Story and photos by Boxing Bob Newman

By Fightnews.com

The awards banquet at the 54th annual WBC convention capped off an eventful opening day. Loads of surprise appearances by champs who weren’t initially announced to be in attendance only served to liven things up for the packed Grand Ball Room banquet hall of nearly 800 guests.

One of the early awards was also a well deserved recognition to Fightnews.com’s own Karl Freitag- publisher and editor-in-chief. In the words of WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, Freitag changed the landscape of boxing media for good over seventeen years ago with the creation of the website, which has become the go-to source for industry insiders and fans alike. The prestigious green and gold belt was presented by Gennady Golovkin and strapped around Freitag’s svelte waist, then slung over his shoulder for a better fit! A beaming Freitag said to GGG, “You had to work harder for yours than I did!”

Another surprise guest and award recipient was The “Money Man,” Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather was on hand to pick up, not one, two, but three Guinness World Record recognitions. They were: Highest career PPV sales for a boxer ($1,311,000,000), most expensive championship belt was the $1,000,000 WBC Emerald belt awarded after his won over Manny Pacquiao and…most bouts undefeated by a world boxing champion- 49, achieved between 11 October 1996 and 12 September 2015.

The boxing movies “Bleed For This,” “Hands of Stone” and “Creed” all received recognition awards. Creed star and current WBC Cruiserweight chap Tony Bellew accepted, Duran accepted for “Hands of Stone,” and promoter Eddie Hearn accepted for “Bleed For This” muse Vinny Pazienza, who was no where to be found, despite his being seen the night before.

WBC Dramatic Fight of the Year went to Shinsuke Yamanaka – Anselmo Moreno II, which saw both fighters hit the deck before Moreno was stopped for good in the seventh.

Fighter of the Year went to Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.

Amir Khan won the WBC Humanitarian of Peace award for his self named foundation which does work in Pakistan as well as parts of Africa, providing clean drinking water among other endeavors.

Event of the Year went to Gennady Golovkin vs Kell Brook, beating out Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs Amir Khan.