Terence Crawford and Mizuki Hiruta were the top fighters of 2025, according to The Ring magazine.
The storied “Bible of Boxing” held its annual award ceremony on Friday, and also recognized its winners in six other categories.
Crawford earned his award by virtue of his sole performance last year. He moved up two weight classes to take on undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, winning the crown with a sublime performance. The victory made Crawford the first man to become undisputed champion in three weight classes in the four-belt era.
The Ring’s other nominees for male Fighter of the Year were unified and lineal light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol; undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue; unified and lineal junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez; and heavyweight titleholder Fabio Wardley.
Hiruta earned her award with four successful title defenses in 2025, the most active schedule among female world titleholders. The WBO junior bantamweight beltholder outpointed Maribel Hernandez in January, Carla Merino in May to win the vacant Ring championship at 115lbs, Naomy Cardenas in August and Gloria Gallardo in November.
The Ring’s other nominees for female Fighter of the Year were unified junior flyweight titleholder Evelin Bermudez; welterweight and junior middleweight titleholder Mikaela Mayer; unified and Ring junior featherweight champion Ellie Scotney; and unified and Ring junior welterweight champion Katie Taylor.
Fight of the Year
The Ring named the first battle between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn, which Eubank won by unanimous decision, as its Fight of the Year.
The other nominees were Bivol’s majority decision win in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev; Kenshiro Teraji’s last-round stoppage of Seigo Yuri Akui; Naoya Inoue’s stoppage win in his battle with Ramon Cardenas; and Abdullah Mason’s competitive unanimous decision victory over Abdullah Mason.
Knockout of the Year
The Ring recognized Brian Norman Jnr’s highlight-reel fifth-round KO of Jin Sasaki as its Knockout of the Year.
Trainer of the Year
The Ring honored Shingo Inoue as its Trainer of the Year for his work with his sons: undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue, who made four defenses in 2025, and bantamweight titleholder Takuma Inoue, who defeated highly touted contender Tenshin Nasukawa to win the vacant WBC belt.
The other nominees were Robert Garcia (whose roster includes Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, Vergil Ortiz Jnr and Raymond Muratalla); Rudy Hernandez (who works with Junto Nakatani and Anthony Olascuaga); Brian “Bomac” McIntyre (whose star fighter was Terence Crawford and who also worked earlier in the year with Keyshawn Davis); and Manny Robles (who guided Mizuki Hiruta and Jose Armando Resendiz to success in 2025).
Upset of the Year
Speaking of Resendiz, his split decision over former titleholder Caleb Plant to capture a secondary WBA title was awarded The Ring’s Upset of the Year.
The other nominees were Rolando “Rolly” Romero’s decision win over Ryan Garcia; Ekow Essuman’s decision win over Josh Taylor; Ricardo Sandoval’s split decision victory against Kenshiro Teraji; and Fabio Wardley’s come-from-behind 11th-round TKO of Joseph Parker.
Round of the Year
The best round of 2025, according to The Ring, was the ninth round between bantamweights Seiya Tsutsumi and Daigo Higa.
The other nominees were Round 6 of Callum Smith vs. Joshua Buatsi; Round 12 of Kenshiro Teraji vs. Seigo Yuri Akui; Round 12 of the first Chris Eubank Jnr-Conor Benn fight; and Round 8 of Filip Hrgovic vs. David Adeleye.
Prospect of the Year
Emiliano Vargas, one of the three fighting sons of Fernando Vargas Snr, was named The Ring’s Prospect of the Year. In 2025, the 21-year-old junior welterweight Vargas moved to 16-0 (13 KOs) after scoring four victories. He stopped the 20-7-2 Giovannie Gonzalez in two rounds, took out the 11-2-1 Juan Leon in two rounds, dispatched the 20-3-1 Alexander Espinoza in just 42 seconds and went the 10-round distance for the first time while outpointing the 19-3 Jonathan Montrel.
The other nominees were cruiserweight Pat Brown; junior welterweight Jhon Orobio; junior lightweight Reito Tsutsumi; and light heavyweight Benjamin Whittaker.
