The dramatic combat between the Mexican José ‘Chon’ Zepeda and the Russian Ivan Baranchyk last October 3 and that had eight falls before an electrifying finale, it was considered the fight of the year in the second installment of the ESPN KNOCKOUT awards.
The battle of Zepeda and Baranchyk left behind great battles such as that of Juan Francisco Estrada against Carlos Cuadras, the war between Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubois and the vibrant fight between Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte.
The panel of voters was made up of Renato Bermúdez, Fernando Barbosa, Salvador Rodríguez, Carlos Irusta, Andrés Bermúdez, Julius Julianis and a vote was also granted to the public through a survey on social networks, which was for the Estrada war and Cuadras; however, he already had six votes out of the seven possible this battle of Zepeda and Baranchyk.
In total there were eight falls in the battle. Zepeda went to the canvas twice in the first episode, once more in the second and once in the fifth; but he got up in all of them and knocked down his rival in the second, third, fourth and fifth rounds, the last one brutally and definitively to take the victory.
GERVONTA A SANTA CRUZ, THE KO OF THE YEAR
In the voting, unanimously, Gervonta Davis’ knockout of Leo Santa Cruz on October 31 in San Antonio, Texas, won the award for the best of the year. It was a super brutal that ended a battle that was going through its best moment exchanging both from power to power.
Gervonta’s horrifying knockout of Leo, which also had nearly 11,000 fans in Texas, surpassed José Zepeda’s knockouts of Ivan Baranchyk, Alexander Povetkin’s knockouts of Dillian Whyte and Jake Paul’s knockouts of Nate Robinson. The fan vote also went to Gervonta with 73 percent.
SEBASTIÁN FUNDORA, PROSPECTUS OF THE YEAR
Mexican-American Sebastián Fundora, also known as the ‘Torre Infernal’, took the honors as Prospect of the Year, thanks to three victories that put him already at the top of the 154-pound division, beating Daniel Lewis, Nathaniel Gallimore and Habib Ahmed.
The prospects who fell by the wayside were Emanuel ‘Pollo’ Aguilar from Tijuana, knockout Édgar Berlanga and the no less spectacular Elvis Rodríguez. The fan vote, with 48 percent, also went to ‘La Torre Infernal’ Fundora, who improved his record to 16-0-1 and 11 out of combat.
PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS, PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
As part of the ESPN KNOCKOUT recognitions, the Premier Boxing Champions company that works with Tom Browny Mayweather Promotions’ TGB Promotions, took the honors in close competition with Matchroom Boxing and Top Rank. The fan vote went to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom.
PBC held several pay-per-view events, including the return of Errol Spence against Danny García, that of Leo Santa Cruz and Gervonta Davis, the historical of the Jermell brothers and Jermall Charlo with multiple titles, and also in partnership with Top Rank the by Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury in Las Vegas.
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