By Peter Lim
Houston fans were treated to two scintillating fights in 2022 involving multiple world titles. As a result, never before has the runner-up position figured so prominently in the Houston Boxing Awards. Both fights were won conclusively and without controversy by the Houston-area fighters. One made history with the unification of all four major belts and crowning of an undisputed champion in the junior middleweight division. The other was equally exhilarating, and although a vacant junior welterweight alphabet belt was at stake, was not quite as magnitudinal as the first. The aforementioned pair of fights dominated this year's awards in the categories of Fighter of the Year, Fight of the Year, Knockout of the Year and Round of the Year.
A new category - Female Fighter of the Year - was included in this year's awards.
For the first time since the inauguration of the Houston Boxing Awards in 2015, Trainer of the Year was won by someone other than Ronnie Shields.
Noticeably absent from this year's awards was Jermall Charlo who was sidelined in 2022 due to injury.
And the awards go to ...
Fighter of the Year
Jermell Charlo
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Photo by Hosanna Rull
Charlo and Brian Castano proved their elite mettle in their 2021 firefight for the unified and undisputed 154-pound championship. Both displayed equal amounts of heart, punch resistance and abilities to both box and brawl. The fight logically and judiciously ended in a draw.
When the two collided again in the 2022 rematch, Castano was basically the same fighter from a year ago while Charlo upped his game a notch by unveiling a PhD-level ring IQ to compliment his physical prowess. The first six rounds was a continuation of the first encounter with both fighters duking it out on relatively even terms. But Charlo spent the second half of the fight deploying a more cerebral strategy that methodically and gradually dismantled Castano. He smothered and held to disrupt Castano's momentum and circled and ambushed to keep Castano where he wanted him. In the tenth round, Charlo lured Castano into a trap and unleashed a right to the ribcage followed by a compact left hook to the head that penetrated Castano's guard sending him crumpling to his knees. Castano bravely made it to his feet on wobbly legs but a follow-up barrage put Castano down again prompting the referee to step in, call a halt and declare Charlo the victor.
With the win, Charlo retained his three 154-pound alphabet belts while seizing Castano's one, becoming one of three undisputed champions to hold all four major belts in 2022; Devin Haney is the unified champion at 135 and Naoya Inoue at 118. (Josh Taylor previously held all the belts at 140 but vacated three of the four over the course of the year.) Besides clinching the top award locally, Charlo also became a frontrunner for Fighter of the Year worldwide.
Runner up
Regis Prograis
Photo by Hosanna Rull
Prograis (28-1, 24 KOs) captured a vacant alphabet belt in November with a disciplined and workmanlike knockout win over Jose Zepeda (35-3, 27 KOs) to embark on his second reign as a 140-pound world titleholder. In what was supposed to be an almost 50-50 matchup between two hard-hitting and iron-chinned southpaws, Prograis comprehensively and systematically broke Zepeda down and eventually stopped him in the eleventh round with a prudent mix of tactical boxing, power punching and cunning. Zepeda remained dangerous throughout but Prograis' defense and punch resistance allowed him to absorb Zepeda's punches well and avoid being hit by more than one or two shots at a time. It was a career-best and possibly a career-defining win for Prograis who briefly held another version of the title in 2019.
Earlier in the year, Prograis also stopped Tyrone McKenna (23-3-1, 6 KOs) of Northern Ireland in the sixth round in Dubai.
2021 winner: Jermall Charlo
Female Fighter of the Year
Marlen Esparza
Like her male counterpart Jermell Charlo, Esparza (13-1, 1 KO) also made history in 2022 by unifying the female flyweight world championship for the first time. Esparza, 33, successfully defended her alphabet belt and added another to her name by defeating Naoka Fujioka (19-3, 7 KOs) of Japan via lopsided 10-round decision in San Antonio in April. Esparza returned to the ring with both belts on the line in August to defeat Eva Guzman (19-2-1, 11 KOs) of Venezuela, also by decision. As her record suggests, Esparza, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, does not pack much punching power but makes up for it with technical savvy and ring IQ.
Fight of the Year
Jermell Charlo TKO10 Brian Castano
The magnitude of this victory is further amplified considering it was a rematch of the 2021 Fight of the Year that ended in a draw. Charlo spent the first half of the rematch slugging it out on even terms with Castano much like he did in the entirety of their first encounter. But at the halfway mark of the rematch, he transformed himself from trigger-happy cowboy to cool and calculated assassin. Like a matador, he deliberately slowed the action to throw Castano off his game and dictate the tempo instead of bullheadedly locking horns with Castano at every turn. When Castano tried to initiate an exchange, Charlo would spin out, glide away or hold to kill the action. He would still engage Castano but only on his own terms.
The end was sudden, unexpected and brutal. By refusing to fight Castano's fight, Charlo forced Castano into taking more risks and making more mistakes. Unable to make his own adjustments to Charlo's new adaptation, Castano continued pressing forward with reckless abandon. In the tenth round, Charlo had Castano where he wanted him and detonated a right to the body, left to the head. Castono found himself on the deck not knowing what hit him. He beat the count but virtually everyone, including Castano himself, knew the fight was essentially over at that point. Charlo's follow-up assault that ended the fight for good was a mere formality.
Whether it was scripted by trainer Derrick James or improvised mid-fight, Charlo's bait and switch tactic at the midway point that turned the tables of the fight will go down as one of the shrewdest battlefield strategies in the playbooks of the sweet science.
Runner up
Regis Prograis TKO11 Jose Zepeda
Forget the fact that this fight was for an alphabet belt. This was a genuine high-quality matchup between two battle-tested, cream-of-the-crop 140-pound southpaws renowned for their formidable punching power, punch resistance and aggressiveness. The showdown had all the makings for Fight of the Year but it ultimately was won by brain as much as brawn, with Prograis reading Zepeda's style and body language and capitalizing on his flaws more effectively than vice versa,
Prograis was first to the draw more often, got the better of most of the exchanges and was the more elusive of the two. Although he pulled comfortably ahead after 10 rounds, the heavy-handed Zepeda had his moments in every round as he jolted Prograis with his fair share of power punches. The accumulation of Prograis' shots gradually began to take a toll on Zepeda and he became an easier target as the fight wore into the late rounds. Sensing the time was ripe for the kill, Prograis turned up the heat in the eleventh round and soon caught Zepeda with a huge overhand left that sent him reeling to the ropes. Prograis pounced on his trapped and injured prey with a two-fisted assault that sent Zepeda flailing to the canvas, prompting the referee to waive the bout over without a count.
2021 winner - Jermell Charlo D12 Brian Castano
Knockout of the Year
Jermell Charlo TKO10 Brian Castano
Over the course of 21 rounds in two fights, Charlo and Castano clobbered each other with everything they had. Both fighters were rocked, shaken and buzzed by each other's blows but each seemed to have sufficient durability to withstand the other's power, shake off the ill-effects and return fire with a vengeance. The first fight ended in a draw with both camps having a credible case to make that they deserved the victory. That all changed abruptly in the tenth round of their rematch when a perfectly-executed, precision-perfect body-head combination by Charlo ensured that this time around, the result was definitive, conclusive and concussive.
Charlo's window of opportunity to land that combination lasted no longer than a fraction of a second but he took it. Right to the body, left to the head and that was it. Game over. Neither punch would have caused much damage individually but the combined effect of both was devastating. It was eerily reminiscent of the right to the body, left to the head that Mike Tyson used to stop Razor Ruddock in 1991. What made the knockout even more impressive was the fact that the fight-ending left hook was partially blocked by Castano's glove before making contact with his head. In addition, Castano had always displayed a sturdy chin and had never been in serious trouble before.
Regardless of what Charlo does from here on out, he will have one of the weirdest knockout reels ever. Prior to knocking out an iron-chinned Castano with a partially-blocked shot, he deflated Jeison Rosario with, of all things, a jab to the body that was, guess what, also partially deflected. In 2019, Charlo began his victory celebration a tad prematurely after pummeling Tony Harrison to the canvas only to discover that the referee had not yet halted the fight; he stopped Harrison for real shortly after realizing his mistake. In 2017, Charlo stunningly froze Erickson Lubin stiff for the full count with a strange hook-uppercut hybrid that merely clipped Lubin on the chin. And in 2016, Jermell's mandatory challenger Charles Hatley almost started a riot when he unceremoniously gatecrashed his identical twin Jermall's post-fight interview with a shove, mistaking him for Jermell. Charlo made Hatley pay 11 months later by violently knocking him out in the sixth round.
With that said, in addition to Knockout of the Year, if there was an award for the most misleading stat in boxing, Charlo's unimposing 51 percent knockout rate has to be the undisputed winner by leaps and bounds.
2021 winner - Efe Ajagba KO3 Brian Howard
Prospect of the Year
Austin Williams, 13-0 (9KOs)
Southpaw middleweight Williams went 4-0 (2 KOs) in 2022 including wins over two previously-undefeated fellow prospects. Most impressive was his first-round TKO over Chordale Booker (17-1, 7 KOs) in April. In that fight, Williams demonstrated both his ability to beat his opponent to the punch with his reach alongside a skillset to dominate exchanges at close quarters. Williams ended the year with a lopsided 10-round decision win over undefeated but untested Simon Madsen (13-1, 10 KOs) of Denmark.
A late convert but fast bloomer to the sweet science who first laced on a pair of gloves at the ripe old age of 18, WIlliams took to boxing like a fish to water. A former basketball player, he emigrated from court to ring after falling short of making the starting lineup on his college hoops team. In a brief amateur career, he succeeded in winning an open division national title before joining the pro ranks in 2019. Even before turning pro himself, WIlliams was entrusted as a coach, doing everything from conducting beginners classes for kids to training full-fledged professionals. Most recently, he was deemed knowledgeable and articulate enough to serve as a guest commentator and analyst for DAZN.
2021 winner - Darwin Price
Comeback of the Year
Miguel Flores
It is rare for a fighter to win Comeback of the Year on the strength of a draw but featherweight Flores deserves this honor considering the slump from which he was coming back and the big-name opponent he was up against. Flores (25-4-1, 12 KOs) seemed like the perfect comeback opponent for former three-division titleholder and future hall-of-famer Abner Mares (31-3-2, 15 KOs) after a four-year layoff. In his last three fights, Flores was 1-2 against a caliber of opposition ranging from A-plus to D-minus. In 2019, he fought gallantly in a unanimous decision loss to four-division titleholder and Mares' arch rival Leo Santa Cruz. In his next fight, Flores was brutally stopped by southpaw contender Eduardo Ramirez in a fight he took on 10-day's notice. In what was supposed to be a stay-busy fight in 2021, Flores was gifted a split-decision victory against Diuhl Olguin who had a losing record of 15-17-4 (10 KOs) in his hometown at the Toyota Center. Olguin has fought 13 times since without a win, dipping to 15-29-5 (10 KOs). On paper at least, Flores was custom made for Mares to return to action against.
But somebody forgot to send Flores the memo that he was merely supposed to be the fall guy. Mares started aggressively punching in sharp, fluid combinations like he hadn't accumulated any ring rust from his four-year absence. But Flores took his best shots well and returned fire with gusto like the young, hungry prospect he was before several derailments he encountered in his 13-year career. After eight rounds of spirited back-and-forth action, Mares seemed to run out of gas allowing Flores to finish strong in the last two rounds.The draw was probably a fair verdict but no one would've raised an eyebrow had Flores' hand been raised at the end of the night. Most significantly, though, Flores, 30, regained a measure of relevance on the world stage.
2021 winner - Marlen Esparza
Upset of the Year
Adrian Taylor SD8 Efetobor Apochi
For the second year running, cruiserweight Apochi came up at the short end of Upset of the Year by split decision. Despite losing his last fight, albeit barely, Apochi was statistically a clear favorite against Taylor. Although both fighters entered the ring with relatively even records, Apochi (11-2, 11 KOs) had a superior level of opposition. The Houston transplant from Nigeria had previously stopped fighters with 14-0, 10-1 and 11-2 records. His only loss was a razor-close split decision to fellow-undefeated Brandon Glanton (13-0, 11 KOs) last year.
Taylor (13-1-1, 5 KOs), on the other hand, was still fighting four- and six-rounders mostly against fighters with losing records. His best win came via split decision against an 8-1 fighter, he fought a 9-1 fighter to a draw and lost a four-round decision to a 3-6 journeyman. In addition, Apochi had stopped every fighter he had defeated while Taylor had a subpar 36 percent knockout rate.
Still, Taylor managed to edge Apochi via an eight-round split decision for the upset, sending him back to the drawing board. At age 35 and 0-2 in his last two fights, time might be running out for Apochi to regain a semblance of the promise he had in 2020 when he walked away with the Prospect of the Year award.
2021 winner - Brandon Glanton SD10 Efetobor Apochi
Round of the Year
Jermell Charlo vs. Brian Castano, round 7
Round 7 of Charlo vs Castano II was neither very action-packed nor dramatic. But it was pivotal. It was the round in which Charlo flipped a switch and turned the tide on what was, up till then, an evenly-contested shootout and a continuation of their first fight that ended in a draw. Almost on cue, at exactly the halfway point of the fight, Charlo did an about-face in his game plan, not by stepping on the gas but down-shifting a gear or two. Rather than frenetically trading punches with Castano, Charlo settled down, played defense and capitalized on Castano's mistakes to methodically dissect and dismantle the tough and aggressive Argentine. That change of tactic paid dividends in the tenth round when it created the opening for the body-head combo that ended the fight.
2021 winner - Brandon Glanton vs Efetobor Apochi, round 10
Trainer of the Year
Bobby Benton and Aaron Navarro
Photo by Hosanna Rull
Co-trainers Bobby Benton and Aaron Navarro last won this award in 2019, but had to share it with co-winner Ronnie Shields in a tie. This year, they stand alone atop the podium. Together, Benton and Navarro devised an astute game plan for Regis Prograis and steered him through 11 rough-and-tumble rounds against the ever-dangerous Jose Zepeda to regain a portion of the junior welterweight crown. Their main rival, Shields, was left out of the running due largely to middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo being inactive in 2022 due to injury. (Jermell Charlo is trained by Derrick James of Dallas) Besides Prograis, Benton and Navarro also serve as chief seconds to Comeback of the Year recipient Miguel Flores.
2021 winner - Ronnie Shields
R.I.P. Maurenzo "Toughie" Smith, 1978-2022
