As the year draws to a close, it's time to look back on another big 12 months of Australian boxing.
New stars have been emerged, world champions have been crowned and barnburners have kept us on the edge of our seats.
Read on as we reveal Sporting News' Australian Boxing Awards for 2023.
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Men’s Fighter of the Year: Tim Tszyu
It’s fair to say this one didn’t need much debate.
At the start of the year, the question was whether Tim Tszyu deserved his place among the super welterweight elite.
Three fights later, there is no doubt.
Against Tony Harrison in March, Tszyu proved that he could handle the speed and technical ability of a former world champion American, stopping Harrison in the ninth round to win the interim WBO world title.
Then in June, he made worldwide headlines with a stunning 77-second knockout of Mexico’s Carlos Ocampo.
He returned to the Gold Coast in October, having been upgraded to full world champion with the WBO and defended his strap with a unanimous decision victory over the powerful Brian Mendoza.
Three world title bouts, three emphatic victories.
What does 2024 hold for Tim Tszyu?
Women’s Fighter of the Year: Skye Nicolson
Skye Nicolson followed up five fights in her debut year as a professional with four more in 2023, all victories.
The Queensland southpaw earned the interim WBC featherweight title with a win over Sabrina Perez in September, before recording the first stoppage of her professional career when defending the belt against Lucy Wildheart last month.
Nicolson has now fought in six different countries and gained plenty of experience against different styles of opponents.
The 28-year-old had been calling for a fight with legend Amanda Serrano, but the latter’s decision to vacate the WBC belt has put paid to those plans for now.
Nicolson has been ordered to take on Sarah Mahfoud for the WBC belt next.
Performance of the Year: Jai Opetaia vs. Jordan Thompson
It had been a frustrating first year as world champion for Jai Opetaia, with the Aussie southpaw unable to find an opponent for a maiden title defence.
Eventually, after several mandatory challengers pulled out, Englishman Jordan Thompson stepped up.
The undefeated man mountain looked like having all the advantages, as Opetaia headed to London to face him in a particularly small ring.
Pre-fight, Thompson’s power was expected to a significant factor as promoter Eddie Hearn and others talked up his chances against Opetaia.
What panned out was far different.
Opetaia brutalised Thompson, landing straight left hands at will to come within a whisker of stopping the fight in the first round.
Thompson hit the canvas early in the third round following a savage combination by Opetaia before the bell again saved him at the end of the round.
The beatdown continued to start the fourth and see the referee step in, handing Opetaia a first defence of his IBF and Ring cruiserweight crowns.
Breakout Fighter of the Year: Alex Winwood
Three fights and three wins in 2023 took Alex Winwood’s record to 4-0 as a professional.
The former Olympian has already elevated himself to second in the WBC rankings and is being lined up to face Luis Castillo in a title eliminator, with the winner to face champion Yudei Shigeoka.
If Winwood can string together two wins, he would beat Jeff Fenech’s record of seven professional fights to a world title.
The Western Australian is a regular sparring partner of Jason and Andrew Moloney and, at just 26, has plenty of upside.
Men’s Fight of the Year: Albert Nolan vs. Vegas Larfield
Miner Albert Nolan wasn’t given much of a shot against Vegas Larfield when the pair met in Sydney in September.
Both fighters came in with undefeated records but the highly touted Larfield started the stronger of the pair, bloodying Nolan’s nose by the early stages of the second round.
The action steadily built from there as Nolan found some success with the uppercut before Larfield landed some bombs late in the fourth round to put his opponent on wobbly legs.
What followed was among the best rounds of the year as the pair traded big shots, often with Nolan camped in a corner and Larfield pressing forward.
To add to the madness, the sixth round was stopped a minute early due to a timekeeping error, giving the pair some respite from the action.
The final two rounds were a fitting end to what was a back-and-forth war, as seemingly every time one man would have success, the other would come right back with a big shot of their own.
In the end, Nolan pulled off the upset, claiming a unanimous decision victory (77-75 x2, 78-74).
Honourable mentions:
- Floyd Masson vs. Fabio Turchi
- Youssef Dib vs. Miles Zalewski
- Kiki Luetele v. Toese Vousiutu
- Nikita Tszyu vs. Dylan Biggs
Women’s Fight of the Year: Jasmine Parr vs. Brianna Harrison
Meeting on the Gold Coast back in July, Jasmine Parr and Brianna Harrison turned in a couple of incredible individual efforts to earn themselves our women’s fight of the year.
Both fighters came with different styles but they were the perfect match for each other in this 10-rounder for Parr’s WIBA flyweight title.
Harrison was the more aggressive of the pair, looking to smother Parr and push the pace all night.
Parr looked to keep Harrison at bay with sharp left hooks and straight right counters.
Both women had bright patches and showed plenty of heart over the stamina-sapping bout.
In the end, Parr earned a split decision victory (97-93, 96-94, 95-96) but both won many admirers for their dogged performances.
Honourable mention
- Shanell Dargan vs. Amber Amelia
Knockout of the Year: Brandon Grach vs. Liam Talivaa
In only his second professional fight, Newcastle heavyweight Brandon Grach made an almighty impression.
Fighting in front of his home crowd on the undercard to Nikita Tszyu versus Dylan Biggs, Grach and Talivaa came out with bad intentions.
Towards the end of the first round, Grach found himself on the canvas following a savage combination from Talivaa but that only seemed to wake him up.
The pair met in the middle of the ring and traded heavy punches before Grach landed a right hand which sent Talivaa down.
Coming out for the start of the second round, the action picked up where it left off but Grach only needed to land one left hook on Talivaa’s chin to send the previously undefeated heavyweight crashing to the canvas.
Honourable mentions:
- Luke Modini vs. Benoit Huber
- Kayne Clarke vs. Hunter Ioane
- Mark Schleibs vs. Shamal Ram Anuj
- Tim Tszyu vs. Carlos Ocampo
