Big Unification, Bigger Upset To Get Top 2015 Billing

By Lyle Fitzsimmons

If you’ve gotten to this point and aren’t happy, it’s your own fault.

You should have seen it coming last week.

As has become tradition in the typically Tuesday (but this week, Wednesday) morning space in late December, we ring out the old year with a recap of the predictions made 12 months in advance.

It was, if you recall from last week, a forecasting year to forget.

But hope springs eternal, so – in the recurring quest to match the glory of our spot-on advance pick of Andre Ward as fighter of the year in 2011 – we’re giving it another go for 2015.

Unlike football, baseball or their collective ilk, there are no master schedules from which to pluck events to predict. And even if I was prescient enough to know now which fights would be made between which guys, say, next October, there's always a chance that three people sitting on the ring's perimeter would pound my forecasting into dust with their definition of what constitutes a “boxing lesson.”

But those are excuses and gripes for another day. Today is a day of forward thinking, and with that, here are the advance story recaps that other boxing scribes will be writing about 12 months from now.

And if even some of this stuff actually happens… it’s going to be a good year.

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR: Andre Ward

By anyone’s estimation, it’d been too long.

Following a 2009-11 stretch that saw him handle the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, the humble Californian trumped himself by toppling – and some would suggest, ruining – reigning light heavyweight king Chad Dawson in a high-end 2012 showdown.

And since then, pffft. Injuries, promotional issues and all of the other things unique to our fair sport kept Ward on the sidelines for all but 36 minutes since the Dawson victory, but mid-year 2015 finally became Ward’s time to re-ascend the lofty heights he’d already scaled.

He returned to the ring with a get-busy defeat of rugged Brian Vera in June, then jumped right back into the fray by becoming the first high-profile fighter to take Gennady Golovkin up on a claim that he’d go anywhere from 154 to 168 pounds for a big fight. The two champions got together in October in Carson, Calif., and Ward clinched the comeback nod with a skillful 12-round exhibition that ultimately earned him wins by tight, but clear counts of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113.

UPSET OF THE YEAR: Amir Khan MD 12 Floyd Mayweather Jr.

As it turns out, maybe “Money” should have taken the big fight after all.

Mayweather ended months of speculation that the long-awaited showdown with Manny Pacquiao would finally come off, and chose instead to engage the pursuing Englishman who’d initially been turned down in favor of what became a two-bout series with Marcos Maidana in 2014.

After three rounds, it became clear that Floyd made a mistake. From there, a disciplined and focused Khan used his length and speed to force engagement and win exchanges against the defensive wizard, who was unable to frustrate his foe or manage work rate in the way he’d done to so many others.

It was hardly a one-sided beating and more than one or two people expected Mayweather to get the majority verdict as Jimmy Lennon Jr. grabbed the microphone, but the 116-112, 115-113, 114-114 scores ultimately generated a full-throated celebration from the Brits who’d made the trip to Madison Square Garden and a consensus thumbs-up from the overflow media contingent covering the bout.

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR: Bermane Stiverne KO 7 Deontay Wilder

It didn’t unify the heavyweight titles or separate a certain Ukrainian behemoth from his throne as the division’s kingpin, but what the matchup of a Haitian-born Canadian and a brash former U.S. Olympian did do was rekindle interest in the big men that carried through the entire year.

Wilder entered the ring with a string of violent knockouts and a gift for menacing chatter, but the “Bronze Bomber’s” path to glory was quickly impeded by the underrated Stiverne, who’d dispatched another tough-talking American – former title challenger Chris Arreola – and showed more than enough mettle to handle a taller, more athletic version in January.

Stiverne dumped Wilder in the second round and gradually beat the menace out of him over the next four rounds, before ending matters with a booming right hand that sent the 6-foot-7 Wilder to the floor in an awkward heap that saw the fallen prospect immediately surrounded by concerned handlers.

He rose after a few minutes and was eventually able to do a somber post-fight interview with Showtime’s Jim Gray, but Stiverne had already exited with the “world’s hottest heavyweight” tag intact.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR: Miguel Cotto UD 12 Canelo Alvarez

It’s always been a reliable boxing equation. Mexico plus Puerto Rico equals entertainment.

And as luck would have it, that old math held serve in the HBO half of the remote control-sapping Cinco de Mayo weekend doubleheader at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which was broadcast at the same time as Showtime’s aforementioned Mayweather-Khan show in New York.

Alvarez reached the ring as a clear favorite and looked plenty strong at middleweight, but his initial surge in the first few rounds was gradually equaled and ultimately surpassed by the same tactically sound Cotto who pulled a second 160-pound surprise 11 months after dethroning Sergio Martinez.

It was up for grabs into the final three rounds, but Cotto’s strategic movement and superior boxing let him maintain the slight edge he’d built and win by scores of 115-113 across the board.

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: Wladimir Klitschko

As mentioned earlier, he wasn’t the heavyweight who started the people taking about the division again, but by the time the year was over – the 39-year-old was the only one still talking.

Klitschko returned to U.S. soil for the first time since 2008 to handle unbeaten Philadelphian Bryant Jennings in a grinding 12-rounder in Brooklyn on April 25. That win, combined with Stiverne’s aforementioned rout of Wilder in January, was the catalyst for the first match with “undisputed heavyweight championship” on the marquee in more than a decade.

The follow-up showdown in November in Brooklyn didn’t at all disappoint, and Klitschko’s mid-rounds rally after he was badly wobbled by Stiverne early on probably yielded more acclaim in its aftermath than all of his 18 previous title defenses combined. A knockdown of his own in the 10th guaranteed scorecard separation and the final unanimous verdict was greeted with universal approval.

Khan, Cotto and a few others warranted consideration, but at year’s end, Klitschko was the right call.

* * * * * * * * * *

This week's title-fight schedule:

No fights scheduled.

Last week's picks: 5-2 (WIN: Linares, Inoue, Takayama, Uchiyama, Rigondeaux; LOSE: Guevara, Taguchi)
2014 picks record: 94-29 (76.4 percent)
Overall picks record: 639-223 (74.1 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.