The specialized boxing magazineThe Ringannounced his yearly awards. The chosen one to win the award of 2021Fighter of the Yearis the current Pound for Pound king and Unified World Super middleweightChampion Saul Canelo Alvarez.
Alvarez receives theawardafterhaving a tremendous year in which he has cleaned up the Super middleweight division in less than 12 months. His coach, Eddy Reynoso, also won the recognition as the Trainer of the Yearafter receiving the same recognition in 2019.
The Ring magazinewas established in 1922, and six years later, it started to award the best boxer of the world yearly. The panel that chooses the winners is made up of a group of ten expertsin boxing thataward 10 different categories such as Fighter of the Year, Trainer of the Year, Fight and Knockout of the Year.
Why has Canelo made history by being awarded as The Ring Fighter of the Year 2021?
Only 9 Latin American boxers have been awarded by The Ring as the Fighter of the Year. The first one wasJose AngelMantequillaNapoles, a Cuban-Mexican Welterweight Champion, in 1969. Since then, glorious and legendary names received the prize, such as Argentinian Carlos Monzon, Puerto Rican FelixTitoTrinidad,and MexicansSalvador Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Juan Manuel Marquez.
However, none of the mentioned boxingall-time greats could win the award twice until Canelo appeared. Alvarez has been named Fighter of the Year in 2019 and 2021, and with only 31 years old, he could win more of thisawards in theshort future.
The boxer with the most Fighter of Year recognition is far away from Canelo. Muhammad Ali, the Greatest, is the boxer with most of these awards won with 6 (1963, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1978). The following ones with more individual recognitions received by The Ring magazine are Joe Louis(4),Rocky Marziano(3),Joe Frazier(3), Evander Holyfield(3), and Manny Pacquiao(3).
ThefullRing magazine 2021 awards list
-Fighter of the Year: Canelo Alvarez
-Fight of the Year: Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder
-Knockout of the Year: Gabriel Rosado KO 3 Bektemir Melikuziev
-Round of the Year: Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder(Round 4)
-Trainer of the Year: Eddy Reynoso
-Upset of the Year: George Kambosos Jr. win to Teofimo Lopez (Split Decision-12 rounds)
-Event of the Year: Anthony JoshuavsOleksandr Usyk
-Comeback of the Year: Kiko Martinez
-Prospect of the Year: Brandun Lee
-Performance of the Year: Shakur Stevenson vs Jamel Herring (TKO- round 10)
*Most inspirational: Bob Arum