2015 Boxer of the Year Award Winner:
Who’s bringing home our 2015 Fighter of the Year award? Well, if you read our write0up of the Trainer of the Year, then perhaps it’s not much of a surprise. For us, the clear Fighter of the Year in boxing for 2015 is Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
Golovkin is a near perfect destructive machine in the ring. Intelligent and with fantastic ring generalship, he wields a brutal arsenal of precision-placed power punches of all types, and from all places. He systematically breaks down his opponents, everything done with purpose.
Even when he gets hit, it’s with intention. He’s doing so to either lure his current opponent into a false state of comfort, or to lure a future opponent into the ring. Either way, the pain he unleashes in return will be worse than whatever came in his direction.
On the year, he improved his ledger to 34-0 with 31 knockouts, stopping Martin Murray in 11 rounds, Willie Monroe in 6 rounds and David Lemieux in 8 rounds. In the process, he became our middleweight champion of the world.
We also regard him as the number 3 pound for pound fighter on the planet right now. Of course, he also happens to be a top fighter who’s also must-see television. While he puts plenty of supreme skill on display, you can also be confident that when you go to a GGG fight, or watch one on television, that you’re all set for yet another Big Drama Show.
Looking at the rest of the field, there were a few other names to consider. Roman Gonzalez clearly deserves recognition. Both Golovkin and Gonzalez each fought three times, and scored three stoppage wins. Yet, Golovkin’s quality of opposition strikes us as being just a touch better, with no demerits or criticism to Chocolatito, who’s just as much of a picture perfect piece of performance art in the ring as Golovkin.
Names like Canelo Alvarez and Tyson Fury were in the mix. But each only had one top tier win. While Fury dethroned Wladimir Klitschko, he fought only one other time, against no-hoper Christian Hammer. Canelo defeated Miguel Cotto, but also fought just once more, against James Kirkland.
Golovkin’s quality of opposition, frequency of fighting, and virtuoso performances in each showing are what won him our 2015 Boxing Fighter of the Year.
