Vasyl Lomachenko, Joshua-Klitschko win big BWAA Awards

Vasyl Lomachenko has been named the Boxing Writers Association of America’s (BWAA) 2017 Fighter of the Year, and Anthony Joshua’s win over Wladimir Klitschko the BWAA Fight of the Year.

Neither award is much of a surprise. Lomachenko, 29, went 3-0 in 2017, making Jason Sosa, Miguel Marriaga, and Guillermo Rigondeaux quit in a trio of one-sided fights, all successful defenses of his WBO super featherweight title.

The Ukrainian amateur legend, now 10-1 (8 KO) as a professional, tops many pound-for-pound lists at this point, and is seen as one of the sport’s true elite fighters. He beat out Terence Crawford (his top P4P competitor), Anthony Joshua, Mikey Garcia, and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai for the award.

Joshua’s April 29 win over Klitschko was an even bigger no-brainer. A true heavyweight classic, the slugfest saw both fighters down before Joshua stopped Klitschko in the 11th round.

Anatoly Lomachenko, Vasyl’s father, won the Trainer of the Year award, while Egis Klimas, who manages Lomachenko, won the Manager of the Year award for the second straight year.

Cecilia Braekhus was named the first ever Christy Martin Female Fighter of the Year.

Other awards:

• Sam Taub Award: Lou DiBella
• Bill Crawford Award: Daniel Franco
• Barney Nagler Long & Meritorious Award: Dr. Margaret Goodman
• Marvin Kohn Good Guy Award: Wladimir Klitschko and publicist Ed Keenan
• Nat Fleischer Award: Michael Rosenthal