Asian Boxing Awards -2021 Turnaround of the Year
Our last award for 2021 is the Turnaround of the Year award, awarded for the bout that saw a fighter grab victory from the jaws of defeat. This award was an easy one to hand out this year, as it was won by future world title challenger Mark Magsayo, for his remarkable turn around victory over Julio Ceja in August, in a criminally over-looked and forgotten fight.
On paper this was a mismatch in favour of the unbeaten Magsayo who was very, very clearly the favourite with the bookies. It was supposed to be little more than a show case for Magsayo against against someone who was 4 years removed from his last win, and had gone 2-3-1 in the previous 5 years. Ceja. Once a world class Bantamweight, was thought to be done as a fighter. Whilst he had pushed Brandon Figueroa to a draw in 2019 that was mostly put down to Ceja coming in well over the Super Bantamweight limit, and essentially using his extra weight to withstand the Figueroa assault.
The idea of the bout being a mismatch looked even more true in the first round, when Magsayo dropped the Mexican in the first round. Surprisingly however Ceja quickly got a read on Magsayo after that early knockdown and fought back hard, landing huge body shots, taking the wind from Magsayo and then dropping Magsayo in round 5. Magsayo wasn't just dropped but was really hurt and left bloodied. We've seen fighters stopped looking like Magsayo did at the end of round 5.
To his credit Magsayo regained his composure, but continue to be put under pressure through the middle of the fight, and seemed well down as we headed into round 10. But the the turnaround occurred with Magsayo landing a huge right hand that left Ceja out cold, and then followed up with another, sending Ceja to the canvas in one of the most eye catching KO's of the year, and securing him a shot at WBC world champion Gary Russell Jr in 2022.
At the time of the stoppage Magsayo was down on all 3 cards, with Ceja leading 86-63, twice, and 87-82. Had he won the final 3 rounds, without dropping Ceja, he could have earned a majority draw. Thankfully for him the finish covered over a lot of the issues with the performance, but in reality we dare say it showed he wasn't yet ready for a world title shot, especially not against someone with the skills of Russell Jr.
On paper this was a mismatch in favour of the unbeaten Magsayo who was very, very clearly the favourite with the bookies. It was supposed to be little more than a show case for Magsayo against against someone who was 4 years removed from his last win, and had gone 2-3-1 in the previous 5 years. Ceja. Once a world class Bantamweight, was thought to be done as a fighter. Whilst he had pushed Brandon Figueroa to a draw in 2019 that was mostly put down to Ceja coming in well over the Super Bantamweight limit, and essentially using his extra weight to withstand the Figueroa assault.
The idea of the bout being a mismatch looked even more true in the first round, when Magsayo dropped the Mexican in the first round. Surprisingly however Ceja quickly got a read on Magsayo after that early knockdown and fought back hard, landing huge body shots, taking the wind from Magsayo and then dropping Magsayo in round 5. Magsayo wasn't just dropped but was really hurt and left bloodied. We've seen fighters stopped looking like Magsayo did at the end of round 5.
To his credit Magsayo regained his composure, but continue to be put under pressure through the middle of the fight, and seemed well down as we headed into round 10. But the the turnaround occurred with Magsayo landing a huge right hand that left Ceja out cold, and then followed up with another, sending Ceja to the canvas in one of the most eye catching KO's of the year, and securing him a shot at WBC world champion Gary Russell Jr in 2022.
At the time of the stoppage Magsayo was down on all 3 cards, with Ceja leading 86-63, twice, and 87-82. Had he won the final 3 rounds, without dropping Ceja, he could have earned a majority draw. Thankfully for him the finish covered over a lot of the issues with the performance, but in reality we dare say it showed he wasn't yet ready for a world title shot, especially not against someone with the skills of Russell Jr.