Familiar Faces To Dominate 2016’s Big Stage

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 2016.

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: Wladimir Klitschko

It was an unfortunate reality for “Dr. Steelhammer.”

After going unbeaten for more than a decade and reigning as the world’s preeminent heavyweight for nine years, the only possible way that Wladimir Klitschko could add “Comeback of the Year” to an already prodigious trophy case was to accept a dent in the aura.

And though it’s highly unlikely his sleepwalk against Tyson Fury in their first meeting was intentional, it did clear the way for 2016’s most impressive return.

Finally motivated by a quality opponent and obviously ornery thanks to near universal rejection from the media, the Ukrainian debuted as a 40-year-old in violent style – nearly decking his English foe in the opening round and pressing the action over the next four frames before finally inducing a mercy stoppage in the sixth.

UPSET OF THE YEAR: Tim Bradley W 12 Manny Pacquiao

It’s official. Bob Arum is a freakin’ genius.

After an initial bout remembered far more for its decision than its combat, and a second bout deemed unanimously unnecessary, the Las Vegas-based promotional guru still managed to sell the idea of a third get-together between Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley as something worth paying attention to.

And as fate would have it, he was spot on correct.

Though nearly everyone was tuned in to see the Filipino’s victorious swan song, it was the Californian who stole the show, outhustling his 37-year-old foe in nearly every round on the way to the single most decisive verdict of the suspect trilogy – getting the nod by across-the-board scores of 118-110.

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR: Shawn Porter KO 8 Keith Thurman

Welterweight thrill rides have finally become a young man’s game.

Though the division has long been headlined by guys on the long-toothed side of their 35th birthdays, the signing of the match between outspoken Floridian Keith Thurman and confident Nevadan Shawn Porter was a clarion call for a new age at 147 pounds.

And by the time they reached the ring, the back and forth banter between the 20-something rivals left everyone expecting nothing short of a firefight.

It didn’t come immediately – thanks to a prolonged scratch and sniff session through the first six rounds – but when it ultimately did arrive, it was worth it. Thurman wobbled his shorter, more muscled foe in the seventh round, then spent his tank in a failed effort to finish the show. He was clearly a compromised product come the eighth, and had little to reply with when Porter landed two booming rights in the initial 90 seconds. Two knockdowns later and “Showtime” was the king of the young lions.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR: Danny Garcia KO 11 Robert Guerrero

Then again, maybe action isn’t the exclusive domain of those born after 1986.

Matched with a guy seemingly on the decline after riding the Floyd Mayweather Jr. train a few years back, Philly-based slugger Danny Garcia aimed for a career-defining win in his first real test since moving up from a prolonged run as the world’s top 140-pounder.

He battered the comparatively old – at age 32 – Robert Guerrero through five rounds, then was forced to prove his welterweight mettle when the bloodied and swollen “Ghost” followed his typical script and began returning fire with a defiant sneer.

The action continued in to-and-fro style into the would-be championship rounds, before a single left hook from Garcia left the ex-featherweight in a motionless heap along the ropes in Round 11.

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: Andre Ward

One day he’s on a milk carton. The next day he’s conquering a new weight class.

Such is the story of the last American to strike Olympic boxing gold.

Andre Ward, who’s victorious romp through the super middleweight Super Six was followed by the most maddening bout of inactivity since Gerry Cooney, hinted at an elite return with a summer 2015 rout of Paul Smith -- then returned to angst creation when a knee injury prevented an encore on the Cotto-Canelo card five months later.

It was all forgiven by the end of 2016, though, when the light heavyweight fight nearly everyone was drooling over – a showdown with fellow HBO centerpiece Sergey Kovalev – was signed, sealed and delivered. And after 12 rounds of intermittent fencing, slugging and moving with the big Russian, it was clear the cagey Californian had re-ascended the sport’s pound-for-pound mountain.

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

No fights scheduled

Last week’s picks: 5-1 (WIN: Yaegashi, Inoue, Uchiyama, Taguchi, Tanaka; LOSE: Takayama)
2015 picks record: 93-26 (78.1 percent)
Overall picks record: 732-249 (74.6 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.