By Paul R. Jones: With awards season in full swing and 2024 in sight, I’m counting down Boxing’s Top 5 Gutsiest Performances of 2024 and handing out the hardware to honor the fighters we got here.
(⚠️WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS GRAPHIC BOXED IMAGES THAT SOME READERS MAY FIND DISTURBING. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.)
No. 5. GUTSIEST PERFORMANCE
Photo © DAZN on X
NOMINEE: BEKTEMIR MELIKUZIEV
• Date: April 20, 2024
• Venue: Barclays Center (Brooklyn, NY)
ranked contender, BEKTEMIR MELIKUZIEVand undefeated challenger, PIERRE HUBERT DIBOMBS, settled in April on the HANEY vs. GARCIA undercard for the WBA Inter-Continental Super Middleweight title. What ensued was a bloody mess, partly due to MELIKUZIEV and DIBOMBE suffering deep lacerations to their respective eyes, caused by accidental headbutts and elbows exchanged at close range. Although DIBOMBE suffered a manageable cut in the opening round, MELIKUZIEV’s gruesome cut in the 5th stanza, courtesy of a nasty clash of heads with DIBOMBE, was far worse, leaving the self-proclaimed “BULLY” bleeding for the rest of his eyelid . the battle. Fortunately for MELIKUZIEV, he banked enough early rounds and was comfortably ahead of the cards when the fight was stopped by the ringside doctor in the 8th round due to an accidental headbutt. And it was no surprise when MELIKUZIEV was awarded a technical unanimous decision victory over DIBOMBE when the final scorecards were read.
No. 4. GUTSIEST PERFORMANCE
Photo © The World Boxing Association/@wbaboxingofficial
NOMINEE: JONO CARROLL
• Date: 24 July 2024
• Venue: IBA Coliseum (Serpukhov, RUS)
In an entertaining battle with a heavy underdog, JONO CARROLLagainst former Olympic gold medalist, ALBERT BATYRGAZIEVfor the WBA (Interim) Super Featherweight title, CARROLL started hot over the first quarter of the fight, even buzzing BATYRGAZIEV badly in the 3rd round. However, for the rest of the fight, BATYRGAZIEV delivered a systematic takedown on CARROLL, hitting CARROLL to the head and body, and finally ending the Irishman’s night in the 9th round with ferocious body shots.
In the aftermath of the fight, CARROLL said, “I’m going to have to put my modeling career on hold for a while.” That’s an understatement considering the boxing makeover BATYRGAZIEV gave CARROL. For CARROLL’s bravery and his ability to persevere despite having both eyes swollen shut – the likes of which we haven’t seen since GUERRERO vs. BERTO in 2012 – CARROLL earned the number 4 spot on our list.
Photo © Jae C. Hong/AP
No. 3. GUTSIEST PERFORMANCE
Photo © NETFLIX
🥉3RD PLACE: AMANDA SERRANO
• Date: NOVEMBER 24, 2024
• Location: AT&T STADIUM (ARLINGTON, TX)
Our 3rd place finisher, AMANDA SERRANOpushed it to the max TAYLOR VS. SERRANO – II (Women’s Boxing’s Consensus FIGHT OF THE YEAR), fight KATIE TAYLOR with a nasty sting over her right eye for the last 3 rounds. Although SERRANO battled TAYLOR through their 10 round, it was SERRANO’s ability to improve her performance in the clutch that stood out – with the Boricua legend throwing 285 of her 734 punches (39%, per COMPUBOX) to received a headbutt from TAYLOR in round 8. And with 4 World Titles on the line, and despite fighting with blood consistently in her eye in the championship rounds drop, SERRANO once again proved her mettle in a controversial decision loss to TAYLOR (scorecards: 95-94 (three times)) – a fight that many believed SERRANO would win.
No. 2. GUTSIEST PERFORMANCE
Photo © Esther Lin/PBC
🥈NEXT WINNER: SEBASTIAN FUNDORA
• Date: 30 March 2024
• Location: T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas, NV)
To sign in at number 2 on our countdown is late filling in, SEBASTIAN FUNDORAwho named the former WBO world champion, TIM TSZYU, by split decision in March, serving as half of 2024’s bloodiest fight, TSZYU vs. FUNDORA.
Photo © Esther Lin/PBC
Despite suffering nasty cuts and bleeding that covered his face and body and blurred his vision at times, including FUNDORA’s nose and mouth leaking like a faucet – ‘THE TOWERING INFERNO’ managed to draw more than 700 of the combined 1,100 blows exchanged in this fight. Equally important, FUNDORA’s history-making win, in which he defeated TSZYU by split decision to become a unified Super-Welterweight World Champion (WBC/WBO), helped produce an instant FIGHT OF THE YEAR contender that a second-deserved was. place ends. A match that left fans clamoring for a repeat of this ‘bloody-good’ affair.
No. 1. GUTSIEST PERFORMANCE
Photo © @MIKAELALAUREN76/Instagram
🏆WINNER: MIKAELA LAUREN
• Date: 30 November 2024
• Venue: Hotel InterContinental (Vienna, AUST)
Finally, 2024’s strongest performance came from former World Champion, MICHAEL LAURENfrom Sweden. In a November championship matchup against reigning title holders, MICHAEL KOTASKOV48-year-old LAUREN proved that she is indeed “a Warrior”, fighting until the last bell, despite terrible facial swelling. LAUREN’s swelling is believed to have resulted from a crack in her skull, which is the result of a handful of accidental headbutts already delivered in the 1st round.
To make matters worse, the younger KOTASKOVA beat LAUREN with the cumulative effects of KOTASKOVA’s punches, and the inadvertent head collisions, leaving LAUREN’s face virtually unrecognizable after the fight, looking like a character from the central cast for the movie, The Elephant, seemed
Although LAUREN said after the fight that she “looked like a Freak Show”, her courage is undeniable, having taken on an undefeated and top world-ranked contender 13 years her junior, at an age where more people are more are more concerned about their 401Ks than they are learning about the trade. And it is for these reasons, as well as the considerable physical toll that MIKAELA LAUREN has endured, that she tops the list with the COOLEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR!
***
DID I GET IT RIGHT?
Please let me know by leaving me a comment, sharing and retweeting this article on X and Instagram, and hitting the like button across all social media platforms.
It would mean a lot to me.
***
Want more articles like this? Follow Paul R. Jones! on X (Twitter) and Instagram @boxingepicenter to see more of his exclusive boxing content.
More must-reads from Paul R. Jones!
Count down Boxing’s top 7 absolute best WTF moments of 2023 that sent social media buzzing!
3 PREGNANT Boxing Predictions for 2021 — Pacquiao, Charlo, Bivol, Beterbiev, More!
About the author:
Paul R. Jones! is a longtime boxing writer and ringside photographer for Boxing News 24. A scientist by day and writer by night, he covers the humorous, offbeat and absurd of the sport of boxing. His articles, photos and commentary have appeared in many online outlets (such as Boxing News 24/7, Round by Round Boxing, Boxing Insider and Medium.com), as well as in print and trade magazines.
Email or drop him a tip at prjones1@hotmail.com.
