By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The World Boxing Council has named undefeated Laila Ali as the “Female Boxer of the Year” in the celebration of the Night of Champions to be held from Januaru 28 to 31 at the plush Grand Oasis Hotel in Cancun, Mexico.
The attractive daughter of former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali will be recognized just as her father was recognized as the greatest champion. The award to the female super middleweight champion cites her as the “greatest world female champion.”
The 2005 Female Fight of the Year award goes to the battle between Sharon Anyos of Australia and Marcela Acuna of Argentina. Anyos won the WBC female world featherweight title in one of the most spectacular female fights ever. The award for the Most Active Female Champion will go to Jackie Nava of Mexico who made three defenses of her world super bantamweight title.
The WBC announced that the four great female champions have confirmed their attendance at the prestigious affair.
The WBC informed Viva Sports that Brian Viloria who won the award for the KO of the Year for his sensational first round knockout of Eric Ortiz to win the WBC light flyweight title last September 11 was also in the running for the 2005 Revelation Champion of the Year but lost out to Thomasz Adamek of Poland who won the light heavyweight title over Paul Briggs of Australia in a fight that was nominated for Fight of the Year.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, son of the legendary Mexican all-time great Julio Cesar Chavez was among the fighters chosen as Rookies of the Year. The others were Koki Kameda of Japan who is regarded as the new Japanese boxing hero, Tokyo-based Venezuelan Jorge Linares and Ruslan Chagaev the exciting new heavyweight.