The Sugar Ray Robinson Award, known alternatively as the Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year Award and previously known as the Edward J. Neil Trophy, has been conferred annually since 1938 by the

Boxing Writers Association of America Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing punches at each other for a ...

History

The

(BWAA) first presented the trophy in

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

. The original purpose of the trophy was to recognize "an individual who did the most for boxing in the previous year." The ** mark indicates the boxer was not active in the year he actually won the award. Over time, the award went strictly to the best fighter of each year as decided by the BWAA. The members of the BWAA vote to decide the best boxer each year regardless of

weight class Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including Rowing (sport), rowing, Weightlifting#Weightlifting sports, weight lifting, and especi ...

or nationality. The award was previously named for Edward J. Neil, an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

and

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

who was killed in 1938 while reporting on the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

.About the BWAA
/ref> The 2009 award was renamed after boxing great

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarde ...

. The "Fighter of the Year" award is presented with other honors given by the BWAA at an annual awards dinner. Starting with the 1990s, the BWAA also began to give an award for "

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...

Fighter of the

Decade A decade (from , , ) is a period of 10 years. Decades may describe any 10-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement ...

." The winners of this award are listed in a separate section.

Past recipients

1930s

* 1938 –

Jack Dempsey William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. One of the most iconic athl ...

** * 1939 – Billy Conn

1940s

* 1940 – Henry Armstrong * 1941 –

* 1942 – Barney Ross** * 1943 – Boxers of the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

* 1944 – Benny Leonard** * 1945 – James J. Walker** * 1946 – Tony Zale * 1947 – Gus Lesnevich * 1948 – Ike Williams * 1949 – Ezzard Charles

1950s

* 1950 –

* 1951 –

Jersey Joe Walcott Arnold Raymond Cream (January 31, 1914 – February 25, 1994), best known as Jersey Joe Walcott, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1930 to 1953. He held the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), National Boxing Associa ...

* 1952 –

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955. He held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956, and re ...

* 1953 – Kid Gavilán * 1954 – Bobo Olson * 1955 – Carmen Basilio * 1956 –

Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in his ...

* 1957 – Carmen Basilio * 1958 –

Archie Moore Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 – December 9, 1998) was an American professional Boxing, boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (1952 – 1962). He had one of the longest profe ...

* 1959 –

Ingemar Johansson Jens Ingemar "Ingo" Johansson (; 22 September 1932 – 30 January 2009) was a Swedish professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1963. He held the world heavyweight title from 1959 to 1960, and was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside ...

1960s

* 1960 –

* 1961 – Gene Fullmer * 1962 – Dick Tiger * 1963 – Emile Griffith * 1964 – Willie Pastrano * 1965 –

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

* 1966 – Dick Tiger * 1967 – Carlos Ortiz * 1968 – Bob Foster * 1969 –

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for ...

1970s

* 1970 – Ken Buchanan * 1971 –

* 1972 – Carlos Monzón * 1973 –

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweig ...

* 1974 –

* 1975 –

* 1976 – Howard Davis Jr., Leo Randolph,

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning quintuple c ...

, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks * 1977 – Ken Norton * 1978 – Larry Holmes * 1979 –

1980s

* 1980 –

Thomas Hearns Thomas Hearns (born October 18, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Detroit, Motor City Cobra", and more famously "the Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and long arms and shoulders al ...

* 1981 –

* 1982 – Aaron Pryor * 1983 –

Marvin Hagler Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born Marvin Nathaniel Hagler; May 23, 1954 – March 13, 2021) was an American professional boxer. He competed in boxing from 1973 to 1987 and reigned as the undisputed champion of the middleweight division from 1980 t ...

* 1984 –

* 1985 –

* 1986 –

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1985 and 2024. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "the Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson i ...

* 1987 – Julio César Chávez * 1988 –

* 1989 – Pernell Whitaker

1990s

* 1990 –

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

* 1991 – James Toney * 1992 –

Riddick Bowe Riddick Lamont Bowe (born August 10, 1967) is an American former professional boxer and professional kickboxer who competed between 1989 and 2008 in boxing, and from 2013 to 2016 in kickboxing (Muay Thai). He held the undisputed world heavyweig ...

* 1993 – Pernell Whitaker * 1994 –

* 1995 –

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born February 4, 1973) is an American Promoter (entertainment), boxing promoter and former professional boxing, professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 list of boxing sextuple ch ...

* 1996 –

* 1997 –

* 1998 – Shane Mosley * 1999 –

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a British-Canadian boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division from 1989 to 2003. He was a three-time world champion, a two-time lineal champion, ...

2000s

* 2000 – Félix Trinidad * 2001 – Bernard Hopkins * 2002 – Vernon Forrest * 2003 – James Toney * 2004 – Glen Johnson * 2005 –

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and boxing trainer, trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world champi ...

* 2006 –

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( ; ; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician, businessman, and professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He previously serv ...

* 2007 –

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...

* 2008 –

* 2009 –

2010s

* 2010 – Sergio Martínez * 2011 –

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 championships in two weight classes, including unified super ...

* 2012 – Nonito Donaire * 2013 –

* 2014 – Terence Crawford * 2015 –

* 2016 – Carl Frampton * 2017 –

Vasyl Lomachenko Vasiliy Anatolyevich Lomachenko (also spelled Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko; , ; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed between 2013 and 2024. He has held multiple world championships in three weight class ...

* 2018 –

Oleksandr Usyk Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (, ; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held the unified champion (boxing), unified heavyweight championship since 2021, and the ''The Ring (magazine), Ring'' magazine title since 2022 ...

* 2019 – Canelo Alvarez

2020s

* 2020 – Teófimo López * 2021 – Canelo Alvarez * 2022 – Dmitry Bivol * 2023 – Naoya Inoue * 2024 –

Joe Louis Fighter of the Decade

* 1990s: Roy Jones Jr. * 2000s:

* 2010s:

References

External links

List of award winners
Boxing Writers Association of America official website {{BWAA Awards , state=autocollapse Boxing awards Most valuable player awards Awards established in 1938 1938 establishments in the United States