Australian Fighter of the Year 2010

[Marlin]

If Mundine beats wood............................... he'll go blind?

Frankly even if Green beats Flores I don't think he can be Aussie fighter of the year, I'd still take Zappa and Geale over him after - everyone he's fought this year has been inactive for over a year, one was past his best and one completely shot.

I really hope Katsidis beats Marquez - that would have to be one of the best, if not the best win by an Australian boxer ever, as Marquez is still generally rated P4P #3 and is top 5 P4P in pretty much everyone's list.

I really agree with this Jezza. JMM is a HOF fighter, it will be a shame that if Rocky wins, it will be against an old shopworn JMM, but that JMM still beats every other Lightweight currently, so it's valid for Super champion status and will still be a great win on his record.

I have never really been confident of a Rocky win, but i have been wrong and i hope i am on this occasion.

Please do not encourage this kind of thing!

[Marlin]

What do we think now? Katsidis was in a great fight however was stopped in the 9th...

[dberry]

What do we think now? Katsidis was in a great fight however was stopped in the 9th...

Hmmm. What I think is Katsidis picked up the gauntlet that was thrown down by the Australian boxing public and world wide fight fans and fought the current best of his weight devision, the best of a very competitive weight devision, and not only didn't embarrass himself and provide Marquez with one of his toughest fights, but went out on his shield giving us fight of the year. He did not try and survive, treading water until he felt it was safe, he fought and fought the best in the world in that division with all the courage he could muster and it was anybodies fight until he got stopped.
Reminiscent of Troy Waters-Terry Norris' classic war.

[Sweet P]

What do we think now? Katsidis was in a great fight however was stopped in the 9th...

Hmmm. What I think is Katsidis picked up the gauntlet that was thrown down by the Australian boxing public and world wide fight fans and fought the current best of his weight devision, the best of a very competitive weight devision, and not only didn't embarrass himself and provide Marquez with one of his toughest fights, but went out on his shield giving us fight of the year. He did not try and survive, treading water until he felt it was safe, he fought and fought the best in the world in that division with all the courage he could muster and it was anybodies fight until he got stopped.
Reminiscent of Troy Waters-Terry Norris' classic war.

I agree Mate. Katsidis just fought the best guy in that division, And one of the best fighters of the past 10 years. He pushed the action had him almost out in the 3rd.

IMO Katsidis with his big win in the UK and now his brutal war with JMM is our number one for the year. Followed by Geale, Green and Zappa.

[Datsue]

I agree. Katsidis deserves the honour for the fighting The Man at his weight class, & doing so valiantly & without an ounce of give until he was spent.

Fair play Michael. I'd pay to watch you again (as I did when I saw him KO Graham Earl).





(From an Englishman, btw).

PS: Please come over here again & beat up John Murray, who fights like he thinks he's some kind of Mexican but cannot punch. I think Kats would break Murray late on, unless all those hard fights have caught up with him.

[Soundkamp]

Michael Katsidis without doubt

[Hounddawg]

With all the candidates fights over, it's time to vote for the winner.

All have done Australian boxing proud.

Looking at who's fought and who's won/lost, it's a tough 1.

I really think Rocky has etched his name into many Australians hearts, his win over Mitchell was great, and his performance against JMM very gutsy, he did only fight a total of 12 rounds and 2 fights for the year. Real quality Opposition. Record 1(1)-0.

Geale did beat Kariuki and Made and hell very convincingly, performance wise Kariuki beat a man who drew a world title fight with Sturm, Karmazin beat and got robbed against the current IBF middle champ in Sylvester, who IMO Geale schooled in the art of Boxing, only 2 fights tho.
Still, i would say that Geale is the most outstanding Australian fighter for 2010, and potentially has the best shot to grab an alphabet next year. Quality opposition. Record 2(2)-0

Zappa, has launched himself well and truly on the world scene, he won a rather debatable IB0 tile fight against tough South American Angulo, he smoked padded Indonesian Sumba in 2 and IMO the most impressive KO of the year by an Australian against very tough Korean Ji Hoon Kim in the IBF eliminator. Still IMO not Australia's fighter of the year.Still 1 of my favorite fighters tho. Record 3(2)-0

Darchinyan, he came of a lost right at the end of 2009, so a drop back down to the weight he owns at Superfly against a very game but inexperienced Guerrero saw him dominate the fight and Superfly convincingly for the last time, His win over tough Philipino Barcelona with a sore hand was impressive for the IBO Batam strap. His loss to Mares was gutsy and some have said 1 of the FOTY.it still does him a little bit of damage, because the other 2 opponents for the year were better than average but at best would be considered extremely gutsy fighters as opposed to talented. IMO not fighter of the year. Record 2(0)-1

Green, coming off a massive upset win late 2009 against RJJ, had a big task to top his 2009, first out was a another notch for Green as far as the ledger is concerned with Mundine, when he easily beat Manny Siacca, a man who beat Mundine 5 years a go. Next fight out had an awful lot of anticipation, as it could have been 1 of the great Australian fights of all time prime for prime, but Briggs came in not fit, and mentally not there, which led to 1 of the most talked about bouts in the world for 2010, Green KO 1, what else could he do, Paul Briggs name is on his record as a win, and that will be remembered. Greens first test at the full weight as a Cruiser saw him fight highly talked about unbeaten American BJ Flores, I personally thought he done it easily, against the much bigger fighter and in an impressive display of boxing skills fought his way to a UD 12, more rounds in 1 night than his last 2 years of work. really good year on paper. Record 3(2)-0

What about Wood Kariuki, and Mundine, the most active fighter out of everyone, an extremely close victory over 1 top 10 Australian Supermiddle, and arguably the most known fighter in this country. Not a bad resume for the year and deserves on paper to be considered.
IMO not Australian fighter of the year. record 4(3)-0-1 a couple of padded fighters but Kariuki and Mundine not bad.


For me
1.Geale
2.Katsidis
3.Green
4.Zappavigna
5.wood
6.Darchinyan

[Marlin]

Nice post dawg, and its hard to disagree with your assessment. Vic's loss definitely hurt him. I think the Flores win for Green is big but the Briggs fight is a shame. Katsidis is a great fighter with a good win and a gutsy effort against an all time great. I think Geale could have done with at least another fight this year but he did put up two great efforts against two very solid opponents so he gets the nod from me as well...

[hearns]

My vote goes to Garth Wood.
Australian Fighter Of The Year 2010 should be judged on achievment. To quote Johnny Lewis "the biggest upset in Australian boxing history". If you judge on courage,heart and determination then Rocky Katsidis wins daylight second. If you vote on Genuine Good Bloke and outstanding technical skills then Geale wins. If you vote on what a fighter has achieved in 2010 then Wood wins hands down. Despite limited experiance, less skill than Rocky Balboa, he has managed to do what Geale,Green,Kessler and Siaca never looked like doing at any stage ie leave the Man a battered crumpled heap on the canvas in less than 6 rounds.

[Marlin]

hardly comparable considering the stages of their careers...

[hearns]

Sorry Mate,
Whose careers, Wood, Mundine, Geale, Katsidis,Green,Siaca, Kessler??????

[dberry]

My vote goes to Micheal Katsidis, a true warrior, and it would be hard to look past the Aussie involved in (arguably) FOTY.

Was never a huge Kat fan but am a convert.

[Hounddawg]

So far;

Geale 2
Katsidis 1
Wood 1

Katsidis is a warrior very hard to pick over him, i just think Geale arrived for real this year. next year should back up my opinion of him winning an alphabet and peoples opinion will change,Sylvester is defending already in January, so the Geale fight shouldn't be too far off.

[dberry]

Geale does put forward a good case for Aussie Fighter of The Year, unfortunately for Wood, he beat a guy who was never going to be in contention.

[Hounddawg]

Nice post dawg, and its hard to disagree with your assessment. Vic's loss definitely hurt him. I think the Flores win for Green is big but the Briggs fight is a shame. Katsidis is a great fighter with a good win and a gutsy effort against an all time great. I think Geale could have done with at least another fight this year but he did put up two great efforts against two very solid opponents so he gets the nod from me as well...

Thanks mate.

I feel the same way, 2 fights a year at this stage of his career is silly, there is still a couple of stay busy fights here, and of course there is Sam Soliman locally.
I hope he did well out of the PPV as well, for me it was card of the year or very close to it here in Australia.