Terence Crawford, who moved up two weight classes to defeat then-undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in last September’s mega-fight, was named the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) 2025 Fighter of the Year.
The voting marked the second time Crawford has won the BWAA’s Fighter of the Year award, with more than a decade having passed since he was named 2014 FOTY.
The other 2025 Fighter of the Year nominees in the male category were Dmitry Bivol, Naoya Inoue, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Rene Santiago.
Crawford fought just once in 2025, but the magnitude of the win over Alvarez – still considered by many to be the proverbial “face of boxing” – superseded the collective efforts of all other fighters. “Bud” didn’t merely beat Alvarez – he achieved history while outclassing a future Hall of Famer over 12 rounds on a Mexican Independence Day weekend that for years has been a featured slot for Canelo. The win made Crawford, of Omaha, Nebraska, a five-division world titleholder and the first male boxer in the four-belt era to hold undisputed titles in three different weight classes. With no lands left to conquer, Crawford, 42-0 (31 KOs), retired last December at age 38.
The BWAA 2025 Female Fighter of the Year was Mikaela Mayer, who defended her welterweight title in a unanimous decision victory over Sandy Ryan in their rematch last March, then added another belt in a unanimous decision over Mary Spencer in October to unify titles.
Chris Eubank-Conor Benn I – a fraught matchup between the sons of two British fighting icons – won the 2025 BWAA Male Fight of the Year award. Eubank bested Benn over 12 fiercely contested rounds in April at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Tottenham, England. The fight set up an immediate rematch won by Benn in November.
Other Male Fight of the Year candidates were Carlos Canizales KO5 Panya Pradabsri II, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz W10 Angelo Fierro, Christian Mbilli D10 Lester Martinez and Kenshiro Teraji KO12 Seigo Yuri Akui.
Shadasia Green's narrow split decision victory over Savannah Marshall in their July unified super middleweight clash was selected as the BWAA 2025 Female Fight of the Year.
Other BWAA 2025 award winners include Robert Garcia for Trainer of the Year (marking back-to-back wins); Keith Connolly for Manager of the Year (his second win in the category); Roy Jones Jnr as the Taub Award winner for excellence in broadcast journalism; Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard for the Marvin Kohn Good Guy Award; and John Sheppard for the Barney Nagler Award for long and meritorious service to the sport.
Additionally, Hall of Famer Christy Martin was selected as the John McCain and Bill Crawford Award winner for overcoming adversity, and former USA Today boxing writer Jon Saraceno was selected as the Nat Fleischer award winner for excellence in boxing journalism.
The award winners will be honored at the annual BWAA awards dinner, an event that will be open to the public and scheduled for a site and time to be determined.
Full BWAA winners and category nominees are listed below:
Male Fighter of the Year winner: Terence Crawford
Other nominees: Dmitry Bivol, Naoya Inoue, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, Rene Santiago
Male Fight of the Year winner: Chris Eubank W 12 Conor Benn I
Other nominees: Carlos Canizales KO5 Panya Pradabsri II, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz W10 Angelo Fierro, Christian Mbilli D10 Lester Martinez, Kenshiro Teraji KO12 Seigo Yuri Akui
Trainer of the Year winner: Robert Garcia
Other nominees: Ben Davison, Freddy Fundora, Shingo Inoue, Andy Lee
Manager of the Year winner: Keith Connolly
Other nominees: Robert Garcia, Peter Kahn, Vadim Kornilov, Rick Mirigian
Taub Award winner: Roy Jones Jnr
Other nominees: Jim Gray, Dave Harmon, Mauro Ranallo, James “Smitty” Smith
Marvin Kohn Good Guy Award winner: Sugar Ray Leonard
Other nominees: Russ Anber, Chris DeBlasio, Steve Pratt, Don Turner
Barney Nagler Award winner: John Sheppard
Other nominees: Henry Hascup, Don Majeski, Dr. Nitin Sethi
John McCain and Bill Crawford Award winner: Christy Martin
Nominees: Billy Dib, Joe Gallagher, Sampson Lewkowicz, Yudai Shigeoka
