Wolak vs Rodriguez Brawl Edges 2011 Fight of the Year Race (Bad Left Hook Boxing Awards)
by Scott Christ on Jan 2, 2012 6:14 PM EST
in Boxing Commentary & Opinion
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PrintThere were some damn good fights in 2011, though as usual most (not all) of the really great ones weren't on HBO or Showtime.
Our runner-up for Fight of the Year actually had the most first-place votes of any fight. The October 24 fight at Tokyo's legendary Korakuen Hall between 105-pounders Akira Yaegashi and Pornsawan Porpramook was a true barnburner, and the fact that a Japanese fight got this much support from our voting pool, which is almost entirely American and British, is pretty remarkable.
But with scored voting like this, more weight was given to the four first-place and six second-place votes for the July 15 Friday Night Fights epic between Pawel Wolak and Delvin Rodriguez, and that fight wins the polling on a score of 38-36.
Let's just say either fight would have been a truly worthy winner. The full breakdown is after the jump, as this table is a bit bigger than the previous three.
| Fight (Date) | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pawel Wolak vs Delvin Rodriguez (7/15) | 4 | 6 | 0 | 38 |
| Akira Yaegashi vs Pornsawan Porpramook (10/24) | 6 | 1 | 3 | 36 |
| Andre Berto vs Victor Ortiz (4/16) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| Luis Concepcion vs Hernan Marquez (4/2) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| Miguel Acosta vs Brandon Rios (2/26) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Antonio DeMarco vs Jorge Linares (10/15) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Adrian Hernandez vs Kompayak Porpramook (12/23) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Marcos Maidana vs Erik Morales (4/9) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Amir Khan vs Lamont Peterson (12/10) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Danny Green vs Antonio Tarver (7/20) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez (11/12) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jean Pascal vs Bernard Hopkins (5/21) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The top HBO fight of the year was Berto vs Ortiz, which we'll see again on February 11, but this time on Showtime. Showtime's top fight (and the only vote-getter from the network) was Acosta vs Rios.
And I can't help but think had Hernandez vs Kompayak happened a couple of months earlier, it would have garnered significant support as well.
Voters for the 2011 Bad Left Hook Boxing Awards are Scott Christ, Andrew Fruman, Brickhaus, Matt Miller, James Foley, Sean Mills, Ryan Bivins, Waldo Rastel, Kory Kitchen, Matt Mosley, Oli Goldstein, Nick Foxx, Chris Celletti, Sidney Boquiren, and Corey Erdman.
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Wow! I’m surprised! Pac Marq was even on the list! :)
"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."
Not as surprising as Hopkins-Pascal IMO
Great year of fights though. There were probably 10 fights this year that would have been top 3 last year.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
imo mauricio herrera vs ruslan provodnikov
should of at least have been mentioned. what a great fight it was to start the year!
by el javi on Jan 2, 2012 7:27 PM EST via Android app reply actions
You can only vote for three fights. I don’t think it was top ten, let alone top three.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
but it was a very very good fight
Don’t get me wrong. A lot of good FNF fights – Melligen vs Lujan and Gonzales vs Sierra made for three straight weeks of excellent (with Wolak vs Rodriguez ) in July.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
cool thank you
I’m glad you recognized it was a good fight
by el javi on Jan 2, 2012 8:06 PM EST via Android app up reply actions
it's in my top ten for FOTY but not top three
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
Akira Yaegashi vs Pornsawan Porpramook
Second place: Makoto Fuchigami vs. Koji Sato
"If you sit there and watch a person take about an hour to tie his shoestrings, then you realize that whatever problems you got ain't that significant."
-- Vernon Forrest (1971-2009)
Fuchigami-Sato is another one that didn’t have enough time to pick up steam. Wouldn’t have quite been in my top three personally, but it was a hell of a fight. Japan produced some wars this year.
my top three, for anyone interested:
1. Yaegashi vs Porsawan
2. Wolak vs Rodriguez
3. Hernandez vs Kompayak
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
I believe I had the same top 2
With Marquez-Concepcion I in 3rd. There were a lot of candidates though, and none of them were so much better to make them obvious choices.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Jan 2, 2012 11:49 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
The Sato fight was fun
But I really don’t think it’s a candidate in any year. It was just two unskilled guys wailin on each other. It’s up there in terms of pure brutality, but it wasnt much different from watching a Kimbo Slice street fight.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Jan 2, 2012 11:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I think I’d have Hernandez-Kompayak at the top of my list, but that could just be because of recency bias. Sad to see no mention of either of the Nava-Torres fights.
Also, are there going to be any Bricky awards?
I honestly tried to find a place for the Nava-Torres first fight (IMO slightly better than the excellent rematch), but it just didn’t make my top three.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
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