On a beautiful Nicaraguan night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel’s poolside, the WBA held their annual Best of the Year Awards Banquet, with honors bestowed in several categories, honored the late Nicaraguan legend Alexis Arguello and his fellow native Nicaraguan champion boxers and awarded belts to the newest WBA champions.
In the most touching moment of the night, a posthumous homage was paid to Nicaragua’s first world champion and their most legendary- the late Alexis Arguello. The award was accepted by the hall of famer’s daughter Dora Arguello, who broke into tears while accepting the red, white and blue WBA Super Champion’s belt. It was the untimely passing of the ring icon that prompted the WBA to choose Managua, Nicaragua as the site of this year’s convention.
It was with great honor that Fightnews.com was awarded the WBA’s Website of the Year award. Accepting on behalf of Fightnews.com were International Editor Gabriel Cordero and yours truly, Correspondent “Boxing” Bob Newman.
The following is a list of the honors and honorees at the 89th WBA convention:
Boxer of the Year: David “Hayemaker” Haye
Honorable Mention: Miguel Cotto
Promoter of the Year: Top Rank Inc.
Honorable Mention: Golden Boy Promotions
Fight of the Year: Giovanni Segura vs. Ivan Caldeon
Prospect of the Year: Roman Gonzalez
Outstanding Champion of Latin America: Hugo Cazares
Honorable Mention: Miguel Cotto
Outstanding Champion of Europe:Vyacheslav Senchenko
Outstanding Champion of Asia: Takashi Uchiyama
Outstanding Champion of North America: Andre Ward
Matchmaker of the Decade: Sampson Lewkowicz
Matchmaker of the Year: Ricardo Rizzo
Executive of the Year: Chris Meyer
Website of the Year: Fightnews.com
Female Champion of the Year: Yessica Yolanda Bopp
Honorable Mention: Lisa Brown
Victory of the Year: Luis “Nica” Concepcion
Ring Official of the Year: Steve Smoger
Honorable Mention: Nelson Vazquez
Director of the Year: George Martinez (NABA and WBA Female Championships)
WBA Legend: Niwat Laosuwanwat, Hector Criollo, Ricardo Lopez, Osvaldo Rivero,
Recognition of Nicaraguan Champions: Eddie Gazo, Juan Palacios, Adonis Rivas, Eduardo Rey Marquez, Jose Alfaro, Roman Gonzalez
Posthumous Homage: Alexis Arguello
Boxing T.V. Program of the Decade: Lo Mejor Del Boxeo – Juan Carlos Tapia
Regional Body of the Year: PABA (Pan Asian Boxing Association)
Lifetime Achievement: Yang Sup Shim
Super Championship Belt: Miguel Cotto
New Champions Belts: Rigoberto Alvarez, Roman Gonzalez, Kwanthai Sithmorseng
