What to Know
- Through the halfway point of 2026, which athletes are leaders for boxing awards of the year, including Fight, Fighter, Upset, Knockout, and Prospect?
- Names you know include David Benavidez, Boots Ennis, Fabio Wardley, and Daniel Dubois
- Names you might not know include Lani Daniels, Tito Mercado, and Zak Chelli
Every year, most boxing journalists who put together their choices for top boxing award winners vow they’re going to keep up with their lists so they don’t forget the candidates in fights between January and June.
And every year, it’s the same, a little like keeping up your tax return files. It doesn’t happen.
I’m here to say that I have my tax files up to date, and my boxing award candidates too. Let’s take a look, then tell me if you agree.
Fight of the Year, Men: Dubois TKO11 Wardley
Even without this article, I’d have this May 9 fight as the winner in the clubhouse. Heavyweights. A packed arena in Manchester, England. Three knockdowns and an epic comeback. Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois gave their all in a vicious battle, showing determination and skill, and just enough recklessness like yeast in dough to make it rise.
Shortlist: David Benavidez KO6 Gilberto Ramirez; Oleksandr Usyk TKO11 Rico Verhoeven
Fight of the Year, Women: Daniels TKO9 Green
Coming off two losses, one to Claressa Shields, no one expected Lani Daniels of New Zealand to challenge powerhouse super middleweight champion Shadasia Green of the U.S.
Except Daniels, who made changes after those losses and took Green to school with what she’d learned, beating her down for nine hard rounds until the fight was stopped. Green was injured due to the rough nature of Daniels’ assault, the only blemish on a fairytale win making Daniels the new unified super middleweight champion.
Shortlist: Estefany Alegria UD over Evelyn Bermudez
Nataly Delgado UD over Jasmine Artiga
Fighter of the Year, Men
This is a more difficult category mid-year, as leading candidates may not appear again, or may take an easy touch after a tough fight and slide back. There’s no clear frontrunner just yet.
Naoya Inoue: If Inoue follows up his technically brilliant victory against his biggest Japanese rival, Junto Nakatani, with another solid fight in 2026, he will once again be in contention as he has the past few years. But Inoue indicated he would take the rest of 2026 off, which would drop him off this shortlist.
David Benavidez: After his impressive performance moving up to cruiserweight and wiping out unified champion Gilberto Ramirez, Benavidez is more likely than Inoue to take on another big challenge in 2026, making him a solid candidate for the first time.
Shakur Stevenson: Like Benavidez, if Stevenson follows up the thorough drubbing he gave Teofimo Lopez moving up to lightweight with another impressive win against the likes of Haney, Davis (Tank or Keyshawn), or Garcia, he’ll also be a leading candidate.
Jaron Ennis: Ennis exceeded the already high expectations for him in his super welterweight debut, delivering a dominating stoppage win over Xander Zayas. If he takes on a unification fight against any of the other current titleholders or Vergil Ortiz Jr. before the end of 2026, he will jump ahead of the rest of the pack.
Fighter of the Year, Women
Because talent is narrower at the top of the women’s boxing funnel, there are several leaders out ahead.
Mikaela Mayer: Mayer, the 2025 Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, hasn’t fought yet in 2026. But she is coming off a spectacular year with a follow-up fight on August 29 against Chantelle Cameron in a super welterweight title unification fight on Cameron’s turf in Birmingham, England. Might a superfight with Claressa Shields follow?
https://nyfights.com/boxing/uk-vs-usa-mvpw06-aug-29-mayer-vs-cameron/
Claressa Shields: Speaking of the world heavyweight champion, Shields made a surprise announcement she would move back down to the middleweight division to face current unified champion Kaye Scott of Australia in August. It will be Shields’ first fight at middleweight since 2023.
Should Shields and Mayer both win, the one-time Olympic teammates who have been circling each other for years might finally give us the superfight we want to see.
Gabriela Fundora: A multiple winner for our Fighter of the Year, Fundora began 2026 with as vicious a knockout win as you’ll ever see from a woman in six rounds over WBA Interim World Champion Viviana Ruiz Corredor of Argentina. The undisputed world flyweight champion is a powerhouse, crowd-pleasing puncher. She fears no one. World champion Mizuki Hiruta wants a shot at Fundora. A win over Hiruta would put Fundora in serious contention again.
https://nyfights.com/boxing/barboza-revives-career-at-welterweight-saturday/
Knockout of the Year
Men: Frank Sanchez KO2 Richard Torrez. Heavyweights. Memes for days. Enough said.
William Crolla KO7 Glenn Byrne
At the time it took place in April, I declared William Crolla’s incredible knockout victory over Glenn Byrne as the Comeback of the Year, but it does double duty as a Knockout of the Year candidate due to the context. Crolla got up from four knockdowns in the first two rounds of this super featherweight fight. He stayed competitive but Byrne was cruising to a win – until the moment he wasn’t.
We have our leading candidate for Comeback of the Year as @williamcrolla gets up from four knockdowns across two rounds to flatten Glen Byrne in the seventh. Byrne was eventually able to leave on his feet. Amazing grit shown by Crolla. #CrollaByrne #boxing @NYFights https://t.co/mAQCRzrS6e
— GayleFalkenthalOnBoxing (@GayleFalkenthal) April 3, 2026
Shortlist: Benavidez KO6 Ramirez, Umar Dzambekov KO3 Ahmed Elbiali
Knockout of the Year, Women
Gabriela Fundora KO6 Viviana Ruiz Corredor. It’s impossible to miss with an entry from “Sweet Poison.”
GABRIELA FUNDORA GETS THE KNOCKOUT WIN OVER VIVIANA RUIZ CORREDOR 👏#BarbozaJrSimsJr | Live NOW on DAZN ▪️ pic.twitter.com/epCthIzkCI
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 15, 2026
Danielle Perkins KO6 Che Keannelly
Lani Daniels KO9 Shadasia Green
Amanda Serrano KO2 Cheyenne Hanson
Jade Jones KO2 Federikita
Yes, this was a Misfits Boxing event, but former Olympic taekwondo medalist Jade Jones can land a serious punch.
Upset of the Year
Men: Zak Chelli TKO10 over David Morrell; Oleksandr Usyk, TKO11 Rico Verhoeven
This might be the first year I’ve ever put a win by the favorite on the Upset of the Year list. No one gave Rico Verhoeven a chance to be competitive with the unified heavyweight champion of the world. Verhoeven came within a whisker of defeating Usyk and earned enormous respect and a brand-new audience of fans in the process.
For a more traditional choice, the stunning beatdown of heavily favored Morrell over late replacement Chelli, a full-time teacher who took the fight on just a few days’ notice, will be hard to beat. But we’ll look forward to seeing someone try.
Women: Alegria UD over Bermudez; Daniels KO Green; Delgado UD over Artiga
Estefany Alegria of Mexico’s stunning victory over veteran unified world champion Evelyn Bermudez was thrilling and well deserved.
Prospect of the Year
Men: Those of us who’ve watched him know Ernesto “Tito” Mercado is the real deal. Now he’s starting to prove it to the rest of the world.
Shortlist: Pat Brown, Joshua Edwards.
Women: Iyana “Right Hand Roxy” Verduzco is 7-0 and newly signed to Most Valuable Promotions. All she lacks now is opportunity.
Shortlist: Natalia “No Love” Dove, Elise Soto
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.