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2023 Boxing Awards: Who Are The Leading Candidates At The Halfway Stage?

Written by Tom Eaton on 14th July 2023.

Gervonta Davis Fight Awards

It seems like just yesterday that shortlists for the 2022 awards were being drafted, but six months have flown by in what has been a relatively successful year for the sport thus far – barring the stagnant heavyweight division. At the midpoint of the calendar, Boxing Social has taken a look at the early candidates for this year’s awards.

Fighter of the Year

Dmitry Bivol’s breakthrough into superstardom crowned him as the Fighter of the Year in 2022, boasting wins over two Mexican powerhouses in the form of pound-for-pound icon, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and the previously unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez. This particular award is tough to plan at this stage of the year given most fighters having fought just once – or not at all – but there have been some standout performers who may be eyeing up the prestigious prize after career-best outings.

Gervonta Davis

At the time of writing, Davis would appear to be the main candidate for the award, proving his quality in a dominant victory over fellow poster-boy of the sport, Ryan Garcia. The comfortability that ‘Tank’ portrayed in the ring and the ease at which he dealt with Garcia proved the American to be the real deal and very much worthy of the high praise that he so often receives.

Victory over ‘King Ryan’ granted Davis a second stoppage win of the year, after knocking out Hector Luis Garcia in January, leading to claims from the 28-year-old that he has become ‘the face of boxing’ – an idea many fans are beginning to agree with.

Marlon Tapales

After Naoya Inoue announced his plans to move up to the super-bantamweight division and fight Stephen Fulton for the WBC and WBO titles before presumably perusing an undisputed clash, the eyes of the then WBA and IBF champion, Murodjon Akhmadaliev must have lit up.

However, like most in boxing circles, the Uzbek appeared to overlook Marlon Tapales, who pulled off an upset victory against the champion, winning a controversial split-decision. The Filipino assumed the role of the aggressor and did enough in the eyes of the judges to succeed in one of the year’s biggest shocks to take Akhmadaliev’s unified title, undefeated record and opportunity to face Inoue or Fulton later this year.

Chris Billam-Smith

Whilst Tapales was one of the upsets of 2023, Chris Billam-Smith is undoubtedly one of the greatest stories of the year. ‘The Gentleman’ was crowned champion of the world in fairytale fashion, defeating former stablemate and supposed best cruiserweight on the planet, Lawrence Okolie, in front of his hometown fans at the stadium of his beloved A.F.C Bournemouth.

Although Okolie had two points deducted for holding, he was dropped for the first, second and third time of his career in the all-British showdown, losing a majority-decision that many believed to have been generous to the champion. It remains to be seen who ‘CBS’ will fight over the next few months, but a world title seemed a distant dream just a few years ago and his impressive performance made it a reality.

Teofimo Lopez

Finally, Teofimo Lopez entered the year as a man who many felt was on a steep decline, after an unconvincing performance against Sandor Martin in December. He took on the super-lightweight king, Josh Taylor, last month, and amazingly stripped the Scotsman of both his WBO world title and undefeated record. Lopez announced a shocking retirement after the astonishing showing, vacating the 140lb belt, but there are plenty of sceptics who believe that he will return to the ring this year and another stellar display against a big name could all but secure the Fighter of the Year award.

Knockout of the Year

Last year, Leigh Wood’s legendary tear-up with Michael Conlan was awarded with both the fight of the year and knockout of the year by The Ring Magazine. As of yet, there is no clear winner for this year’s award, but there have been plenty of eye-catching stoppages that can be considered as solid contenders.

Alexis Rocha vs George Ashie (January 28)

Alexis Rocha has fast become a threat in the welterweight division and started the year with a bang against Ghana’s George Ashie. After dropping Ashie in the third, it was one-way traffic in Rocha’s favour, who finished off a magnificent night’s work by loading up a right-hook that landed on the chin of Ashie like a heat-seeking missile.

Jorge Chavez vs Bryan Perez (March 18)

On the undercard of JoJo Diaz’s eventual defeat to Mercito Gesta, Jorge Chavez was given the opportunity to shine and the 23-year-old Mexican took his chance. The super-featherweight prospect needed just thirty seconds to make it six knockout defeats in-a-row for his Nicaraguan opponent, Bryan Perez, but this particular stoppage was one that neither man is likely to forget.

Ellis Zorro vs Hosea Burton (May 12)

2022 was a highly-successful year for Ellis Zorro, who won five fights, three of which earnt him the Boxxer Series crown on April 14. Since then, the undefeated cruiserweight has continued his form and proven that he has what it takes to challenge for titles, particularly after winning the WBO European strap in a career-best win over Hosea Burton. In a nip-and-tuck contest against the former British light-heavyweight champion, it took a flurry of brilliance to wobble Hosea Burton, before showing the killer instinct to find the finish with a sensational overhand.

Junto Nakatani vs Andrew Moloney (May 20)

Being the preceding fight ahead of the undisputed title bout between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko is a difficult position to find yourself in, with millions of viewers tuning in to a super-flyweight contest that they would perhaps otherwise have no interest in. However, Junto Nakatani put on a show of why casual boxing fans should become more interested in the lower-weight divisions, stopping Andrew Moloney in his tracks in the twelfth round, to claim the vacant WBC world title and earn himself some new fans in the process.

Tim Tszyu vs Carlos Ocampo (June 18)

Last but not least, Tim Tszyu was written off to some extent when he was linked to a clash with Jermell Charlo, although after a string of strong performances from the Aussie, many believe it to be one of the must-see fights in the sport. Tszyu, son of former super-lightweight champion, Kostya, knocked out Tony Harrison in March, and his fast-paced, aggressive outing against Carlos Ocampo has further captured the attention of the sport. After witnessing the belligerent first-round obliteration, there are plenty who think Tzsyu could have what it takes to defeat Charlo and become the undisputed ruler of the 154lb division – something he may not even get the chance to do given the latter’s recently announced bout with Canelo.

Fight of the Year

As mentioned before, it was Leigh Wood and Michael Conlan who engaged in last year’s standout contest. This year there’s not quite been drama of that magnitude, but still some phenomenal wars that will live long in the memory.

Luis Nery [KO, RD11] vs Azat Hovhannisyan (May 13)

Super-Bantamweight pair, Luis Nery and Azat Hovannisyan met in February, with world title opportunities within the grasp of the winner. Both men were hurt in what turned out to be an all-out war, as they slugged it out to put forward their respective cases for a shot at world honours. It was former champion, Nery, who came out on top, eventually getting the stoppage in the eleventh-round of a high-octane contest after flooring the Armenian in the round previous.

Botirzhon Akhmedov vs Kenneth Sims Jr [MD] (May 13)

Statistically, Akhmedov-Sims was the most active fight, with a combined landed punches of 640 being the most of any scrap in 2023. The super-lightweights met on the undercard of Rolando Romero’s controversial win over Ismael Barroso last month and stole the show in a fast-paced but razor-close bout that was awarded in favour of Sims despite battling through most of the contest with a closed eye, much to the frustration of Ukranian, Akhmedov.

Jaime Munguia [UD] vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko (June 10)

This month, the heavily criticised and supposedly well-protected, Jaime Munguia, took the much-needed step up in opposition that the boxing community so craved. The undefeated Mexican was matched with three-time world title challenger, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, where his character and mentality was truly tested. The Ukrainian kept up with Munguia, buzzing his younger opponent on a couple of occasions, before being knocked down in the final round of the contest, a moment which ultimately cost him the fight, and stretched Munguia’s record to 42-0, with a UD victory.