Bad Left Hook Fight of the Month Poll - July 2010

January: Carlos Tamara TKO12 Brian Viloria (25%)

February: Antonio Escalante UD10 Mickey Roman (48%)

March: Andre Dirrell DQ10 Arthur Abraham (48%)

April: Mikkel Kessler UD12 Carl Froch (65%)

May: Yonnhy Perez D12 Abner Mares (30%)

June: Miguel Cotto TKO9 Yuri Foreman (42%)

Lanardo Tyner TKO9 Antwone Smith - Tyner earned the best win of his career against Smith, who was clearly able to outbox Tyner from the outside, but his tendency to brawl inside led to a great fight where he was upset.  With very little clinching, the two leaned up against each other on the inside, attacking at will for eight rounds.  By the seventh, Smith was looking worse for wear and his left eye was swelling shut.  In the ninth, Tyner caught Smith with a hook to the body that knocked down Smith, and while he got up, he elected not to continue.

Juan Manuel Lopez TKO2 Bernabe Concepcion -It only lasted two rounds, but the first round was one of the more entertaining rounds of boxing this year.  Lopez nearly knocked out Concepcion in the first round, but Concepcion was able to get up, still clearly hurt.  With Lopez trying to get the quick knockout, he got overaggressive, and at the end of the round, Concepcion caught Lopez with a big left hook that surprised Lopez and sent him to the canvas.  Concepcion, however, never really recovered, and was knocked down twice more in the round, leading to the stoppage.

Matthew Hatton UD12 Yuriy Nuzhnenko - Hatton and former paper titlist Nuzhnenko fought in what appeared to be a back-and-forth battle in England for Hatton's European title.  Nuzhnenko shocked Hatton by knocking him down in the first round, but midway through the fight, Hatton started to take control as Nuzhnenko forgot how to use his right hand.  The scores ended up being much wider than anticipated, but the right man probably won.

Monte Barrett D12 David Tua - This was supposed to be a walkover for Tua, one of the biggest punchers of our generation.  Barrett had been stopped early in fights the last few times he stepped up, and early in the bout, it looked like that would be the result.  However, halfway through the fight, Tua tired out, and Barrett started to storm back.  Barrett was able to salvage a draw, and effectively end Tua's career as a top fighter, by shockingly knocking down the iron-chinned Tua for the first official time in his career in the 12th round.

Dmitry Pirog TKO5 Daniel Jacobs - For four rounds, this was one of the best tactical battles of the year.  Both fighters came in trying to do what they do best.  Jacobs intermittently boxed from the outside, and tried to load up with combinations and overwhelm Pirog with volume punching.  Pirog used upper body movement to avoid the brunt of Jacobs' flurries, and would come in with hard shots to the head and body while Jacobs wasn't throwing punches.  The "Golden Child" sometimes looked like he just couldn't figure out Pirog's ad lib style, and seemed frustrated by Pirog's defense.  The fight came to a sudden end in the fifth, when Pirog caught Jacobs with a big right hand that instantaneously knocked out Jacobs in a likely knockout of the year candidate.

Juan Manuel Marquez UD12 Juan Diaz - It wasn't the first fight, but there were still some moments of solid trading.  Rather than trying to pressure Marquez like he did in their first fight, Diaz tried to box from the outside, which led to an even more lopsided victory for Marquez.  Still, when Marquez opened up, there were some moments of vintage Marquez, and the two frequently went all out for the ten final seconds of the rounds.

Juan Alberto Rosas TKO6 Simphiwe Nongqayi - In a battle of two of the worst hairstyles in boxing (Nongqayi with his checkerboard dye job, and "Topo" Rosas with bangs, a rat tail, and an otherwise shaved head), the two fighters never took a step back except when they were pushed back or the referee separated them.  Both men worked at a furious rate, pounding each other to the body and head while mostly leaning up against each other.  By round four, neither guy was even trying to defend himself and both fighters probably landed well over 50 punches in the round. In the sixth round, a Topo body shot forced Nongqayi to take a knee, and while Nongqayi got up, his corner implored the referee to stop the fight. 

Honorable mentions: Dimitri Sartison UD12 Khoren Gevor, Ashley Theophane MD10 Delvin Rodriguez, Ramon Garcia Hirales SD12 Johnriel Casimero, Stuart Hall TKO10 Martin Power, Mike Dallas Jr. UD8 Lanard Lane, Timothy Bradley UD12 Luis Carlos Abregu, John Molina TKO11 Hank Lundy, Vladine Biosse UD8 Joe McReedy.