And the winner is…

I’m sure most pundits will be giving their fighter of the year accolade to Juan Manuel Márquez following his scintillating destruction of Manny Pacquiao earlier this month  However, in effect I pre-empted that by honouring Márquez at the end of last year (after he’d been robbed – once again - in the 3^rd Pacquiao fight: http://floatlikeabutterflysting.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/and-winner-is.html)

Instead, my 'alternative' fighter of the year award (aka The Fran) for 2012 goes to Andre Ward. At the very end of 2011 he dished out a one-sided beating to the very capable Carl Froch, winning the ‘Super 6’ tournament and proving he is far and away the best super middleweight in the world. Now, I’m generally not a huge fan of the ‘intermediate’ divisions – super this and junior that. However, in his only fight of 2012, Ward completely outclassed the light heavyweight champ Chad Dawson (in his first fight since defeating the legendary Bernard Hopkins – in my mind Hopkins’ only legitimate defeat in almost 20 years). So Ward is effectively the undisputed light heavyweight king – without actually having ever fought at 175 pounds. Not only is he deserving of The Fran, he may well be the best (active) fighter, pound for pound, on the planet.

Khan he change?

A friend of mine bumped into Freddie Roach, former trainer of Amir Khan, at JFK airport a few months ago. During their conversation, Roach hit the nail on the head when he explained Khan’s problem:  “he stays in the pocket too long”. Fans of the NFL will know that quarterbacks who hang around in the pocket tend to end up flat on their backs – precisely what has happened to Khan on more than one occasion.  He now has a new trainer, Virgil Hill, and claims to have developed a more defensive style, which he plans to display in Los Angeles on Saturday night.  He probably won't be troubled by his opponent Carlos Molina, a lightweight stepping up a division who is four inches shorter than Khan and doesn't carry much of a punch. Should he win that fight (and if he doesn’t he may as well retire), the caliber of opponent Khan will need to face in the future will necessitate the kind of defensive skills which have generally been lacking amongst British fighters. New style or not, what is certain is that eventually he will take one on the chin – even the greats get hit sometimes. And as I’ve stated before, it’s rare for any fighter to be able to add muscle to that particular part of their anatomy.

That's the way to do it

After falling victim to three dubious decisions, Marquez decided to take the judges out of the equation - congratulations to him:

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/8728470/juan-manuel-marquez-knocks-manny-pacquiao-6th-round

Bet Pacquiao now wishes he'd taken that fight with Mayweather when he had the chance...