by David P. Greisman

Part one ( Click Here ) of this year’s Freewheeling Fighting Awards took a look at moments that were ridiculous and moments that were worth remembering, at silly situations, preposterous personalities and notable nights.

In part one, Sergio Martinez’s eye-opening left hand on Paul Williams – eye-opening both for the attention it brought to Martinez and for the manner in which the unconscious Williams stared lifelessly from the canvas – garnered “Knockout of the Year” honors.

Saul Alvarez’s ledger for the last 12 months made him “Prospect of the Year.” And Jason Litzau’s fight against the odds – in this case an apt description and not just a cliché – in outpointing Celestino Caballero earned him the “Upset of the Year” award.

That was not all. We also had boxers falling out of rings, boxers being disqualified for hitting downed fighters, and Mike Tyson singing and dancing alongside Wayne Brady and Bobby Brown.

This week we have more of the strange and more of the stellar, more of the inconceivable and more of the incredible. We decide the fight of the year and the fighter of the year – the winners of which did not cement such recognition until the final two months of the year.

Let us close the books on 2010, then, with the second and final part of the Freewheeling Fighting Awards.

The “You Dog-Blasted, Ornery, No-Account, Long-Eared Varmint! Award,” for worst impression of Yosemite Sam: to Jim Lampley, who uttered the following in the middle of the eighth round of Manny Pacquiao’s win over Joshua Clottey in March:

“Four-punch, five-punch, six-punch combination. Body shot, body shot, bang, bang, bang. BANG! BANG! BANG! Try and stop it. BANG! BANG! Here I come. BANG! Do you wanna throw sometime? BANG! This is the Manny Pacquiao who has dominated boxing for the past three years. BANG! BANG, BANG! BANG, BANG! Do you wanna throw back? BANG! Keep coming.”

The “Emanuel Augustus vs. Ray Oliveira Award,” for best double punch: to Manny Pacquiao, who landed simultaneous right and left hands on Joshua Clottey in the fourth round of their March fight.

Pacquiao threw two southpaw jabs, followed by a left hand to the body, a right hook to the body, a left cross to Clottey’s gloves, a jab to Clottey’s gloves, and then looped both hands around Clottey’s guard and onto Clottey’s head

The real question following this? Does Jim Lampley have the ability to yell out two BANG!s at once?

The “Jim Lampley ‘BANG! BANG! BANG!’ Award,” for best multi-punch combination: to Fernando Guerrero, who threw a barrage of more than 90 mostly compact punches in just one minute in the second round of his April fight with Michael Walker, eventually forcing the referee to step in and stop the bout.

The “Not-Quite-Fernando Guerrero Award,” for worst multi-punch combination: to Mike Jones, who threw a barrage of about 120 mostly wild, flailing punches in just one minute in the second round of his November fight with Jesus Soto-Karass.

And, rather than knocking Soto-Karass out, Jones proceeded to punch himself out – not just for the round, but for the fight, as he seemed arm-weary for the remainder of the 10-round bout. Jones won a majority decision, but he lost any claim he had for being the most-avoided welterweight prospect around.

The Boxer Behaving Most Badly: Most years, this category reflects the humor of a boxer who just cannot stay out of legal trouble, ending up in cuffs or in court or incarcerated again and again and again. But there are the occasional years, sadly, where this category is not at all about humor, but about horror.

This year, the boxer who behaved most badly was Edwin Valero.

His case is one of those stories where hindsight is 20/20 – but where someone should’ve seen the warning signs before the worst came.

Valero was arrested in Venezuela in March and charged with assaulting his wife, Jennifer. She had “multiple bruises, scratches and a collapsed lung from a blow to the ribs,” BoxingScene’s South American correspondent, Jhonny Gonzalez, wrote at the time.

“Valero told doctors in the hospital that his wife had fallen down a flight of stairs. The doctors, based on the injuries, did not believe the story,” Gonzalez wrote.

Jennifer Valero didn’t want to press charges. It seemed reminiscent of a story from 2009, when Valero had reportedly been arrested for assaulting family members. That case went away, too.

Valero soon entered rehab – one report said it was for drug and alcohol addiction, while another report said it was for anger management.

Two weeks later, Jennifer Valero’s body was discovered in a Venezuela hotel room, and Edwin Valero was arrested. A day after that, he hanged himself and was found dead in his jail cell.

It is impossible to transition from such horror back to humor, but we must move on, if possible…

The “Elizabeth Taylor-Conrad Hilton Jr.-Michael Wilding-Mike Todd-Eddie Fisher-Richard Burton-Richard Burton again-John Warner-Larry Fortensky Award,” for moving quickly from one ring to another: to Vicente Escobedo, who didn’t go from one spouse to another to another to another, but did transition from one being in the ring to putting on a ring. Just minutes after losing in November to Robert Guerrero – and while still in the squared circle where he’d just fought for 10 rounds – Escobedo got down on bended knee and proposed to his girlfriend.

The “Stuart Smalley ‘I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me’ Award,” for motivational devices: to Demetrius Andrade, who made a unique request while getting a talking-to from his father and trainer, Paul Andrade, prior to the sixth and final round of his April fight against Geoffrey Spruiell.

“Tell me something else, man,” the younger Andrade said. “Tell me I’m the best. Tell me I’m the best.”

“You the best, all right baby boy,” responded Paul Andrade, not missing a beat. “You the best. That’s what you wanna hear? Now prove it.”

The “Mike Tyson Award,” for Bite of the Year: to Luis Lazarte, a 108-pound titleholder who attempted to dig into the neck of Ulises Solis in the third round of their December fight. This came seemingly because all of Lazarte’s low blows and rabbit punches weren’t working on Solis.

The “Trenton Titsworth vs. Jesse Vargas ‘Two Points for Kissing’ Award,” for Kiss of the Year: to Dereck Chisora, a British heavyweight who planted his lips on opponent Carl Baker during a stare-down prior to their February fight.

“I’m going to make you my girlfriend,” Chisora said before putting his hands on Baker’s cheeks, pulling him in and giving him a kiss. Baker then shoved Chisora away.

The real irony in all of this?

Chisora was the winner of last year’s “Bite of the Year” award, a dubious honor he received for gnawing on Paul Butlin’s ear in May 2009.

The “Monty Python and the Holy Grail ‘I’m Not Dead’Award,” for, well, not being dead: to Rita Figueroa, who was prematurely pronounced dead by British boxing promoter Frank Warren, writing in a column that ran on this very website.

“[W]hat on earth was a 40-year-old lady Rita Figueroa doing fighting in Chicago and why did the local commission allow her to box?” Warren wrote.

“She died recently as a result of a KO in November last year [2009].”

Well, Figueroa did suffer a subdural hematoma following that fight, but she sure ain’t dead. She spoke to the Los Angeles Times for a story that ran in that newspaper in March 2010 – one week before Warren’s article was published.

The “Sechew Powell-Cornelius Bundrage Award,” for best double knockdown: to Henry Lundy vs. Tyrese Hendrix, a bout that took place on the undercard to the April 16 broadcast of “Friday Night Fights.”

As with Powell-Bundrage, it happened in the opening seconds of the first round. Lundy sent Hendrix down with a left hand, and Hendrix also caught Lundy with a left. And as with Powell-Bundrage, the double knockdown went uncalled – only Hendrix received a count.

The “Kendall Holt-Ricardo Torres 2 Award,” for best one-round fight: to Said Ouali vs. Hector Saldivia, a welterweight bout that lasted for all of 107 seconds on the May undercard to the Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather Jr. pay-per-view.

Ouali went down from a right hand just 12 seconds into the bout, a balance knockdown from squaring up and not being ready for the shot from Saldivia. Ouali got up, and Saldivia charged forward. With Ouali in a neutral corner 65 seconds into the round, Saldivia threw and landed a right hand. But Ouali countered with a right hook that hurt Saldivia and followed with a left hand that put him down.

Saldivia never really recovered. Ouali landed another right hook a little past the round’s halfway point, putting Saldivia down for the second time. Saldivia got up but stumbled toward a corner, and the referee waved it off.

The “Anti-Ricardo Mayorga Award,” for worst trash talk: to Kevin Mitchell, who uttered this intimidating threat against Michael Katsidis prior to their May fight: “It will be a proper tear up on the night. He’ll have a right old headache after I’ve knocked him out good and proper.”

Katsidis, of course, wasn’t intimidated. He scored a third-round stoppage over Mitchell.

The “Lady Gaga in Meat Award,” for most questionable top: to Hector Alatorre, who made a questionable wardrobe choice prior to his August bout against Mauricio Herrera. What did Alatorre wear into the ring? A SpongeBob SquarePants hoodie (a photo of this was memorialized in “The Ring” magazine).

It still wasn’t as bad as the Spider-Man mask that Russell Jordan wore in February 2006 just before a fifth-round technical knockout loss to Oscar Diaz.

The “DeMarcus ‘Chop Chop’ Corley Award,” for most questionable bottom: to Marcel Zeller, who wore a kilt for his September stoppage loss to Erkan Teper.

The “Tommy Gallagher ‘Don’t Scratch Them Toyotas!’ Award,” for most awkward combination of boxing and product placement: to Max Kellerman, while reporting from Antonio Margarito’s dressing room. The reporting concerned whether Margarito was attempting to put something illegal in his coffee prior to his November bout with Manny Pacquiao:

“I have the packet of Splenda in question, Jim,” Kellerman said during a pay-per-view undercard bout. “It does appear to be empty.”

Fight of the Year: Humberto Soto UD12 Urbano Antillon, Dec. 4, 2010.

Many of the best fights this year fit the same mold – a faster, more skilled fighter constantly working to keep a slower, cruder fighter at bay.

This was the case with Soto’s win over Antillon, with Juan Manuel Marquez’s win over Michael Katsidis, with Amir Khan’s win over Marcos Maidana, with Ricky Burns’ win over Rocky Martinez, and with Ivan Calderon’s loss to Giovanni Segura.

Such a scenario often produces drama: Antillon, Katsidis, Maidana, Martinez and Segura were willing to walk through fire in order to deliver more punishment – and Antillon, Katsidis, Maidana, Martinez and Segura all had the ability to change the fight with their power.

With Soto, Marquez, Khan, Burns and Calderon looking to use their skills and speed to counteract their opponents’ power and determination, this meant suspenseful storylines and some exciting exchanges.

Soto-Antillon didn’t have the drama of Marquez-Katsidis – there was no knockdown for a fighter to recover from. It didn’t have the drama of Khan-Maidana – there was no history of a vulnerable chin.

But what it did have was 36 minutes of the kind of action that has drama in every clean, hard shot that lands, in every flurry of punches that leads to a response in kind.

If you were to invite over friends, and if you had to pick one of the best fights from this year to show them to show them, then Soto-Antillon would be the one fight that would lead them to say the words that the most classic of fights will inspire:

“Let’s watch that again.”

Fighter of the Year: Admittedly, the issuing of such an award should require examination and analysis – the poring over of records and results.

Frankly, the issuing of such an award is a fill-in-the-blank proposition. Complete this sentence: This was the year that ___________ did _____________.

This, then, was the year that Sergio Martinez did ascend into stardom by dethroning a true champion and then, in his first fight afterward, scoring a victory that has already made his championship reign more impressive than the two champions who preceded him.

Those revisionist historians are likely to rewrite Kelly Pavlik as a champion who was never really that good, as a man who, 18 months before facing Sergio Martinez, was soundly out-boxed and beaten up by an old Bernard Hopkins.

They will point to Pavlik’s three title defenses – against the not-quite-murderer’s row of Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino – and diminish him as someone who never really defended against anyone of consequence.

They will point to the man Pavlik himself dethroned, Jermain Taylor, as a flawed champion who was prone to being taken out.

They have the logic that the champion sucks, and everyone the champion beat sucks, and everyone that those guys beat sucks, too.

Pavlik’s reign at middleweight wasn’t much, granted, but he was the true middleweight champion, someone whose ability at 160 pounds was better displayed before he became champion than it was afterward.

Martinez out-boxed Pavlik early on that April night, surviving a Pavlik comeback in the middle rounds and then taking over late to win the clear, unanimous decision.

And then, seven months later, he landed a punch on Paul Williams that could still start conversations at water coolers in this new year.

People will say that Williams was fighting at a weight class too big for his frame, that he fights with little defense and with his chin up, and that him being knocked out was bound to happen. And they will be right.

But Martinez sent into unconsciousness the man who had beaten him, at middleweight, by majority decision just a year before. It was an exclamation point of a knockout that proved that Martinez can not only box, but that he can crack, too.

Pavlik was the champion. Williams was the man who deserved to be considered a top contender.

This, then, was the year that Sergio Martinez beat both decisively, two wins that make his 2010 more notable than that of any other boxer.

R.I.P.: Yoshiaki Akasaka (2009), Ki-suk Bae, John R. Branca, Bennie Briscoe, Harry Carpenter, Loren Cassina, Lorraine Chargin, Mike Dietrich, Mlungisi Dlamini, Anders Eklund, Mac Foster, Hector Gil Sr., Catherine “Nails” Greene, Murphy Griffith, Joe Gumede, Tony Halme, Marco Antonio Hernandez, Herbert Hlubi, Billy “Spider” Kelly, Khetag Kozaev.

Jay Larkin, George Le Roux, Mack Lewis, “Tiger” Ted Lowry, Michael “Ace” Lucas, Mvelili Luzipho, George Mahoni, Neville Meade, Arthur Mercante Sr., Gus Mercurio, Josiah Mosiah, Denny Moyer, Bohumil Nemecek, Antoine Palatis, Kazmierz Pazdzior, Terry Pettifer, Nikolay Puchkov, Gonzalo Rivera, Brian Roberts, Francisco Roche-Cruz, Alan Rudkin, Henk Ruhling.

Brian Sargent, Albert Scott, Brian Scott, Amanda Skelton, Ernie Smith, Don Thibodeaux, Efren Torres, Jackie Turpin, Roy Van Putten, Johnny van Rensburg, Darius Watson, Bramley Whiteboy, Murray Wilson, Hirokazu Yamaki, Vic Ziegel, and all the other boxers, corner men, managers, officials, promoters, referees, journalists and people within and around the sport.

The 10 Count will return next week.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com.

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