The "Ali-Frazier Award" is given annually to the fighters who compete in the Boxing Writers Association of America

Boxing Writers Association of America

The Boxing Writers Association of America was originally formed in 1926 as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York. The association's purpose is to promote better working conditions for boxing writers, as well as hold its writers to the highest professional and ethical standards...

's Fight of the Year. The award has been conferred annually since the BWAA's awards dinner in 2003

2003 in sports

2003 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season championship: Stephan Eberharter, Austria** Women's overall season championship: Janica Kostelić, Croatia-American football:...

. The BWAA votes on the best fight of each year regardless of the weight class or nationality of the fighters.

The award was originally named for Harry Markson, a boxing promoter and publicist

Publicist

A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...

 who served for five years as the president of boxing operations at Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

. The 2009 award was renamed the "Ali-Frazier Award" in honor of Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

 and Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier

Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....

 and their epic fight trilogy. The award is presented with other honors given by the BWAA at an annual awards dinner.

List of winners

Year	Date	Location	Winner	Loser	Result	Weight class	Belt(s) at issue	Notes
2002 2002 in sports 2002 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Stephan Eberharter, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Michaela Dorfmeister, Austria-American football:...	May 18, 2002	Uncasville, Connecticut Uncasville, Connecticut Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut. The area traditionally known as Uncasville is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River... , United States	Micky Ward Micky Ward Micky Ward , nicknamed Irish, is a retired American junior welterweight professional boxer and a former WBU champion from Lowell, Massachusetts...	Arturo Gatti Arturo Gatti Arturo "Thunder" Gatti was a Canadian professional boxer. Born in Cassino, Italy, and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Gatti relocated to Jersey City, United States as a teenager...	Majority decision Majority decision A majority decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking...  after ten rounds (94-94, 94-93, 95-93)	Welterweight Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...	None	First fight in Gatti-Ward trilogy
2003 2003 in sports 2003 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season championship: Stephan Eberharter, Austria** Women's overall season championship: Janica Kostelić, Croatia-American football:...	April 26, 2003	Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States	James Toney James Toney James Nathanial Toney is an American professional boxer who has held world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight divisions. Toney currently fights in the heavyweight division in boxing and also now competes in mixed martial arts.-Boxing career:Toney's amateur boxing...	Vassily Jirov	Unanimous decision Unanimous decision A unanimous decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which all three judges agree on which fighter won the match....  after twelve rounds (117-109, 116-110, 107-109)	Cruiserweight	IBF cruiserweight title (Jirov)
2004 2004 in sports 2004 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* College football Bowl Championship Series :**January 1 – Rose Bowl – USC 28, Michigan 14...	November 27, 2004	Las Vegas Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester... , Nevada Nevada Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its... , United States	Marco Antonio Barrera Marco Antonio Barrera Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia is a Mexicanprofessional boxer. He has won numerous world titles in three different weight classes; he is a former two-time WBO super bantamweight , WBC, Lineal, & The Ring featherweight , and WBC & IBF super featherweight champion...	Erik Morales Erik Morales Érik Isaac Morales Elvira is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the first Mexican born boxer in history to win a world title in four weight classes and is the current WBC Light Welterweight Champion...	Majority decision Majority decision A majority decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking...  after twelve rounds (115-113, 114-114, 115-114)	Super featherweight Super Featherweight Super featherweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 130 pounds or 59 kilograms....	WBC super featherweight title (Barrera)	Final fight of trilogy Barrera versus Morales trilogy The Barrera versus Morales trilogy is one of boxing's most famous fight trilogies, involving two of Mexico's most revered boxers, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik "El Terrible" Morales.-Background:...  between the two
2005 2005 in sports 2005 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Bode Miller ** Women's overall season champion: Anja Pärson -American football:...	May 7, 2005	Las Vegas Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester... , Nevada Nevada Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its... , United States	Diego Corrales Diego Corrales Diego "Chico" Corrales was an American boxer.He was the WBC, WBO, & The Ring lightweight champion, and the WBO & IBF super featherweight champion....	José Luis Castillo José Luis Castillo José Luis Castillo is a Mexican boxer. Nicknamed El Temible, Castillo is considered one the best lightweights of his era. He is the former The Ring and two-time WBC Lightweight champion....	Technical knockout, in tenth of twelve rounds	Lightweight Lightweight Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....	WBC lightweight title (Castillo) WBO lightweight title (Corrales)	First of two 2005 fights between the two
2006 2006 in sports 2006 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* January 2, Fiesta Bowl – Ohio State 34-20 Notre Dame* January 2, Sugar Bowl – West Virginia 38-35 Georgia...	March 18, 2006	Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.-Name:The name Levallois-Perret comes from two housing developments, Champerret and Village Levallois , and which resulted in the incorporation of the... , France	Somsak Sithchatchawal Somsak Sithchatchawal Somsak Sithchatchawal is a professional boxer in the super bantamweight division.In March 2006, Sithchatchawal took part in what later won fight of the year when he challenged WBA Super Bantamweight champion Mahyar Monshipour. Sithchatchawal dropped Monshipour in the first round, and won via TKO...	Mahyar Monshipour Mahyar Monshipour Mahyar Monshipour is an Iranian-born French boxer who was the World Boxing Association's super bantamweight champion for nearly three years between 2003 and 2006...	Technical knockout, in tenth of twelve rounds	Super bantamweight Super Bantamweight Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....	WBA super bantamweight title (Monshipour)
2007 2007 in sports 2007 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* February 4 – Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears 29-17 to win Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The win was the Colts' first Super Bowl Championship since their 1970-71 team, when...	September 29, 2007	Atlantic City, New Jersey New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware... , United States	Kelly Pavlik Kelly Pavlik Kelly Pavlik is an American professional boxer. He was The Ring, WBC, & WBO middleweight champion from when he beat Jermain Taylor on September 29, 2007 until he lost his titles to Sergio Martinez on April 17, 2010....	Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor is an American professional boxer and former undisputed middleweight champion. He made his professional boxing debut in 2001 and won his first 25 bouts, which included victories over former champions Raúl Márquez and William Joppy...	Technical knockout, in seventh of twelve rounds	Middleweight Middleweight Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...	WBC and WBO middleweight titles (Taylor)	First of two fights between the two
2008 2008 in sports 2008 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* Louisiana State University Tigers defeat The Ohio State University Buckeyes 38-24 in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game, thus becoming the first two-time BCS National Champions, and the first BCS titlists with two...	March 1, 2008	Carson, California Carson, California Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city.... , United States	Israel Vázquez Israel Vázquez Israel Vázquez Castañeda is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former Super Bantamweight world champion, having held titles at this weight from 2004 to 2008...	Rafael Márquez Rafael Márquez Rafael Márquez Álvarez is a Mexican footballer who plays for New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer and the Mexico national team. He plays as a centre back or defensive midfielder....	Split decision Split decision A split decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which two of the three judges score for the same fighter as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other...  after twelve rounds (114-111, 113-112, 111-114)	Super bantamweight Super Bantamweight Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....	WBC super bantamweight title (Vázquez)	Third fight of the Israel Vázquez-Rafael Márquez rivalry Israel Vázquez-Rafael Márquez rivalry The rivalry between Israel Vázquez and Rafael Márquez was a series of four boxing matches that took placebetween 2007 and 2010, which has been described as "the most entertaining fight series in recent boxing history", and has been compared with two other notable series of fights in the decade:...
2009 2009 in sports -Alpine skiing:* Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 held at Val d'Isère, Savoy, France-American football:* The Florida Gators defeat the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 in front of a Dolphin Stadium record crowd of 78,468 to win the 2009 BCS National Championship Game...	February 28, 2009	Houston, Texas Houston, Texas Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ... , United States	Juan Manuel Márquez Juan Manuel Márquez Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez , is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the fourth Mexican-born boxer to become a three-division world champion, where he won eight world titles in three different boxing weight classes.Currently, Marquez is the WBA Super, WBO and The Ring lightweight champion...	Juan Díaz	Technical knockout, in ninth of twelve rounds	Lightweight Lightweight Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....	WBO lightweight title (Vacant) WBA "Super" lightweight title (Vacant)
2010 2010 in sports 2010 in sports will describe the year's events in world sport.-January:* Alabama defeats Texas 37–21 in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, thereby claiming the 2009 National Championship in College Football....	December 11, 2010	Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous... , United States	Amir Khan Amir Khan (boxer) Amir Iqbal Khan , is a British Pakistani professional boxer who is currently the unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion....	Marcos Maidana	Unanimous decision Unanimous decision A unanimous decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which all three judges agree on which fighter won the match....  after twelve rounds (114-111, 114-111, 113-112)	Super lightweight	WBA super lightweight title (Khan)	Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana Light welterweight titlist Amir Khan and interim titlist Marcos Maidana reached an agreement to meet on December 11, 2010. The bout was for Khan's WBA Light Welterweight Title, which Khan successfully defended, winning via unanimous decision...

See also

• Ring Magazine Fight of the Year
  Ring Magazine fights of the year
  The Ring was established in 1922 and since 1945, it has named a Fight of the Year.-1940s:*1945 - Rocky Graziano KO 10 Red Cochrane I*1946 - Tony Zale KO 6 Rocky Graziano I*1947 - Rocky Graziano KO 6 Tony Zale II...
  
  
• BWAA Fighter of the Year Award
  Edward J. Neil Trophy
  The "Sugar Ray Robinson Award" is given to the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Year. The BWAA first presented the trophy in 1938...
  
  

External links

• List of award winners. Boxing Writers Association of America official website