Premier Boxing Champions take a look back at this year of boxing and reveal the results of Best of 2017 fan poll. 2017 was stacked with memorable matchups and with the year coming to an end it’s only fitting to look back at all of the action PBC delivered in its third season. So here’s favorite moments and fighters in four categories: Prospect, Knockout, Fight and Fighter of the Year.
“Prospect of the Year.” The candidates were Marcus Browne, Ahmed Elbiali, Adam Kownacki, Mario Barrios, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Caleb Plant. Now all of these guys have promising careers but the fighter the one to watch is undefeated super middleweight Caleb “Sweethands” Plant. Plant pitched two 10-round decision shutouts over tough Thomas Awimbono and relentless Andrew Hernandez this year while improving to 16 and 0 and moving up to the top 10 in super middleweight rankings.
Next up is “Knockout of the Year.” The candidates in this category were Hugo Centeno’s jaw dropping stoppage over Immanwel Aleem, Mikey Garcia’s destruction of Dejan Zlaticanin, Jermell Charlo’s vicious first round knockout of Erickson Lubin, Luis Collazo’s crushing KO of Sammy Vasquez, Deontay Wilder’s brutal knockout of Bermane Stiverne and David Benavidez’s impressive KO of Rogelio Medina. And the winner is… Deontay Wilder’s knockout over Bermane Stiverne. Wilder sent a big statement to the heavyweight division when he knocked out Stiverne with vicious power in round 1 of their November 4th matchup to retain his WBC heavyweight title.
“Fight of the Year” is a topic that always leads to passionate debate among fight fans and 2017 was no different. Your choices this year were all world title fights. Carl Frampton vs Leo Santa Cruz II, Badou Jack vs James DeGale, David Benavidez vs Ronald Gavril, Keith Thurman vs Danny Garcia, Jarrett Hurd vs Austin Trout and Kell Brook vs Errol Spence Jr. And your winner by majority decision is… Kell Brook vs Errol Spence Jr. Brook was ahead on the scorecards after six rounds but Spence turned up after that and managed to drop Brook in the 10th round and finished the job in the 11th making the Dallas native the IBF welterweight champion of the world.
Finally, “Fighter of the Year.” Six fighters to choose from, all of which deserve the recognition: Mikey Garcia, Jermell Charlo, Deontay Wilder, Jarrett Hurd, Errol Spence Jr. and Robert Easter Jr. All six of these world champions shined in 2017 and it’s no surprise to see any of them nominated. But, this year the fans choice for “Fighter of the Year” is… Errol Spence Jr. Spence went over to Sheffield, England in Brook’s backyard to defeat Brook by TKO, making a big statement in the welterweight division. Spence returns to the ring on January 20th to face crafty former world champ Lamont Peterson, live on Showtime.
