By Cliff Rold

Every year, movie fans wait with breathless anticipation for the big ones. What will be Best Picture? Who was this years’ finest actor? Will Meryl Streep get her annual nomination?

In boxing, the equivalent is found in recognition for the year’s best fighter and fight. Here at BoxingScene, those two matters have been resolved. Carl Frampton and Shinsuke Yamanaka-Anselmo Moreno II…congratulations. Best knockout and prospect have also been awarded.

Now, in the words of Paul Harvey, for the rest of the story. Here are an assortment of categories recognizing the year that was as we prepare for what everyone hopes will be a memorable 2017.

Event of the Year: The Death of Muhammad Ali

At his peak of public interest, one could argue that Muhammad Ali was bigger than boxing itself. His live fights did Super Bowl numbers. He was the most recognized man in the world. It’s been almost forty years since he last stepped into a ring and his face still draws the same instant recognition.

No single passing touched so many in a year filled with the loss of so many that mattered in popular culture. The world said farewell to Prince and David Bowie and it was major news. The death of Muhammad Ali was, like everything else enveloped by his mystique, larger than life. Wall to wall coverage dwarfed what we’ve come to expect even for a major head of state. A former US President eulogized his funeral and the procession was watched globally.

For boxing, it was the biggest loss since Joe Louis died. For the generation that birthed Ali it meant just as much as Louis but on a bigger planetary scale. Ali was one of the ultimate baby boomer icons. Saying goodbye to him was a reminder of just how far away the transformation from Leave it to Beaver into Woodstock really is.

He was the greatest heavyweight fighter of them all, a civil rights fighter, and a world emissary. He was Muhammad Ali.

It was the biggest boxing event of 2016 and nothing else even came close.

Round of the Year: Dilian Whyte-Derek Chisora, Round 5

Heavyweight boxing hasn’t been a source of regularly memorable warfare for too long. This fight reminded us of how great it can be when two big men let loose and no frame was better than their savage fifth. After exchanging big shots early, Chisora hurt Whyte and attacked on the ropes only to be hurt and put on the ropes himself before the round was over. In a fight with several quality rounds, it was this one that put the fight in contention for fight of the year and turned it into arguably the best heavyweight scrap since Lamon Brewster-Sergey Lyhakovich.

Comeback of the Year: Hozumi Hasegawa

During his peak, Hasegawa put together an impressive bantamweight title reign and started to get some recognition as one of the best fighters in the world at any weight. That came crashing down in a unification loss to Fernando Montiel in 2010. Hasegawa was up and down from there, winning a belt at featherweight but suffering stoppage losses to Jhonny Gonzalez and Kiko Martinez. When he got a shot at a third divisional title against Jr. featherweight beltholder Hugo Ruiz, his chances seemed long. Instead, Hasegawa dug deep in scorching ninth-round where he had been hurt to send Ruiz back to the corner with an all-out assault. Ruiz retired in the corner and Hasegawa soon after announced his retirement. He’d come back to the title ranks and went out a winner.

Promoter of the Year: Eddie Hearn

The essential job of a boxing promoter is to make his fighters a big deal and make the events around them just as big. No one right now is better at their job than the UK’s Hearn. He had a hand in making Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg, Kell Brook-Gennady Golovkin, and Anthony Crolla-Jorge Linares, all fights that did big business in the UK. He also continued the evolution of Anthony Joshua into a ticket-selling bonanza, able to put butts into seats and eyes on pay-per-view even against woeful opposition like Eric Molina. Already signed for 2017, Hearn will promote or co-promote Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko and Tony Bellew-David Haye, both of which will do big box office. The UK is as red-hot a boxing market as there is in the world right now. Hearn is a major reason why.

Network of the Year: BoxNation

We stay in the UK for this one. HBO had some gems in 2016 and remained the most watched US premium network but the matchmaking was inconsistent. Showtime delivered some excellent matches, and had a great 30th anniversary series, but took months off. Neither outlet delivered often enough to merit a look this year. BoxNation delivered for its viewers all year. They combine regional fare while facilitating the airing of much of the best of the rest of the world on a regular basis. Fans with a BoxNation subscription have more quality boxing available to them from a single source than almost any other group of fans in the world.

Stupidest Storyline of the Year: Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor

The war of words between the two biggest names in their sports has turned into a click bait driver of the worst kind. If they ever put some farce boxing match together (and it would only be a boxing match), they deserve every dollar they’ll earn from the people without the sense to ignore it. This will probably stay the stupidest storyline of every coming year until media outlets find something more useful to drive traffic.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com