Universal Boxing Organization (UBO) Boxing Awards 2021

The time has come for the 2021 Universal Boxing Organization™ Boxing Awards. With boxing more or less back to its normal activity level in the year gone by, we have ten categories with deserved and credible winners.

Below we list the winners of the various categories, but if you are one of the boxers, managers, promoters etc. involved with the UBO in 2021 who do not receive an award, please know that you are still very much appreciated.

The recipients are as follows:

BOXER OF THE YEAR

Noel Echevarria (Puerto Rico / USA)

Title: UBO World Lightweight Champion.

Record: 20-7 (12).

When you can reasonably be considered for five out of ten awards, as is the case with UBO World Lightweight Champion Noel Echevarria, you have had a pretty good year.

Echevarria (31) had five bouts in 2021, won them all and took his record to 20-7 (12).

In June he won the UBO International Lightweight title, stopping Mexican Rafael Reyes. Reyes has since won two of his next three bouts, both title fights, by first round knockout.

In August, “The Holy Fire” defeated another Mexican, former IBF World Champion Rodrigo “Gatito” Guerrero, to realize a life-long dream of becoming a world champion, winning the vacant UBO World Lightweight title.

Finally, in October, he made his first UBO world title-defense, when he fended off a game challenge from Jerome Conquest, also by unanimous decision.

Three UBO title fights in just over four months, scoring three victories against very solid opposition = 2021 UBO Boxer of the Year!

Honorable Mention: Arda Avci (Winning UBO Inter-Continental and World Welterweight titles), Josue Morales (Winning the UBO Latino Super Flyweight title, fighting and winning tine fights in 2021), Serdar Avci (Winning UBO Inter-Continental and Interim World titles).

FIGHT OF THE YEAR

Holy Dorgbetor vs. Success Tetteh

Title: UBO Inter-Continental Featherweight.

Date / Place: October 16, Accra, Ghana.

Two Ghanaian up-and-comers slugging it out for twelve rounds, both refusing to back down.

That was the case on October 16 in Accra, when Holy Dorgbetor (7-0) and Success Tetteh (10-2) squared off for the vacant UBO Inter-Continental Featherweight title.

It was back and forth from start to finish, but Dorgbetor was the better man and scored knock-downs in rounds eight and twelve to underline a hard-fought victory in a fight which appeared closer than the scorecards would suggest.

It was undoubtedly the 2021 UBO Fight of the Year!

Honorable Mention: Arturo Leyva W12 Deivis Casseres (UBO World Light Heavyweight title, September 24, Colombia), Karina Fernandez W10 Leaticia Uribe (UBO Female International Super Bantamweight title, August 27, Mexico), Summer Lynn vs. Brenda Gonzales (UBO Female World Welterweight title, August 27, USA), Jimmy Williams W8 Yuri Foreman (UBO International Super Welterweight title, June 19, USA).

NEW CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

Karina Fernandez (Mexico)

Title: UBO Female International Super Bantamweight Champion.

Record: 17-6-1 (3).

Karina “La Bella” Fernandez, from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, is one tough cookie.

She may not be a power-puncher, but she is not afraid to get into a shoot-out, which she proved when winning the UBO International Super Bantamweight title on August 27 against compatriot Leaticia Uribe.

Fernandez and Uribe went toe-to-toe for ten rounds, and “La Bella” looked as if she was having fun doing it on her way to prevailing by decision.

Colourful, game and talented, Karina Fernandez is the 2021 UBO New Champion of the Year.

Honorable Mention: Rance Ward (UBO International Middleweight Champion), Kamer Maloku (UBO World Super Middleweight Champion), Arnold Gonzalez (UBO Inter-Continental Welterweight Champion), Robert Quaye (UBO International Super Lightweight Champion), Anthony De Bruijn (UBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Champion.

PROSPECT OF THE YEAR

Summer Lynn (USA)

Title: UBO Female World Welterweight Champion.

Record: 6-0 (3)

Can you be considered a prospect when you are already a world champion? We have decided that you can.

UBO Female World Welterweight Champion Summer Lynn is still only twenty years old and has only six professional fights (6-0), and we feel that her journey has only just begun.

She is young, talented and can, if she is not already, become one of the very best, and remain in that position for years to come.

Honorable Mention: Alfred Lamptey (UBO All-Africa Featherweight Champion), Dilara Yucel (UBO European Super Welterweight Champion), Dmytro Zubko (UBO International Welterweight Champion), Edmond Zefi (UBO Youth World Super Welterweight Champion).

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR

Patrick Liukhoto KO 2 George Lumoly

Title: UBO World Bantamweight.

Date / Place: October 5, Bekasi City, Indonesia.

It was expected to be an evenly matched back-and-forth kind of fight, with the winner walking away with not only the UBO World Bantamweight title, but also local bragging rights.

But Patrick Liukhoto had no intentions of letting his fight with domestic rival George Lumoly go the distance, when they faced off on October 5 in Bekasi City, Indonesia.

Lumoly came out swinging from the start, but Liukhoto kept his cool and landed a beautiful and perfectly placed shot to the liver already in the second round, scoring a spectacular knockout to become world champion.

It was, with some distance, the 2021 UBO Knockout of the Year.

Honorable Mention: Yedil Kozhamberdiyev KO1 Hamza Gunez (UBO Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title, December 11), Jozef Jurko KO5 Stanislav Eschner (UBO International Light Heavyweight title, July 10).

COMEBACK BOXER OF THE YEAR

Jimmy Williams (USA)

Title: UBO International Super Welterweight Champion.

Record: 18-6-2 (6).

Jimmy “Quiet Storm” Williams may not have ended his 2021 in the ring as he wanted, with a victory over former World Champion Greg Vendetti, but he still made it the year where never the less proved to be a legitimate contender.

He came up short by split decision against Vendetti in September, but before that he had impressively rebounded from a five-bout win-less streak spanning 2019 and 2020.

In April he scored a routine victory over journeyman Clifford McPherson, and then agreed to face former WBA World Champion Yuri Foreman for the vacant UBO International Super Welterweight title two months later in Atlanta.

Foreman (35-3) was naturally a clear favourite, but Williams knew it was a must-win fight for him to resurrect his career.

And he did just that, win and resurrect his career, with a majority decision.

Even though he went on to lose to Vendetti, he put himself firmly back on the map in 2021, and is therefore the 2021 UBO Comeback Fighter of the Year.

Honorable Mention: Rance Ward (Defeating Sixto Suazo to win UBO International Middleweight title), Jozef Jurko (Defeating Stanislav Eschner to win UBO International Light Heavyweight title).

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

Champion Boxing Promotion (Ukraine)

Ukrainian promotional force Champion Boxing Promotion hosted four UBO title fights during 2021.

Televised shows in Kiev in February, May and December, the last of which was a double-header, all saw UBO champions crowned.

Champion Boxing Promotion is the 2021 UBO Promoter of the Year.

Honorable Mention: Serdar Avci Promotions (Promoting four UBO title fights), Arena Ring Box Promotion & Gjocaj Boxing Promotion (Promoting three UBO title fights).
 
EVENT OF THE YEAR

Istanbul, Turkey, September 3

Serdar Avci Promotion.

Caferaga Sport Hall.

The Caferaga Sport Hall in Istanbul, Turkey, set the scene for a massive nationally televised UBO championship triple-header on September 3, promoted by Serdar Avci Promotion.

In the main event, with a loud and enthusiastic crowd cheering him on, Arda “Hunter” Avci, the promoters younger brother, won the vacant UBO World Welterweight title by impressively stopping Idd Pialari from Tanzania.

Also on the card, 18-year-old future star Dilara Yucel won the UBO Female European Super Welterweight title, and Hasan Kubilay Alcu captured the UBO European Light Heavyweight crown.

Three UBO title fights on the same show is not a common occurrence, and Serdar Avci Promotion deserves huge credit for pulling off an event of this magnitude despite travel restrictions and other Covid-19 related obstacles.

This was, without a doubt, the 2021 UBO Event of the Year!

Honorable Mention: Ace Power Promotions (UBO double-header in Ghana on October 16), Arena Ring Box Promotion & Gjocaj Boxing Promotion (UBO double-header in Kosovo on December 27), Champion Boxing Promotion (UBO double-header in Kiev on December 8), Hodlif Hun & Stevie Ferdinandus (UBO double-header in Indonesia on October 5).
 
SPECIAL TRIBUTE OF THE YEAR

Avdyl Salihu (Macedonia)

Promoter, Manager, Matchmaker.

This award is given to a person who goes the extra mile to achieve and succeed. And 2021 was, like the previous year, not an easy year to be successful in boxing.

But Avdyl Salihu from Macedonia carried on grinding away, as a promoter, a matchmaker and manager.

On the promotional front he staged two big shows in Kosovo, both headlined by UBO title fights, in cooperation with his partner Muharrem Gjocaj. These two shows are arguably the most significant boxing promotions in Kosovo history.

Besides that, he has worked tirelessly throughout the year as a matchmaker and manager, and is living proof that with hard work and dedication you can achieve big things, even during a global pandemic.

His work ethic and perseverance is admirable, and he deservedly gets the 2021 UBO Special Tribute of the Year Award.

Honorable Mention: Stevie Ongen Ferdinandus (Continuing to promote UBO championship boxing in Indonesia, despite difficult restrictions and obstacles in 2021 ), Ace Power Promotions (Promoting UBO double-header in Ghana), One Slick Boxer Promotions (excellent work promoting boxing in Atlanta).

ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE YEAR

Josue Morales (USA)

Title: UBO Latino Super Flyweight Champion.

Record: 20-12-4 (5).

These days, its hard to imagine any professional boxer fighting and winning nine bouts in one year. Even before the pandemic. But that’s exactly what current UBO Latino Super Flyweight Champion Josue Morales did in 2021.

When the year began, his record stood at a less than stellar 11-12-4 (1), although all of his losses, many of them controversial and disputed, had come against good opposition.

Now he is 20-12-4 (5), and besides the UBO Latino title, which he won with a unanimous decision over local man Omny Padilla in Colombia last August, he has also picked up two American Boxing Federation titles and the IBA International title.

The 29-year-old southpaw from Houston, Texas, has completely turned his career around, and from being a journeyman, albeit a very capable and respected one, he is now on the verge of fighting for world honours in 2022.

He is a very deserved winner of the 2021 UBO Accomplishment of the Year Award.

Honourable Mention: Giovannie Gonzalez (Fighting three times on self-promoted shows, winning the UBO World Super Featherweight title), Serdar Avci (winning UBO Inter-Continental and Interim World titles).

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