Updated:01/24/2022 00:39h
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The year 2021 has meant, as far as boxing is concerned, the goodbye to the pandemic. The public returned to the evenings, key to nourish the bags and end the poor image of the empty pavilions or the fights in the garden of the mansion of the British promoter Eddie Hearn in Essex. In the past twelve months we have seen a good handful of extraordinary fights from the greatest figures in boxing, from Canelo Alvarez to Tyson Fury, going through Terrence Crawford or the dethroned Anthony Joshua and Teófimo López. In addition, a man from Barcelona, Sandor Martín, and a man from Granada, Kiko Martínez, have carried the Spanish flag to the top of the arenas.
the best combat
The lighter weights are usually the ugly ducklings of the international circuit, but the Gallo Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, two gladiators weighing just 50 kilos, staged an epic fight on March 13 that was perhaps the best in recent years.
The 2,500 blows – yes, you read correctly – that were launched in 12 rounds attest to this. The judges gave the victory to Mexican Estrada, who retained the Council title and won the Association title in the super flyweight category, but the Nicaraguan not only ended up on his feet but also with his head held high. Objectively, this fight showed more quality than another that attracted many more lights and closed the trilogy, in which the Gypsy King, Tyson Fury -the best of the heavyweights-, liquidated the bronze bomber, Deontay Wilder.
KO of the year
The tenth round was passing when the Mexican Óscar Valdez dodged in a breath three hands from his compatriot Miguel Berchelt and responded with a straight from left It came from hell itself. Nothing could do his contender, who fell on his face to the canvas, in one of those demolitions in which the ‘referee’ does not count to ten: call the doctor. Insuperable.
The surprise of 2021
Great favorite was the American Teófimo López on November 27 against the australiano George Kambosos. The fighter of Honduran origin had won the lightweight throne in Las Vegas in October 2020, beating one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Vasyl Lomachenko, by unanimous decision. The bookmakers paid hardly anything for Kambosos, but the few who bet on him became rich: the fair winner thanks to a very serious fight in the division with the most competition and in which he raised a KO situation. Although less surprising, the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk also deserves mention (if you find him in an alley he gives you a stroke) who, coming from the cruisers, stole all four belts from a disappointing Anthony Joshua, once a just king of the heavyweights.
The best boxer of the year
It doesn’t matter what his many ‘haters’ say. Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez He is the best fighter of the year because he has shown it where the champions speak, between the twelve ropes. After winning them all at middleweight and even going up to light heavyweight against Kovalev -something old-, last year he overwhelmed the super middleweight. He started 2021 with the Turkish Yildirim paperwork (mandatory fight) and then tore apart two top-tier opponents who came in undefeated. First, the British Billy Joe Saunders, a worthy Roma character from ‘Snatch: Pigs and Diamonds’ who got into the ring at the At&T Stadium in Texas with a 30-0 in his record and he left there in an ambulance, with a broken cheekbone and his career in jeopardy. And then the American Caleb Plant, who ended his 14-0 streak and could do nothing against the man from Guadalajara, the fittest man in this sport and deserving of the honorary title of the best pound for pound. Long live Mexico bastards!
The chimes of the Spanish
Before October 17 followers of Mikey García, four-time world champion with a 40-1 record, was asked on Twitter why he was going to fight Sergio Ramos. They had not heard of Sandor Martín, who arrived from Barcelona to California, the home of his opponent, with the loser sign. Sandor entered the ring to the rhythm of ‘Volare’, by the Gipsy Kings, and gave an entire boxing recital to a world star. The points victory was not unanimously (it doesn’t matter) because one of the three judges saw Garcia as the winner (either he was a homemaker to the point of paroxysm or he was drunk). A month later, on November 13, Kiko Martinez, who had been the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight world champion, was losing his fight in Sheffield against the featherweight champion, the local Kid Galahad. Concluding the fifth round, he landed a monumental right hand by surprise that took the local fighter to the canvas. At the beginning of the sixth, Galahad could not withstand the second power blow from Granada. ‘La Sensación’ Martínez thus became the second Spanish boxer to win two world champion belts in different divisions, after Javi Castillejo.
What awaits us in 2022
Kiko will defend his belt in England (rematch with Galahad or against Josh Warrington) and Sandor has knocked on the door of a big fight in which his brilliant career will be at stake. For his part, the Canelo wants to enlarge his legacy with a belt two divisions higher, in the cruiserweight, against the Congolese Ilunga Makabu, but the fight is in the air due to the appearance of Thabiso Mchunu. In the heavy ones there will be rematch between Usyk and Joshua, so Fury will have to wait. On the other hand, Terrence Crawford -for many connoisseurs the best pound for pound in the world- should fight once and for all with Errol Spence, but the latter’s retinal injury and the lack of harmony between promoters distance the dream contest. In the now most beautiful division, that of the lightweights, Kambosos, Teófimo, Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis -Floy Mayweather’s pupil- will have to clarify who is the best.
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