FIGHT OF THE YEAR
5. VERGIL ORTIZ JR. MD 12 SERHII BOHACHUK August 10, 2024, Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas The drama started immediately in this fight for the interim WBC junior middleweight title. Ortiz went down in the opening round after taking a right hand, but the referee initially ruled the clear knockdown as a slip. Before Round 5, the rarely used instant replay was consulted and belatedly corrected the call. Ortiz briefly touched down again in the eighth after absorbing a lead left hook, but in-between the knockdowns, the former sparring partners took turns unleashing on each other. Ortiz was desperate to get inside and had success with short, well-picked shots to the head and body. Meanwhile, the angular Ukrainian worked well behind a stiff jab but neglected it as the temptation to land his threshing right hand and stiff left hook proved impossible to resist. The second knockdown seemed to light a fire under Ortiz. Realizing that his unbeaten record was in serious jeopardy, the Texan ran through the gears. He began to get the unshakable Bohachuk’s attention with crunching overhand rights and rocked him with a beautiful left hook in the 11th. Both men displayed incredible resilience and heart and exchanged hard shots until the very end, but Ortiz’s strong finish earned him a tight majority decision. 6. ARTUR BETERBIEV UD 12 DMITRY BIVOL October 12, 2024, Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
championship fight between IBF/ WBC/WBO titleholder Beterbiev and WBA counterpart Bivol was arguably the highest-quality fight that could be made in the entire sport. When the world’s best 175-pound fighters finally got into the ring, they produced a technical masterclass that more than lived up to the lofty pre-fight billing. Rather than taking fans on a
enthralling fight, neither man showed even the slightest sign of vulnerability and both trusted in their tactics until the final bell. It was edge-of-the-seat stuff right up until the moment Beterbiev was declared the winner by majority decision. He added the vacant Ring Magazine title to all the others and became the first undisputed light heavyweight champion since 2002.
the early rounds, and Ioka struggled to cope with his aggressive, accurate combination punching. The 35-year-old Ioka didn’t panic. Instead, the four- division titleholder waited for the onslaught to subside and then began picking away at Martinez’s body as he battled hard to regain a foothold in the fight. At times during the middle rounds, it looked like Ioka might produce an unlikely miracle and add another chapter to his extraordinary career, but Martinez, 32, found another gear and once again reasserted control during the championship rounds. Martinez deservedly added Ioka’s WBA title to his own IBF belt, but the wide scorecards failed to do justice
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ruled that the ropes had kept him up and issued a count. “The Gypsy King” called upon his own remarkable powers of recovery to box his way through the 10th and somehow finished the last round strongly, but it was the remarkable Usyk – who previously reigned as the undisputed cruiserweight king – who became the first heavyweight since Lennox Lewis to earn universal recognition as the one and only champ.
Instead, Japanese legend Ioka used every ounce of his experience to weather an early storm and turn this junior bantamweight unification into one of the fights of the year. Martinez couldn’t miss during
to just how deep he had to dig to do it. The 115-pound division has played host to some of the most high- quality, exciting fights of the modern era, and this battle sits comfortably among them.
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rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills, the pair engaged in a high-stakes game of poker from the very start, and the tension only ratcheted up as the rounds passed and the consequences of making even the slightest mistake grew ever more serious. Despite his punches not having the usual destructive effect, Beterbiev refused to panic and continued to press forward in his relentless, methodical way. Bivol maintained his own composure while boxing under the most oppressive level of physical and mental pressure imaginable. Despite the brutal intensity of the
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4. FERNANDO MARTINEZ UD 12 KAZUTO IOKA July 7, 2024, Kokugikan Arena, Tokyo Given the way Martinez flew out of the gate, it looked like the Argentine might put himself in the hunt for knockout of the year honors.
For years, it was thought that an undisputed light heavyweight
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