Review of the Best Fights of the Year in Boxing 2017, One of the Most Exciting And Historic Years In Boxing

Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez vs Srisaket Sor Rungvisai 

On March 18, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez from Nicaragua came into the fight as the reigning WBC Super Flyweight Champion with a record of 46-0 after previously defeating Carlos Caudras in a 12 round UD, to face challenger Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (42-4-1, 39 KO) from Thailand.  This was only Chocolatito's second fight in the Super Flyweight division after moving up from Flyweight.

The weight difference seemed apparent early on, as Gonzalez was knocked down on a hard body shot while off balance in the first round.  He stayed down on one knee collecting himself until the count of 7, and it became apparent immediately how much stronger Sur Rungvisai was at this weight.  Sor Rungvisai out muscled him and roughed him up with hard clean shots, and a relentless attack, going punch for punch with Gonzalez throughout the fight.  It cannot be ignored however, that Sor Rungvisai committed several fouls including 3 or 4 very bad headbutts that caused severe bleeding from multiple cuts on Gonzalez's forehead and seemed to hurt him.  Some of these headbutts did indeed seem intentional, and Rungvisai was eventually deducted a point, to even out the knockdown in the first round.  In my opinion, and many others, the referee should have deducted a point earlier than he did.

 Gonzalez, although having to overcome the devastating power of his opponent, clearly hurt Sor Runvisai several times during the fight, and landed clean and effective punches that stunned and staggered Rungvisai with good combinations to the head.  But despite most of the press scoring the fight in favor of Gonzalez, I honestly had the fight 116-113 with 3 rounds even in favor of Srisaket Sor Rongvisai.  It was a fantastic fight, one of the most exciting and dramatic fights I've seen in years that didn't include Floyd, Manny, GGG, Wlad, and all the main major players in the upper weight classes of the sport.

The rematch, held on September 9, 2017, proved that Gonzalez was not nearly in the same shape or didn't have the same will to win as he was brutally knocked out in the 4th round by Sor Rungvisai after also being knocked down earlier in the round.  Sor Rungvisai will have a lot of tough opponents to face as the WBC Super Flyweight Champion, with a lot of good names out there that have great potential to be exciting and historic fights in the lower weight classes.  This fight, and the rematch, are both an amazing story and war between two superb, excellent fighters that fought for 16 rounds in 2 fights toe to toe, non stop, giving everything they had.   This may be the end of the Chocolatito reign, we will see where he goes from here, but he seemed a defeated, broken, shot fighter in the KO loss in the Rungvisai rematch.  Either way, he was a great champion for a long time and beat a lot of very respectable and notable opponents during a long title reign and has cemented his legacy.

Sor Rungvisai will defend his title against Juan Francisco Estrada (36-2, 25 KO) on February 27th, 2018.

Anthony Joshua vs Wladamir Klitschko

April 29, 2017.  This was just a modern heavyweight classic, championship fight between, at least in my eyes, the true  passing of the torch of the Lineal Heavyweight Championship (as a result of Tyson Fury, who defeated Kklitschko a year earlier to win this distinction but then immediately retired instead of taking a rematch) from the long time, dominating Ukranian champion and warrior Wladamir Klitschko to the younger Anthony Joshua of England.  The fight had almost everything, knockdowns by both fighters, and critical moments in several rounds where both fighters were hurt and looked as if they could be KO'd any moment.  In the end, after fighting back valiantly and like a true heavyweight champion that he has been, the referee stopped the fight during an onslaught by Joshua and Klitschko was stopped in the 11th round.  Joshua retained the heavyweight championship and is now set on a course to face possibly Deontay Wilder, the WBC heavyweight champion from the US, who in my opinion is extremely overrated and hasn't been challenged by any notable contenders during his title defenses and is simply a temporary belt holder, or maybe even Tyson Fury who has shown some interest in maybe coming back to fight for the title, which he technically never lost in the ring.  The Heavyweight division is exciting again, and the future looks bright.

Gennedy Golovkin vs Saul Canelo Alvarez

This fight, held on September 16, 2017, as everyone knows, resulted in a bullshit decision.  A draw, where GGG was clearly the winner according to almost all experts and observers/fans.  The media reaction was immediate and aggressive towards the judges and corruption in Nevada and the sport in general.  Judge Adyle Byrd had the fight 118-112 for Canelo which is absolutely unfathomable and so obviously and disgracefully corrupt.  Also, the other judge who is not talked about is the judge who scored the fight 114-114, a draw, which is also totally absurd and impossible after reviewing the fight and seeing the real punch stats.  The compubox punch stats are never accurate, always inflated for both fighters and sometimes purposefully more inflated for certain fighters.  These are claims made by people inside the sport and are widely available to find with a simple search about boxing corruption.  Gennedy Golovkin deserved to win this dight and become undisputed Middleweight Champion, but instead he will be forced to have a rematch with Canelo, likely in Las Vegas where he has a chance to be screwed again.  Prior to the fight, just about everyone in the boxing community was in agreement that if GGG didn't knock Canelo out, he would be robbed, and that is exactly what happened.  The people behind it in my opinion are of course Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya, who is the modern corrupt criminal Don King of the sport, and likely Bernard Hopkins, who works closely with Oscar and Golden Boy.  Not a satisfying result, but a great contest with a lot of good action, but didn't exactly live up to the expectations, which were very high....but still a great fight.