British and Irish Boxing Year End Awards - 2013

[Bodyshot3]

Comedy moment of the year for me was the dim-witted Fury going loco yet again and grabbing the microphone at the MSG post-Cunningham and deciding to try and schmooze everyone with his whole pub singer/Irish charm routine and then dying the absolute death-of-deaths. Three, long minutes of totally self-inflicted, ball-achingly public embarassment.

An absolute tumbleweed moment with the whole place falling deathly silent and I half-expected Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer to suddenly come out of a corner and put Fury out of his misery. Fury made a massive nipple out of himself that night and his grandkids will still be laughing at him in 50 years time.

[Weebler I]

By and large a bitterly disappointing year for the sport in the UK with the lows outscoring the highs by some distance.

Frampton and Froch the stand-out fighters for me and by some distance and Stuey Hall's unlikely but heroic rise to world champion made me smile.

The lows included Clev getting smashed, Haye and Fury boring us all rigid with entire weeks of self-indulgent hype about their greatness and then never throwing a punch in anger, poor Ray Beltran getting robbed against Burns, Jamie M losing his title outside the ring, Darren Barker's meltdown against Sturm, Price's failures and the slow decline of Amir Khan.

Bloody hell m8, you're not doing much to dispel the miserable Brit stereotype. :-)

It's expectations again I think. I didn't imagine Cleverly would do anything other than get smashed by Kovalev, it's just levels. It didn't surprise me that Haye would pull out either, he's not a great character. Barker's loss to Sturm has to be balanced against achieving his dream win over Geale. McDonnell is a success story, he'll come again, maybe against Hall. Khan is adapting his style and may yet secure the biggest fight of them all. Price was a disappointment, no argument there as most of us expected better but maybe his move to Sauerland and Germany will help turn things around. Chin up, stiff upper lip and all that.

[Bodyshot3]

Fair point Weebler....but I think the sooner we move on from 2013 the better. I am hoping to see the next generation come through like Selby, Frampton, Saunders, Butler and Hughie Fury.

[Mr Ehrmantraut]

I was impressed with Ryder when he fought Saunders. That was the only fight of his i've seen. Very raw, but has a bit of potential in my book. Maybe he could switch to a more established trainer with top notch sparring and get a strength and conditioning coach.

[Chrismart]

Fighter : Froch
Controversial fight with Groves, but he came on strong towards the end..did get the win. Plus beat Kessler earlier on in the year.
Chisora is up there..had a pretty solid year as he regrouped.

Event :
Froch Vs Kessler

Fight :
Froch Vs Kessler
Froch - Groves, Hall - Malinga and Matthews - Crolla were enjoyable also.

KO :
Smith vs Buckland.
Matthews Vs Coyle was brutal also.

Prospect :
Callum Smith

One to watch in 2014 :
Paul Butler

Disappointment :
A year to forget for David Price. 2 Defeats, illness preventing a comeback fight and another change of trainer. I what was supposed to be a big year for him.
The whole Fury Vs Haye thing was another disappointment.

Trainer :
Joe Gallagher

Promoter :
Eddie Hearn

Fight you want to see made in 2014 :
Quigg Vs Frampton

Highs :
For me watching Barker, Hall and McDonnell pick up World Titles was an high. All 3 fights were good ones also.