This past weekend saw more action occur on the red carpet than the ring as The Ring Boxing Magazine staged an extravagant award ceremony. Boosted by the recent investment of General Entertainment and Authority Chairman Turki Alalshikh, The Ring had the opportunity to stage a momentous occasion attended by a star-studded cast of current and retired fighters, officials and other relevant stakeholders in boxing. The Ring Awards were held in London on Saturday, January 11th.
General Entertainment and Authority (GEA) chairman Turki Alalshikh has been a fresh air to boxing, having stimulated competition through his investments and diplomatic efforts and staging competitive and eye-catching cards through the state-funded Riyadh Season―a set of cultural and entertainment events introduced by GEA.
Alalshikh’s acquisition of The Ring saw similar improvements occur as when Riyadh Season began organizing fight cards in and out of Saudi Arabia; a vast increase in interest and production value which enabled The Ring to hold a grand award ceremony far exceeding what they have produced in the past couple of years.
The Ring handed out a number of relevant awards, with notably fighters such as Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KO’s) winning the “Fighter of the Year” award for his contributions in the ring in 2024―beating Tyson Fury twice last year to become undisputed the first time around, and retain his three world titles [WBC, WBO & IBF] during their December rematch.
The full list of awards were as follows:
Fighter of the Year: Oleksandr Usyk
Female Fighter of the Year: Gabriela Fundora
Fight of the Year: Raymond Ford knocking out Otabek Kholmatov in the 12th round
Event of the Year: Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury I
Trainer of the Year: Robert Garcia
Prospect of the Year: Moses Itauma
Round of the Year: Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury (Round 9)
Upset of the Year: Bruno Surace knocking out Jaime Munguia in the 6th round
Comeback of the Year: Billy Dib
Knockout of the Year: Daniel Dubois knocking out Anthony Joshua in the 5th round
Lifetime Achievement: Don King
However, despite the numerous positive highlights associated with this past weekend’s award ceremony, one of the lowlights included the very presence of one of boxing’s most controversial figures: Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s).
Despite an untold amount of offenses he committed over the past year, which includes a venomous racist rant towards African-Americans and Muslims as well as his well-known performance-enhancing drug (PED) debacle, his actions were clearly ignored by the event’s organizers and attendants. It should be noted that Ryan Garcia is still serving a suspension [until April] by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) for the use of PED’s.
Moving forward, Garcia’s attendance sets a precedent for every fighter to skate past whatever offenses they commit as long as they have enough name recognition; a precedent allowed or even perpetuated by The Ring and Turki Alalshikh who likely invited Ryan Garcia to attend the event ceremony.
Given The Ring has shown to heavily tolerate behavior unbecoming of a rational human being, any other controversial incident that any fighter may be involved in that doesn’t result in grievous physical injury of any sort should also be looked past from henceforth.
