NEW YORK — Boxing dignitaries and fight fans filled the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan for the 100th Boxing Writers Association of America Awards dinner last night.<\/p>\n
Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora were both on hand to collect their Fighter of the Year awards, and Usyk also picked up the Fight of the Year gong for his first win over Tyson Fury.<\/p>\n
The popular Ukrainian was presented the award for the Fury fight by Hollywood star Liev Schreiber (\u201cRay Donovan,\u201d \u201cSpotlight\u201d), a friend who was ringside that night and delivered a stirring speech before Usyk made his way to the stage.<\/p>\n
Schreiber hailed what trainer Teddy Atlas described as a test of \u201ccharacter,\u201d while also noting the political meaning of fighting for his war-torn countrymen in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big question on many of our minds that night was, which Tyson Fury would show up? That question would be answered within the first few rounds, when it became abundantly clear Fury was in the best form we had seen him in years,\u201d Schrieber said. \u201cHis terrific timing, precision and power were on display as he flicked his powerful jab and landed thudding body shots that could be heard and felt at ringside. And then, of course, the uppercut, which may have harmed [Usyk\u2019s] dental work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat followed that uppercut \u2026 were flashes, images frozen in time. His eyes raised to heaven, as if to seek his father\u2019s guidance. His cornermen passing a Crucifix between the ropes for him to kiss, and then, of course, the ninth round, when his incredible determination, commitment and courage lifted us all out of our seats and reminded us what a miracle it is to be a human. That, no matter what the odds were, no matter how confusing, contentious or violent the world becomes, if we can just reflect our powers, if we can just hold on to the respect and gratitude that defines our shared existence, there is nothing in this world we can\u2019t accomplish.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the crowd were several stars, including Nonito Donaire, Junior Jones, Juan Diaz, Bernard Hopkins, and Michael Spinks.<\/p>\n
The ceremony was kicked off when Thomas Gerbasi, one of the finest boxing writers of the generation \u2013 with scores of bylines at BoxingScene, The Ring, Boxing News, and one of online boxing writing\u2019s founding-fathers \u2013 was awarded the Nat Fleischer Award for his career in journalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gerbasi thanked the Fleischer committee, Thomas Hauser, the BWAA committee, his boss at the UFC, Dana White, and added his thanks to the fighters he has covered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout you guys, we are nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also thanked his family, his editors past and present including Rick Reeno, Dougie Fischer, Matt Christie, Mark Butcher (and yours truly), and dedicated the award to his father.<\/p>\n
Gleason\u2019s Gym owner Bruce Silverglade picked up the Marvin Kohn Good Guy award and said: \u201cEvery day of my life is more and more fun. It\u2019s a great sport with the greatest people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owing to Naoya Inoue fight week taking place in Las Vegas, Top Rank matchmaker Brad Goodman was unable to collect the Barney Nagler award for long and meritorious service to boxing, but coach Robert Garcia picked up the Eddie Futch Trainer of the Year award.<\/p>\n
Garcia said he was appreciative of his fighters and his team, thanked the promoters he works with and gave shoutouts to several of his 2024 standouts, including Jesse Rodriguez, Vergil Ortiz, and \u201cRayo\u2019 Valenzuela.<\/p>\n
On his table, he was joined by Donaire, who was one of the reasons Garcia claimed the same award in 2012.<\/p>\n
Manager Egis Klimas won the Cus D\u2019Amato manager of the year award for a fourth time, having earned it previously in 2016, 2017, and 2018.<\/p>\n
He said he was grateful of his fighters, \u201cwhether they were champions or not\u201d and added: \u201cTo become a champion you have to be very dedicated and I was so lucky to get in the place where I am now\u2026 2024 was a very good year for me. I was so blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as Usyk, he had a big year with Vasiliy Lomachenko and Bakhram Murtazaliev.<\/p>\n
Marv Albert, as well as one of boxing\u2019s great announcers, was the voice of the NBA and the New York Knicks for 37 years. He has formed formidable commentary teams with Teddy Atlas and the late fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco, covering Larry Holmes, Marvin Hagler, Ray Mancini, and scores of other greats, analysing the sport in South Africa, Italy, France, Australia, Ireland, and in the UK, to name a few.<\/p>\n
Albert collected the Sam Taub Award for excellence in broadcast journalism, and was awarded the trophy by his brother, Steve, who was the host for the night and a previous winner of the same award in 2006. Their other brother, Al, claimed the award in 1995.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having been introduced by his brother to get his award, Marv joked: \u201cThose were the nicest things he\u2019s ever said to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fundora was presented her award \u2013 the Christy Martin award \u2013 by promoter Oscar De La Hoya.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old, who carries the monicker \u201cSweet Poison\u201d, was labelled by De La Hoya, \u201cthe next face of women\u2019s boxing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGabriela, we are incredibly proud of you, every accolade is a result of your hard work and passion,\u201d said the \u201cGolden Boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking of previously winning the BWAA Fighter of the Year award, De La Hoya added: \u201cBoxing brings together amazing people and I\u2019m really grateful to be up here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in you guys [the BWAA] 1,000 per cent and I will always support you 1,000 per cent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fundora thanked her parents, Golden Boy, Sampson Boxing, and others, and said of her mother and father: \u201cThey taught me to be disciplined and righteous\u2026 You guys [her promoters] have the same vision and believe in me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just two nights away from fighting Arnold Barboza in Times Square, Teofimo Lopez presented Usyk with his Fighter of the Year award. Usyk also won it in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsyk is great, it\u2019s an honor to present this to you,\u201d said Teofimo. \u201cUsyk, thank you for inspiring me to know I could aspire to the titles you claimed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Usyk, upon collecting his second award of the night, looked to the heavens and thanked his late father.<\/p>\n
He told a story of how he played soccer and enjoyed it, but his father insisted, \u201ctry boxing, please.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d Usyk replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So he went to the gym, got his face bloodied, and he went back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you?\u201d asked his dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause my face is in pain and my nose has blood. It\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIf you train,\u201d said his dad, \u201cyou\u2019ll be a champion. I listened. I listened to my father and we did this. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men\u2019s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular \u201cBoxing Life Stories\u201d podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including \u201cDamage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing\u201d (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), \u201cWarrior: A Champion\u2019s Search for His Identity\u201d (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and \u201cThe Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing\u2019s Wastelands.\u201d You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — Boxing dignitaries and fight fans filled the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan for the 100th Boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,34141,16967,34142,5122,32435,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-67480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-bwaa","10":"tag-gabriela-fundora","11":"tag-marv-albert","12":"tag-oleksandr-usyk","13":"tag-oscar-de-la-hoya","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}