Ring Magazine fighter of the year

[1SILVA]

No, they are not always given to the most deserving. Ali did not deserve it in 1978. He went 1-1 against a guy with less than 10 pro fights.

Wilfredo Gomez went 5-0 in world title fights in 1978, including a knockout of Carlos Zarate, who was 52-0 at the time. Larry Holmes dominated Earnie Shavers, beat Ken Norton, and then made a title defense. Roberto Duran unified the lightweight title and then moved up and took apart a top rated contender in Monroe Brooks.

I have to agree with you about 1978. Gomez deserved that award for destroying Zarate, who was felt to be indestructable at that time. Ali should still have 5 FOTY's as he was not given the 1966 honor he so rightly deserved.

[pgolf]

I was admiring that list until i got to 1978. That was a shocker. Ironically, I started watching boxing in '78 with my pops, when it was still on network tv. The Greatest was on the decline in '78.

At the time I couldn't comprehend why my pops loved Ali. I saw of him as an old man who fought in spurts who i watched lose 3 times. It took a few years and lots of fight re-runs that I began to appreciate his genius.

BTW, I miss ABC Wild World of Sports.

[Thread Stealer]

great share buddy. well, at least we can say that approximately 95% of the time, the deserving fighter gets it.. Other than 1978, what year/s do you see as similar to it..

There's not really any others I strongly disagree with. There are some that I could see going to someone else, but not a case like 1978 where the winner clearly was less deserving than other fighters. Either Michael Carbajal or Pernell Whitaker was fine for 1993. IIRC, KO Magazine gave it to Whitaker while Ring gave it to Carbajal. I thought 2003 could have gone to Manny Pacquiao, mainly for his win over Marco Antonio Barrera. I'm not really sure who deserved it in 2006. Pacquiao beat Morales twice and Larios, but all were coming off of defeats (and Morales looked awful against Raheem). That was rather a weak year for candidates I guess. And 2007 could've gone to Kelly Pavlik for his 3 KO wins, one over a rated contender in Edison Miranda and another over the MW champ in Jermain Taylor.

I'd say all of those were fairly tough picks to make. There's more Fight of the Year winners from The Ring that I disagree with than Fighter of the Year winners.

[The Beatles]

Ali should have 6. In 1966, instead of awarding Ali its Fighter of the Year, Ring Magazine protested Ali's protest of the Vietnam War by refusing to award him Fighter of the Year. Instead of awarding a less deserving fighter, they left the award vacant.

Ali should have 6 definitely........but the Ring were just rolling along with the Muhammad Ali hate in America.....

[rocky_balboa23]

No, they are not always given to the most deserving. Ali did not deserve it in 1978. He went 1-1 against a guy with less than 10 pro fights.

Wilfredo Gomez went 5-0 in world title fights in 1978, including a knockout of Carlos Zarate, who was 52-0 at the time. Larry Holmes dominated Earnie Shavers, beat Ken Norton, and then made a title defense. Roberto Duran unified the lightweight title and then moved up and took apart a top rated contender in Monroe Brooks.

Now this guy knows boxing. Thanks for giving us this information. Not yet born at that time. green K given