A remarkable year for Tyson Fury has been acknowledged by the bible of the sport – The Ring magazine – in their annual awards.
The Manchester-based fighter earned enormous praise for the way he fought back to fitness and talked frankly about mental health issues.
His performance against Deontay Wilder in a 12-round epic in Los Angeles was simply stunning, leading many good judges to suggest the draw was the wrong result. A rematch - scheduled for next year - is already being talked about as one of the potential sporting highlights of 2019.
Fury has stated he wants the fight to be at Old Trafford, home of his beloved Manchester United but Wembley is also being touted as a potential venue.
Fury's took the Comeback of the Year award while he was also honoured in the Round of the Year category for the amazing 12th round comeback against Wilder when he appeared to be down and out but miraculously got to his feet.
The Ring magazine year-end awards have been running since 1928 and remain the most prestigious in world boxing.
Here are the winners for 2018:
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Aleksandr Usyk
FIGHT OF THE YEAR
Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez 2
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR
Naoya Inoue KO 1 Juan Carlos Payano
TRAINER OF THE YEAR
Anatoly Lomachenko
UPSET OF THE YEAR
Cristopher Rosales TKO 9 Daigo Higa
COMEBACK OF THE YEAR
Tyson Fury
EVENT OF THE YEAR
HBO leaves boxing
ROUND OF THE YEAR
Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder (Round 12)
PROSPECT OF THE YEAR
Teofimo Lopez
MOST INSPIRATIONAL
Brendan Ingle (the pioneering trainer who passed away in 2018)
