Former two-weight world champion and ProBox TV’s Tim Bradley has been awarded the Boxing Writers Association of America’s Sam Taub Award for excellence in broadcast journalism for 2023.
Bradley, a prominent commentator and analyst for ESPN, beat off stiff industry competition, including Jim Gray, Dave Harmon, Mauro Ranallo and James “Smitty” Smith.
The BWAA declared Naoya Inoue as the association’s 2023 Fighter of the Year, based on his victories over then-undefeated WBC/WBO 122-pound titleholder Stephen Fulton in July and WBA/IBF 122-pound belt holder Marlon Tapales in December.
Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) makes history as the first Japanese fighter to win the prestigious honour in the 85-year history of the award.
“This is a great honour for me because all of the writers from the United States and around the world voted for me,” said Inoue after being awarded the prestigious award.
“That means a lot to have my performances recognized in the United States, even though I was fighting in Japan.”
In 2023, Inoue would become the undisputed junior featherweight world champion after being the undisputed bantamweight world champion in 2022. He joins undisputed welterweight world champion Terence Crawford, a 2023 FOY nominee, as the only male two-division undisputed champion of the four-belt era.
Other nominees for the 2023 award included Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis and David Benavidez.
Jaime Munguia’s 12-round victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko was awarded the BWAA’s 2023 Fight of the Year.
Other nominees for the award included Artur Beterbiev KO (8) Anthony Yarde; Joe Cordina W (12) Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov; Rafael Espinoza W (12) Robeisy Ramirez and Luis Nery KO (11) Azat Hovhannisyan.
Brian McIntyre claimed the BWAA’s Trainer of the Year for 2023 for his work with Crawford and resurrecting Chris Eubank Jr.’s career in defeating Liam Smith in their September rematch.
McIntyre would beat Bill Haney, Shingo Inoue, Andy Lee and Shane McGuigan to the award.
Bill Haney was awarded the Manager of the Year for his manoeuvring of his son Devin to the WBC world junior welterweight championship. Bill Haney pipped his fellow nominees to the award, including past BWAA award winners Keith Connolly and Egis Klimas.
Former world light heavyweight contender John “Iceman” Scully was voted the BWAA’s 2023 Marvin Kohn Good Guy Award winner among a strong group that included Sam Jackson and Andrew Roberts, Jose Ramirez, John DiSanto and Steve Pratt.
Former Showtime Senior Vice-President in charge of Production/Executive Producer of ShoBox: The Next Generation, Gordon Hall, claimed the BWAA 2023 Barney Nagler Award winner for Long and Meritorious Service winner. Hall’s fellow nominees included Henry Hascup, Don Majeski, John Sheppard and Bruce Silverglade.
The BWAA also confirmed that Lisa McClellan, who takes care of her brother, former two-time middleweight world champion Gerald McClellan, as the BWAA 2023 John McCain-Bill Crawford Courage Award.
McClellan has dedicated her life, living on a disability stipend of $1,920 a month her brother, Michael, receives. McClellan finished in a tie for first place with renowned photographer Ed Mulholland in a class that included Prichard Colon and family, Billy Dib and Alejandra Ayala.
The BWAA confirmed that Amanda Serrano would be the 2023 BWAA Female Fighter of the Year, Hall of Fame boxing writer Thomas Hauser as A.J. Liebling Award winner for Outstanding Boxing Writing and in a choice long overdue, Hall of Famer Nigel Collins as the BWAA 2023 Nat Fleischer Award winner for Excellence in Boxing Journalism.
