSPECT OF THE YEAR award in years past, but the undefeated knockout artist is squarely in our crosshairs as the 2023 BREAKOUT FIGHTER OF THE YEAR. Riding a four-fight knockout streak, and having made the successful transition from blue chip prospect to bonafide contender, “Danger” MURATALLA is the total package and an absolute nightmare for opposing lightweights.
Not only did MURATALLA stay active in 2023, but he maintained a high level of competition as well (the combined record of his opponents going into their bouts with the Californian this year was 55-4-1). Equally important, MURATALLA has even garnered praise his predecessors, including former World Champ, Tim Bradley, who proclaimed that MURATALLA is “the most dangerous 135-pounder right now” after “Danger” thumped former undefeated lightweight, Diego Torres in October. Bradly even went as far as to pick MURATALLA to beat the likes of Devin Haney and Keyshawn Davis, should they lock horns in the future. That’s high praise for 26-year-old contender, who made the strongest case for this year’s BREAKOUT FIGHTER OF THE YEAR award.
NOMINEES
Subriel Matías
Richard Hitchins
Xander Zayas
Rafael Espinoza
Elvis Rodriguez
PROSPECT OF THE YEAR, MALE
🏆WINNER: BRUCE CARRINGTON
Decorated amateur and undefeated featherweight prospect, Bruce “Shu-Shu” Carrington, walked away with our PROSPECT OF THE YEAR honors by a landslide. CARRINGTON fought five times in 2023, winning most of his bouts within 8 rounds. Based on his busy schedule and knack for finishing off his foes in impressive fashion (e.g., CARRINGTON reportedly broke Brandon Chambers’ jaw in their matchup), it was a no-brainer to pick CARRINGTON for this award over the remaining field of worthy candidates.
NOMINEES
Andy Cruz
Paulo Aokuso
Richard Torrez Jr
Curmel Moton
Troy Isley
PROSPECT OF THE YEAR, FEMALE
🏆WINNER: Caroline Dubois
CAROLINE DUBOIS, the sister of Heavyweight slugger, Daniel Dubois, put together a stellar 2023 campaign capped by UD win over Magali Rodriguez to claim a vacant IBO World Lightweight title. Dubois shined in the matchup, flooring Rodriguez multiple times in her first 10-round bout as a pro. The Londoner managed to squeeze in two other fights in 2023, in which she also recorded knockdowns against her opposition, including a stoppage of FERICHE MASHAURY in February and decision win over YANINA del CARMEN ESCANO in June. Collectively, the caliver of Dubois’ wins, coupled with her undefeated record, seek-and-destroy fighting style, and her ability to secure a IBO World title in only her 8th fight, made her a lock for our selection as 2023’s PROSPECT OF THE YEAR in Women’s Boxing.
NOMINEES
Skye Nicolson
Lauren Price
Taylah Robertson
Maisey Rose Courtney
Beatriz “THE BEAST” Ferreira
WORST DECISION OF THE YEAR
🏆WINNER: Tony Weeks’ Questionable stoppage of Rolando Romero VS. Ismael Barroso
This year’s WORST DECISION OF THE YEAR goes out to veteran referee Tony Weeks for his questionable stoppage of ROMERO vs. BARROSO, which resulted in a 9th-round TKO win for Rolando “Rolly” Romero over Ismael Barroso.
By most accounts, Romero and Barroso were engaging in a highly-entertaining scrap, for a vacant WBA World Super Lightweight title, which BARROSO appear to be winning based, in part, on BARROSO scoring a 3rd-round knockdown of ROMERO and the Venezuelan serving as the clear aggressor throughout most of the fight. However, WEEKS would completely botch the fight by inexplicably waiving off the bout with about 20 seconds left in the 9th round, presumably to protect BARROSO from potential punishment. However, the only problem was that BARROSO did not appear to be in any real danger at the time of WEEKS’ inexcusable stoppage in the 9th round. In fact, at the time of the stoppage, BARROSO appeared to be defending himself intelligently, having already fired back a handful of punches after avoiding an incoming flurry of punches from Romero seconds beforehand. What made matter worse, BARROSO was ahead on all 3 scorecards at the time of the stoppage, and he had already dropped ROMERO earlier in the fight to help build his lead. To see BARROSO work so hard to get the upper hand on ROMERO, only to have WEEKS snatch a potential victory away from BARROSO, without probable cause, was completely uncalled for, and provided yet another case study of boxing referees behaving badly.
For WEEKS’ questionable call, which could’ve cost the 40-year-old BARROSO a legitimate shot at a world title in the twilight of his career, we bestowed the WORST DECISION OF THE YEAR honors on WEEKS.
NOMINEES
Carlos Adames TKO9 Julian Williams
Erickson Lubin UD12 Jesus Ramos Jr.
Joe Cordina MD12 Edward Vazquez
Jessica McCaskill SDRAW Sandy Ryan
DID WE GET IT RIGHT?
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Finally, dear readers, I wish you the very best in the 2024!
Cheers!
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About the Author:
Paul R. Jones! is a longtime boxing writer and ringside photographer for EAST SIDE BOXING. His articles, photographs, and commentaries have appeared on many online outlets (such as Boxing News 24, Round by Round Boxing, Boxing Insider, and Medium.com), as well as in print and scholarly journals.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @boxingepicenter. Email or send him a tip at prjones1@hotmail.com.
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