The Anti-Fighter of the Year: Who Wasted 2011?

I've done this poll on here the last three years, but this year I decided to do an article on it. I'm going to include a poll for here, but if you guys could vote on facebook as well, that would be great. The “Fighter of the Year” is an award most boxers strive for, one last accomplishment to seal off a great year for any given fighter. In this year’s case, Andre Ward likely wins it. However, every year, there are a few candidates who seem to make “business decisions” that put them in the furthest category from “Fighter of the Year.” These fighters, from either making their own mistakes or becoming victims of outside factors like unavailable TV dates, seemed to waste their year away. Now, there’s finally an award for them. Maxboxing Presents: the “Anti-Fighter of the Year” Award The qualifications for making this list are as follows: -Not capitalizing off a positive 2010. -Not backing up a claim at rebounding in 2011, therefore wasting his chance(s). -Turning down a large sum of money, subsequently doing nothing instead. -Failing to remain active. -All of the above. Maxboxing readers are invited to choose the winner, validating him as the fighter who successfully wasted away his 2011. After reading the list of ten candidates, log on to http://www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing to vote for the winner. Here are the candidates: Kelly Pavlik The most obvious candidate on the list for this writer is Kelly Pavlik. After seeming to get back on track after a win over Alfonso Lopez, “The Ghost” did what ghosts do and disappeared. Pavlik’s decision to sit out the rest of 2011 was his own and he ultimately shot himself in the foot. Days before a scheduled tune-up against Daryl Cunningham in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, Pavlik pulled out of the clash and a scheduled fall showdown with Lucian Bute. The fight against Bute, which would have made Pavlik 1.3 million dollars richer, was canceled because the former World Middleweight Champion wasn’t “fighting for peanuts.” Vanes Martirosyan ) When will the real Vanes Martirosyan step up to the plate? The 2004 Olympian fought three times in 2011 against fringe level-contenders but when Martirosyan really fell off the ball was in his reluctance to fight a very winnable fight against Alfredo Angulo. “Ducking” might be the most overused term in boxing but Martirosyan did a lot of talking for a man who didn’t sign the contract. It was only after Angulo signed to fight James Kirkland that “The Nightmare” said he would sign the original contract. What a nightmare indeed. Tim Bradley This one is tricky. By all intents and purposes, Tim Bradley fought Devon Alexander, one of the world’s best junior welterweights, in a hyped-up main event. Normally that level of competition would make him exempt from this list but Bradley had HBO offering him everything but the kitchen sink to fight Amir Khan on July 23rd. Yes, Bradley wanted to get away from promoter Gary Shaw to “build the Bradley Brand” with Top Rank but couldn’t that have been put on hold until one last fight with Shaw? Not only did Bradley have a guaranteed 1.4 million dollar purse coming his way but there was also supposedly a 50/50 spilt for the U.K. money as well. While Khan is no guaranteed win, Bradley seemed to have a perfect style that could have beaten Khan while still putting him in the run for a Manny Pacquiao fight. But hey, if “Desert Storm” can get 1.1 million for fighting old man Joel Casamayor, why would he need to take such a gamble against Khan? Mikkel Kessler Like Pavlik, Kessler also had a major payday waiting for him against Lucian Bute in the fall. A tune-up in the summer was originally supposed to lead to an interesting fight resulting in a clear, deserving opponent for the winner of the “Super Six,” Andre Ward. Talks broke down and Kessler settled for a fight against WBO titlist Robert Stieglitz until the fight was postponed until 2012 due to a wrist injury. If his fight against Stieglitz had gone through, Kessler most likely would not have made this list. Unfortunately, injuries happen and Kessler wounded up wasting his year. Lucian Bute It wouldn’t have been very fair to put Kessler and Pavlik on this list without at least mentioning Bute, who got frozen out of an opportunity to be apart of the original “Super Six” line-up. To keep him preoccupied and making sure he stayed with Showtime, the network signed Bute to a three-fight contract that pays him very well. The contract so far has amounted to nothing but useless title defenses against Brian Magee and Glen Johnson . A very disappointing 2011 for the Romanian-Canadian after seemingly being in position to have an interesting fight in the fall against either Kessler or Pavlik. Andre Dirrell When talking about super middleweights, we can’t forget about Andre Dirrell. I’m one of many who publicly doubt that Andre Dirrell’s head injury is legitimate. The “Fight Camp 360” episode was damaging to him in many ways. First, Dirrell’s trainer claims the fight won’t happen because his fighter isn’t going to make enough money and then pulls out with an injury that is automatically suspicious. Then, to make matters worse, “Dr. Shaw High” and Andre’s dad suggesting they need a lawyer to answer questions about an injury truly make Andre a candidate for “Anti-Fighter of the Year.” It seems very convenient that Dirrell has a fight scheduled for December 30th, not long after the “Super Six” ended. Juan Manuel Lopez At the start of 2011, a fight between Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa was one of the most desired fights in boxing. However, when “JuanMa’s” “0” was knocked off by Orlando Salido, the fight went down the drain, resulting in two of Bob Arum’s top fighters losing out on career paydays. To make matters slightly worse, instead of immediately going to a rematch, Lopez decided to take a tune-up instead against Mike Oliver in which he looked mediocre. The rematch against Salido looks to be made on March 31, 2012 but Lopez definitely wasted his 2011. Chris John After coming to America in 2009 to fight Rocky Juarez, Chris John appeared willing to take risks and get exposure to fight more well-known names in the featherweight division. Fast-forward two years later and John is back in his home country of Indonesia racking up title defenses against unknown scrubs for easy money. Who can blame him? He earns the most money in his hometown without taking a risk. As long as he does that, he’ll earn a spot on this list. Dmitry Pirog It’s been over a year since Pirog’s startling knockout over Danny Jacobs. Since then, Pirog has amounted to nothing. While many hardcore fans are clamoring for a fight with World Middleweight Champion Sergio Martinez, Pirog simply did nothing to earn it in 2011. Instead of trying to build himself up in front an American audience, Pirog fought two lesser-known opponents in Russia. At age 31, Pirog needs to pick up the pace if he wants a reasonable chance to get a shot at Martinez. Tavoris Cloud Tavoris Cloud might be one of the most exciting fighters in the game but his inactivity killed him in 2011. He had a scheduled showdown with Zsolt Erdei planned for the end of the year; however, Showtime canceled the card after Erdei pulled out with a wrist injury. Cloud fought Yusaf Mack earlier in the year on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” then did nothing with the momentum. There’s been a large criticism of Don King in recent years for letting his fighters sit on the shelf and Cloud is the perfect example of that. Mix that in with Showtime scrapping its card and we get the last candidate for 2011’s “Anti-Fighter of the Year” award. Remember to vote and the winner will be announced the following week. To vote, log on to http://www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing . Thoughts, comments or concerns? Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas1432@gmail.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/Mparas1432. Previous winners 2008: Winky Wright 2009: David Haye 2010: Floyd Mayweather Jr Hope you guys dig this. Please vote in the poll and on facebook