Comeback of the Year is an award given by American
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
magazine '' The Ring''. Established in 1922, the award, based on the magazine's writers' criteria, is given to a boxer who has experienced a career resurgence or overcome adversity.
Bobby Chacon
Bobby Chacon (November 28, 1951 – September 7, 2016) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1988. He held titles in two weight classes, including the WBC featherweight title from September 1974 to June 1975 and the WBC su ...
*1983:
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as w ...
Lupe Pintor
José Guadalupe Pintor Guzmán (born 13 April 1955), better known as Lupe Pintor, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1995. He won the WBC bantamweight title in 1979 after defeating Carlos Zárate Serna, and made ...
*1986:
Edwin Rosario
Edwin "Chapo" Rosario Rivera (; March 15, 1963 – December 1, 1997) was a Puerto Rican professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 1997. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC lightweight title from 1983 to 1984, ...
Michael Dokes
Michael Marshall Dokes (August 10, 1958 – August 11, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 1997, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1982 to 1983. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the heavyweight division ...
*1989:
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as w ...
Vinny Pazienza
Vinny Paz (born Vincenzo Edward Pazienza, December 16, 1962), formerly Vinny Pazienza, is an American former professional boxer who held world titles at lightweight and light middleweight. The 2016 film ''Bleed for This'' is based on his comebac ...
*1992:
Iran Barkley
Iran Barkley (born May 6, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1999. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBC middleweight title from 1988 to 1989, the IBF super middleweight ti ...
*1993:
Zack Padilla
Zachary P. "Zack" Padilla (born March 15, 1963, in Glendora, California), and also known as Zack Attack, is a retired American boxer and a former WBO Light Welterweight champion.
Professional career
Padilla turned pro in 1985 and retired shortly ...
Azumah Nelson
Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC super-featherweight title twice ...
Vince Phillips
Vincent Edwards "Vince" Phillips (born July 23, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2007. He held the IBF junior welterweight title from 1997 to 1999, notably scoring an upset victory against then-undefeated ...
*1998:
Kostya Tszyu
Konstantin Borisovich "Kostya" Tszyu (; rus, Константин Борисович «Костя» Цзю, , kənstɐnʲˈtʲin bɐˈrisəvʲɪtɕ ˈkosʲtʲə ˈdzːʲu; born 19 September 1969) is a Russian Australian former professional b ...
*1999:
Michael Carbajal
Michael Carbajal (born September 17, 1967) is an American five-time world boxing champion of Mexican descent. His nickname was "Little Hands Of Stone," after his favorite boxer,"Hands Of Stone" Roberto Durán.
Amateur career
Carbajal had an amat ...
2000s
*2000:
Virgil Hill
Virgil Eugene Hill (born January 18, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2007, and in 2015. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA light heavyweight title twice, from 1987 to 1997; the IBF a ...
Arturo Gatti
Arturo Gatti (April 15, 1972 – July 11, 2009) was an Italian-Canadian professional boxer who competed from 1991 to 2007. A world champion in two weight classes, Gatti held the IBF junior lightweight title from 1995 to 1998, and the WBC supe ...
*2003:
James Toney
James Nathaniel Toney (born August 24, 1968) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to 1 ...
*2004:
Marco Antonio Barrera
Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia (born January 17, 1974) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the WBO junior featherweight title twice between ...
*2005:
Ike Quartey
Isufu "Ike" Quartey (born 27 November 1969) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2006. He held the WBA welterweight title from 1994 to 1998, and challenged once for IBF junior-middleweight title in 2000.
Early year ...
*2006:
Oleg Maskaev
Oleg Alexandrovich Maskayev (russian: Олег Александрович Маскаев; also Maskaev; born 2 March 1969) is a Russian-American former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2 ...
*2007:
Paulie Malignaggi
Paul "Paulie" Malignaggi (; ; born November 23, 1980) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017 and has since worked as a boxing commentator and analyst. He held world championships in two weight classes, including ...
*2008:
Vitali Klitschko
Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of KyivFloyd Mayweather Jr.
2010s
*2010:
Bernard Hopkins
Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight clas ...
*2011:
Érik Morales
Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (; born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world titles in four different weight classes, having held the WBC ...
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...
*2014:
Miguel Cotto
Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez (born October 29, 1980) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the first Puerto Rican boxer to win world titles in four weight classes, ...
*2015:
Badou Jack
Badou Johannes Gabriel Jack (born 31 October 1983) is a Swedish professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2014 to 2017 and the WBA light-heavyweight title in 20 ...
*2016:
Andre Ward
Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) ...
Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and '' The Ring'' magazine title from 2020 to August 202 ...
*2019:
Jamel Herring
Jamel William Herring (born October 30, 1985) is an American former professional boxer who held the WBO junior lightweight title from 2019 to 2021. As of November 2020, he is ranked as the world's fourth best active junior lightweight by '' The ...