2008 End of Year Boxing Awards: The Scrappys! (Round Two)

Posted by Ryan Bates on 12.31.2008

Wondering who was the best of the best this year? 411mania.com and "3 More Rounds" tallied up the votes, and you're about to find out who receives the coveted Scrappy Awards!

If this were an actual awards show, this is where we would have some huge over-the-top beyond-the-budget musical numbers about boxing. Lucky for everyone, this is not an actual show, because I'm really not that good on "Eye of the Tiger" on Rock Band 2 yet. So we're just going to kick it off by giving out more of the 2008 Scrappy Awards! We start with Prospect of the Year.

In the category of "Prospect of the Year," the nominees are: Danny Garcia, Danny Jacobs, and Victor Ortiz.

And the Scrappy goes to… VICTOR ORTIZ.



As much as I personally gunned for this award myself, I haven't had any professional fights. Victor Ortiz has, and they've been good ones. Ortiz has gone 3-0 in 2008, and although we would have liked to see him been busier, and faced better opposition (his 2008 opponents went for a combined 83-17-4), he showed us exactly what a good prospect should do to weak opposition. None of his 2008 fights made it past the halfway mark. And he picked up the NABO strap at 140 along the way.

I look at this award as a beacon of hope, in that La Colonia will not do to Ortiz what they have done to other Oxnard fighters; that is, feed them a bunch of softies and put them in with a Trinidad-esque banger. Here's to hoping, right?

In the category of "Promoter of the Year," the nominees are: Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank.

And the Scrappy goes to… TOP RANK.



Not that you have many other promoters to choose from, so both equally had their share of successes and bombs, and since they've gotten into the "co-promotion" habit, they have the virtual monopoly on boxing. Then came De La Hoya/Pacquiao, which according to reports was much more heavily influenced by Golden Boy Promotions than Top Rank. And as a card as a whole, it stunk. It was insulting to have to pay so much for so little. Yes, the main event gave some solace to the wallet, but it didn't cover everything. Failure, Golden Boy. Match point to Top Rank.

In the category of "Upset of the Year," the nominees are: Bernard Hopkins (over Kelly Pavlik) and Manny Pacquiao (over Oscar De La Hoya).

And the Scrappy goes to… BERNARD HOPKINS.



Again, another close category. Neither Bernard nor Manny was given much of a chance by press, pundits, or fans alike. Bernard was facing the younger, hungrier unified middleweight champion of the world; Manny was facing a Goliath in the much bigger, much naturally heavier boxer/promoter. B Hop gets the Scrappy, though, because as little of a chance we gave Manny, we gave even littler chance to Hopkins. He was 43, we said. He looked like crap against Calzaghe, we said. He hasn't beaten anyone of importance lately; he hasn't beaten anyone solidly lately. Poor Bernard will get slaughtered out there by Pavlik.

How quickly we forget, though, that Hopkins' ring name is the "Executioner." He executed 12 perfect, flawless rounds laying out the curriculum for "Beating Kelly 101." And then, he gave the press a heated glare. Everyone agreed by that point that we as the press deserved it.

In the category of "Best Come-From-Behind Victory of 2008," the nominees are: Chris Arreola (KOing Travis Walker in 3) or Antonio Margarito (TKOing Miguel Cotto in 11).

And the Scrappy goes to… CHRIS ARREOLA.



Coming back from one knockdown is never easy. Try it, you'll see. While Margarito's steady destruction of Miguel Cotto was a great "come-from-behind" victory, it was a carefully-crafted plan that began back in the early rounds, regardless of who was ahead on the cards. Arreola definitively had to muster up the testicular fortitude and find a way to come back against the knockdown, and in definitive fashion he did, planting Travis Walker on his backside twice for the night. It's been quite some time since we've seen a heavyweight fight with actual action. Here's for hoping we get more of those in 2009!

In the category of "Comeback Fighter of the Year," the nominees are: Nate Campbell, Bernard Hopkins, or Jermain Taylor.

And the Scrappy goes to… BERNARD HOPKINS.



So quick we were to ring the death toll for him after his spanking by Joe Calzaghe.

How wrong we were to do so. Twelve picture perfect rounds later, and not only were we asking ourselves if Kelly Pavlik truly was the Great White Hope, or just hype; we were also asking, was Calzaghe/Hopkins just a fluke night? What if they did it again?

At 43, Bernard Hopkins not only took away doubt that he's still a great fighter, he put himself in the forefront of the light heavyweights.

In the category of "Trainer of the Year," the nominees are: Freddie Roach and Emanuel Steward.

And the Scrappy goes to… FREDDIE ROACH.



Every single vote tallied read for Freddie Roach. 411mania boxing staff and fans alike sang out the praises of the man who said he would concoct the "perfect plan" for Manny Pacquiao to beat Oscar De La Hoya… and did just that.

Many trainers were hit and miss this year, Jack Loew, Enzo Calzaghe, Nazim Richardson, Buddy McGirt… Freddie was no exception. However, with a win like this, it's hard to say he did not do a 100% perfect job as a trainer on this night.

In the category of "Best Pay-Per-View Card of 2008," the nominees are: "The Battle" (Cotto/Margarito) and "Unfinished Business" (Pacquiao/Marquez II).

And the Scrappy goes to… We have a TIE!



Pay-per-view cards that we can say were legitimately worth our hard-earned, quickly-fleeting dollar were hard to come by this year. Either the main event was a dud, with an okay undercard, or the main event was good, but the undercard stunk something awful. In both "The Battle" and "Unfinished Business," you saw scrappy undercard fights, both featuring hot prospects (Bernabe Concepcion on "The Battle" undercard; Abner Mares on "Unfinished Business"), and well, how ‘bout that? The main events were a hoot and a holler too. Viewers walked away from those cards saying, "Okay… I don't feel ripped off!" Well, at least until the cable or satellite bill came in.

In the category of "Knockout of the Year," the nominees are: Kendall Holt (over Ricardo Torres), Edison Miranda (over David Banks), Manny Pacquiao (over David Diaz), and Juan Urango (over Carlos Vilches).

And the Scrappy goes to… EDISON MIRANDA.

This really needs no explanation, just the footage.



In the category of "Worst Cut of 2008," the nominees are: Jorge Barrios (against Rocky Juarez), Juan Diaz (against Nate Campbell), and Zab Judah (against Joshua Clottey).

And the Scrappy goes to… JORGE BARRIOS.

Again, the proof is in the picture. Squeamish, you may want to scroll down.



In the category of "Most Improved Fighter of the Year," the nominees are: Chris Arreola, Ricky Hatton, Kendall Holt, Juan Manuel Lopez, and Manny Pacquiao.

And the Scrappy goes to… MANNY PACQUIAO.



As Manny Pacquiao entered 2008, he was a great fighter, already #1 on many people's pound-for-pound lists. So how did Pacquiao win "Most Improved" over guys who fought hard all year?

Because, believe it or not, Pacquiao improved. "Great" to "Damn near perfect" is an improvement.

The Great Manny Pacquiao stepped into the ring with his arch-rival, and found the inner guts to pound out the extra rounds needed to get the victory over Juan Manuel Marquez. The Amazing Manny Pacquiao moved up in weight and put on a clinic over David Diaz. The Phenomenal Manny Pacquiao moved even further up and tore apart the Golden Boy. If that's not a damn near perfect fighter, I don't know what is.

In the category of "Most Disappointing Fighter of the Year," the nominees are: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, or Kelly Pavlik.

And the Scrappy goes to… OSCAR DE LA HOYA.



Oscar. Come on now.

Chavez Jr. was supposed to beat Matt Vanda, and barely did; then avenged it.

Kelly Pavlik was supposed to beat Bernard Hopkins, but didn't. No harm, no foul though, he was the naturally smaller guy and he still held the middleweight belts.

Oscar was supposed to put the beatdown on the smaller, "weaker" guy. He supposed to show everyone how much bigger and stronger he was by knocking out the pound-for-pound rated champ.

Oscar failed. He got a clinical beatdown by the Pacman, no questions asked - and on top of that he quit on his stool.

Nuff said.

In the category of "Most Underrated Fighter of the Year," the nominees are: Chris Arreola, Ivan Calderon, Nonito Donaire Jr., and Francisco Figueroa Jr.

And the Scrappy goes to… CHRIS ARREOLA.



The case may be that his past two fights he's come in overweight. But you also forget that there really is no "overweight" in the heavyweight division, only sloppy. But Chris Arreola, in his fights over Israel Garcia in September and his Come-From-Behind Victory of 2009 against Travis Walker, has not fought like a sloppy fighter. His exciting power punches make you want to watch a heavyweight fight again. As he progresses, we hope we see a little more defense from the Riverside, CA kid, but one thing is for sure: you'll see more of Arreola in 2009.

In the category of "Round of the Year," the nominees are: Holt/Torres II – Round 1, and Vazquez/Marquez III – Round 12.

And the Scrappy goes to… VAZQUEZ/MARQUEZ III – ROUND 12.

This was a tight race. If you like knockouts (and who doesn't?) you voted for Holt/Torres II. But if you like non-stop action, action, action, between two bloody warriors who absolutely refuse to give up, with a fight hanging in the balance, during a rubber match, where after twelve grueling rounds you wish they would go back to fifteen-round fights and you just simply did not know who would win, well, this was your round.



In the category of "Fight of the Year," the nominees are: Miguel Cotto/Antonio Margarito, Steve Cunningham/Tomasz Adamek, and Israel Vazquez/Rafael Marquez III.

And the Scrappy goes to… ISRAEL VAZQUEZ/RAFAEL MARQUEZ III.



Why? Because every round was as exciting and action-packed as the Round of the Year you see above. If there is a Vazquez/Marquez IV, I will be there. If there is a Vazquez/Marquez V, I will be there. Until these two hang up their gloves, there is always a great match-up to be had. In every single round, there was action. In every single round, neither Israel Vazquez nor Rafael Marquez stopped a second. In every single round, no one knew who would win. And when the decision was announced, no one knew who would be victorious... except everyone. Truly what boxing was meant to be.

In the category of "Fighter of the Year," the most coveted Scrappy of them all, the nominees are: Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao.

And the Scrappy for 2008's "Fighter of the Year" goes to… MANNY PACQUIAO.



And frankly, no one deserves it more. The man who beat Marquez in a rematch in March, who trounced lightweight champion David Diaz in June, and who slaughtered the Golden Boy in December, all with relative ease, came close to making history by winning three major fights in three different weight classes. This would be an impressive feat for any man; however, this man is now also seen as the ambassador of boxing. He's a humanitarian, a philanthropist, dedicated to his native Philippines, but also loyal to his American fan base, especially in California. He's a musician, clown, friend, husband and father all rolled into one boxer.

And now he can add "Scrappy recipient" to his long resume as 2008's Fighter of the Year. And if he has a year even half as good as this one, you can expect him to be a candidate in 2009 too.