Beltway Boxing 2011--The Year of Achievement!

To say it's been quite a year on the Beltway Boxing scene would be an understatement. Most people will probably look at the last couple of months and say that's when most of the achievements took place, but if you combine the amateurs with the pros, there are a lot of items that Beltway Boxing fans can truly be proud of.

So we start our BATB Year-End Awards with an overview of just some of the highlights of Beltway Boxing 2011.

Beltway Boxers made 19 appearances on national television in 2011 (this includes the appearances of Jessie Nicklow and Alexander Johnson tonight on Showtime). Gary Russell, Jr. and Seth Mitchell were on three times; Mitchell on three different networks (Showtime, Telefutura and HBO) while Russell ended up making appearances that were originally supposed to be highlights.

Former world champion DeMarcus Corley was still credible enough to make two TV appearances while new champ Lamont Peterson and contender Fernando Guerrero were also seen twice.

Locally, we had 17 pro cards in the Beltway region, just one less than 2010. However, Maryland had just eight pro cards compared to 12 in the previous year. This was primarily because two of Maryland's top promotional groups -- Baltimore Boxing and Ballroom Boxing -- shifted their focus to helping the future of the sport and promoted amateur shows individually and in joint promotions throughout the year.
DC and Northern Virginia actually made slight increases over last year -- DC had five in 2011 (compared to three in 2010) and Northern Virginia had one more than last year (four to three).

Along with the obvious recent accomplishments from the likes of The Petersons, Russell and Mitchell, we also crowned another world champion in WBC Female titleholder Tori Nelson, also the Beltway can claim a National Golden Gloves champion for the second straight year in Michael Reed. Also, as the Olympics prepares to welcome Women's Boxing for the first time, Franchon Crews won the USA National title at 165 pounds. And of course, a Beltway Boxer received the ultimate honor as Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson was a first-ballot selection into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

On the downside, the area lost a number of promising young boxers to the problems outside of the gym. We pay tribute to amateur boxers Ronald "Rock" Gibbs and Jakari Butler along with young pro Cordaro Simpkins who all lost their lives in altercations outside the boxing environment. Also, a number of local legends lost supportive family members as the mothers of Richard McCombs, Boone Pultz and just recently, Sharmba Mitchell all passed away in 2011.

We also pay tribute to two friends of boxing who have ties to this area -- legendary broadcaster Nick Charles and Fight Night Founder Joseph Robert.

So this is how we start our look back at 2011. Tomorrow, we begin our awards with the Rookie of the Year.