This award, which has laid dormant since Shane Mosley’s richly earned January residence as the BoxingWriter.co.uk fighter of the month, is the one fighters really clamour – forget Ring championships or PPV figures, the award they’re all looking for is this one. Selected unscientifically by a panel of one, the award seeks to recognise the eye-catching result or performance of the month. There is usually a splash of non-conformity about the choice and a sprinkling of sentiment over the significance of the bout or bouts the winner has participated in.
Previous winners include:
- Monte Barrett [June 08] – knocking out Tye Fields
- Antonio Margarito [July 08] – stopping Miguel Cotto
- Cedric Boswell [August 08] – obliterating Roman Greenberg
- Juan Manuel Marquez [September 08] – defeats Joel Casemayor
- Shane Mosley [January 09] – stops Antonio Margarito
This winner for June 2009, beats off competition from heavyweight belt holder Wladimir Klitschko who soundly defeated consensus #3-4 heavyweight Ruslan Chagaev. Sleep inducing it may have been but it clarified the hierarchy in the heavyweight division a little more and it took place in front of a bumper crowd of 50,000 plus. Most noticeable this month was Miguel Cotto’s absorbing contest with Joshua Clottey, falling short of an all-time classic the bout featured heavy trading and some moments of clear distress for the popular Cotto, it projects the Welterweight belt holder as the next richest prize for the come-backing Floyd Mayweather and for the sport’s number one fighter Manny Pacquiao if they don’t face each other.
The winner was almost 23 year old Jorge Linares, who defended his WBA Super Featherweight crown – I’ll suspend my rancour with the WBA for a moment to recognise the belt. It is his first defence of the belt he added to his brief history as the WBC Featherweight champion, a belt he won by trouncing Oscar Larios and following some inactivity will hopefully see a relaunch of the Venezuelan as a hot-property in the sport.
However, June 2009 sees British small hall veteran Jason Booth landing the much desired gong. Booth successfully defended his British Super-Bantamweight title against Rocky Dean. A victory which only adds to an impressive ledger being simultaneously compiled across two divisions, he still holds the Commonwealth belt at 118 pounds and may yet culminate in a belated world-title shot for the Nottingham fighter. It would be just reward for good servant to the sport who has overcome significant personal problems to once again rule the roost on the domestic scene.
Promoter, Frank Maloney had this to say about his diminutive charge last month:
“If I could get Jason a world title fight before he retires it would give me as much pleasure as I got when Lennox Lewis won the world heavyweight championship. Maybe the world champions at super-bantamweight are a bit too big, but at bantamweight and certainly super-flyweight he would be a match for anybody. I will be at the WBC convention later this year lobbying on his behalf and I will see what possibilities there are with the other governing bodies. He is an old school fighter who isn’t worried who he fights. Plenty of fighters moan about opponents, well they should look at Jason as an example.”
Congratulations to Jason Booth, the BoxingWriter.co.uk Fighter of the Month; June 2009
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The selection of Booth caught me off guard a little I must say, but he deserves it, he’s had to overcome much in his career. He’s also got to overcome having a stand up comedians dream, Frank Maloney, as his promoter. I’m not sure I’ve got a good word to say about this cockney ball of fun. I can just imagine him this year running around at Christmas parties in London, waxing lyrical to anyone who’ll listen at corporate events about a hyped up new prospect, and then forgetting about him once that 0 disappears (Scott Belshaw anyone?). Good luck Jason Booth.
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