FanSided’s 2018 boxing awards and review of boxing’s best moments

2018 Male Fighter of the Year: Oleksandr Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs)

This category was the easiest to award out of them all. Oleksandr Usyk is FanSided’s 2018 Male Fighter of the Year. He should be everyone’s Male Fighter of the Year. No boxer had a more dominant 2018 than him.

Terence Crawford and Vasiliy Lomachenko controlled their bouts this year, but Usyk fought the best boxers in his division and beat them all. He proved he is the best cruiserweight in the world and it’s not even close.

The cruiserweight division languished in obscurity for decades, but the World Boxing Super Series revived it with its inaugural cruiserweight tournament. Usyk won the tournament by easily defeating Murat Gassiev by UD in July. Gassiev entered the contest coming off of a KO win over Yunier Dorticos. Gassiev looked unstoppable, but Usyk proved that his boxing skills and IQ are lightyears ahead of Gassiev’s.

With his win over Gassiev, Usyk became the undisputed and fully unified cruiserweight champion of the world. He followed this win up with a KO victory over Tony Bellew, sending Bellew into retirement.

At 31 years old, Usyk is still evolving as a fighter. He has a magical combination of size, skill, intelligence and power that make him one of the best boxers in the world. He cleaned out the cruiserweight division, and he might move up to heavyweight.

Usyk isn’t big for a heavyweight, but he has all of the intangibles to diffuse larger, stronger fighters. Outside of Lomachenko, he might be the smartest boxer in the world. He’s the 2018 Male Fighter of the Year, and there’s a fair chance he could repeat that accomplishment in 2019.