There were some damn good fights in 2011, though as usual most (not all) of the really great ones weren't on HBO or Showtime.
Our runner-up for Fight of the Year actually had the most first-place votes of any fight. The October 24 fight at Tokyo's legendary Korakuen Hall between 105-pounders Akira Yaegashi and Pornsawan Porpramook was a true barnburner, and the fact that a Japanese fight got this much support from our voting pool, which is almost entirely American and British, is pretty remarkable.
But with scored voting like this, more weight was given to the four first-place and six second-place votes for the July 15 Friday Night Fights epic between Pawel Wolak and Delvin Rodriguez, and that fight wins the polling on a score of 38-36.
Let's just say either fight would have been a truly worthy winner. The full breakdown is after the jump, as this table is a bit bigger than the previous three.
| Fight (Date) | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pawel Wolak vs Delvin Rodriguez (7/15) | 4 | 6 | 0 | 38 |
| Akira Yaegashi vs Pornsawan Porpramook (10/24) | 6 | 1 | 3 | 36 |
| Andre Berto vs Victor Ortiz (4/16) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| Luis Concepcion vs Hernan Marquez (4/2) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| Miguel Acosta vs Brandon Rios (2/26) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Antonio DeMarco vs Jorge Linares (10/15) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Adrian Hernandez vs Kompayak Porpramook (12/23) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Marcos Maidana vs Erik Morales (4/9) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Amir Khan vs Lamont Peterson (12/10) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Danny Green vs Antonio Tarver (7/20) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez (11/12) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jean Pascal vs Bernard Hopkins (5/21) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The top HBO fight of the year was Berto vs Ortiz, which we'll see again on February 11, but this time on Showtime. Showtime's top fight (and the only vote-getter from the network) was Acosta vs Rios.
And I can't help but think had Hernandez vs Kompayak happened a couple of months earlier, it would have garnered significant support as well.
Voters for the 2011 Bad Left Hook Boxing Awards are Scott Christ, Andrew Fruman, Brickhaus, Matt Miller, James Foley, Sean Mills, Ryan Bivins, Waldo Rastel, Kory Kitchen, Matt Mosley, Oli Goldstein, Nick Foxx, Chris Celletti, Sidney Boquiren, and Corey Erdman.
0 recs | 18 comments
Wow! I’m surprised! Pac Marq was even on the list! :)
cylee1180 - January 2, 2012
Not as surprising as Hopkins-Pascal IMO
Great year of fights though. There were probably 10 fights this year that would have been top 3 last year.
Brickhaus - January 2, 2012
I agree. Overall there were a lot more action fights this year. Last year was kind of a dud.
Kory Kitchen - January 2, 2012
The best fight I saw was Hernandez vs Porpramook. Sustained, competitive, action throughout and a conclusive ending.
DPlainview - January 2, 2012
It had to be a really hard choice this year, there were a lot of beauts, but I really did love Rodiguez v. Wolak. Glad it came in first.
BoxAnne - January 2, 2012
imo mauricio herrera vs ruslan provodnikov
should of at least have been mentioned. what a great fight it was to start the year!
el javi - January 2, 2012 via Android app
You can only vote for three fights. I don’t think it was top ten, let alone top three.
Scott Christ - January 2, 2012
but it was a very very good fight
Don’t get me wrong. A lot of good FNF fights – Melligen vs Lujan and Gonzales vs Sierra made for three straight weeks of excellent (with Wolak vs Rodriguez ) in July.
Scott Christ - January 2, 2012
cool thank you
I’m glad you recognized it was a good fight
el javi - January 2, 2012 via Android app
link?
Boss Man - January 2, 2012
it's in my top ten for FOTY but not top three
Matt Miller - January 3, 2012
Akira Yaegashi vs Pornsawan Porpramook
Second place: Makoto Fuchigami vs. Koji Sato
Boss Man - January 2, 2012
Fuchigami-Sato is another one that didn’t have enough time to pick up steam. Wouldn’t have quite been in my top three personally, but it was a hell of a fight. Japan produced some wars this year.
my top three, for anyone interested:
1. Yaegashi vs Porsawan
2. Wolak vs Rodriguez
3. Hernandez vs Kompayak
Scott Christ - January 2, 2012
I believe I had the same top 2
With Marquez-Concepcion I in 3rd. There were a lot of candidates though, and none of them were so much better to make them obvious choices.
Brickhaus - January 2, 2012 via mobile
The Sato fight was fun
But I really don’t think it’s a candidate in any year. It was just two unskilled guys wailin on each other. It’s up there in terms of pure brutality, but it wasnt much different from watching a Kimbo Slice street fight.
Brickhaus - January 2, 2012 via mobile
:twisted:
Boss Man - January 3, 2012
I think I’d have Hernandez-Kompayak at the top of my list, but that could just be because of recency bias. Sad to see no mention of either of the Nava-Torres fights.
Also, are there going to be any Bricky awards?
bachwards - January 3, 2012
I honestly tried to find a place for the Nava-Torres first fight (IMO slightly better than the excellent rematch), but it just didn’t make my top three.
Scott Christ - January 3, 2012
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