Week of December 26, 2004 - January 1, 2005:
FOW -- Brian "The Beast" Minto, for losing on points to Tony Tubbs. Fightnews reported that "Minto's family and friends sat in a perplexed numbness" as the debacle unfolded, and that "[t]he perplexed numbness soon turned to outrage as a 46 year old Tony Tubbs was crowned the new West Virginia Heavyweight champion. This reporter soon fled the building just as fights broke out."
Dishonorable mention -- None. Another slow holiday week.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Csaba Oláh.
Week of December 19-25, 2004:
FOW -- Originally, it was decided that no award would be given this week due to the lack of in-ring action, but after further consideration, it was determined that Tiger Smalls would be a more-than-worthy recipient, based on his appearance in the February 2005 issue of High Times magazine, which was available on newsstands this week. In the article, Smalls revealed that, for him, sparring while high is "like playing a video game," and that he smokes up to seven "blunts" per day, going on to add: "What's all this slicing-the-cigar-open-with-a-razor-blade shit?...You know what I'm saying? That's the way pussies do it."
Dishonorable mention -- None.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Karl Taylor, Michael Pinnock, Vlado Varhegi.
Week of December 12-18, 2004:
FOW -- Mia St. John, for beating 4-10-1 Janae Archuleta for the 3rd time in 8 weeks.
Dishonorable mention -- Previously undefeated Hemid Jamali for losing a "British Masters Super Middleweight Title" fight to 11-20-1 Simeon Cover.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Ernie Smith, Verdell Smith, Benji Singleton, Arv Mittoo, Jason Nesbitt, Howard Clarke, Peter Buckley, Joszef Kubovsky/Lakatos, Reggie Strickland.
Week of December 5-11, 2004:
FOW -- Graciano Rocchigiani, for allegedly violating his parole by punching a taxi driver outside a hotel and having to be pepper-sprayed and subdued by a team of half a dozen policemen.
Dishonorable mention -- Vinroy Barrett for fighting Lester Yarbrough, 13-0 Marco Schulze for losing to some 0-2 Latvian guy, previously undefeated Nimrod Koren for losing TKO2 to a 4-9 fighter, Anton Glofak and Anton Vontszemu for once again battling to a draw, and Luis Galarza who, in a rematch of his eventful January bout with Anthony Bowman, was disqualified when he knocked Bowman senseless with a nice one-two combination right after the final bell sounded.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Yarbrough, Paul Bonson, Arv Mittoo, Brian Coleman, Howard Clarke, Jason Nesbitt, Peter Buckley, Anton Lascek, Lee "The Quickster" Cargle, Caseny Truesdale.
Week of November 28 - December 4, 2004:
FOW -- Lou Del Valle, for beating a 2-3 fighter by split decision. ("Honey Boy" thus becomes the fifth-ever repeat FOW.)
Dishonorable mention -- Takao Aoki, for losing in 13 seconds, Jorge Garcia, whose fight with Jesus Gonzales was stopped when he started vomiting in mid-round, and Antwun Echols for getting floored by 13-6 Jameel Wilson.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Simko, Ernie Smith, Lee "The Quickster" Cargle (disqualified once again for constant holding).
Week of November 21-27, 2004:
FOW -- John Davidson, who kicked off his career about as inauspiciously as possible by getting KO'd in 79 seconds by 4-45 Jason Nesbitt. (Nesbitt has now somehow won two consecutive fights, and three of his last seven, after losing 31 straight bouts over a two-year span prior to that.)
Dishonorable mention -- Joe Mitchell, for getting outpointed by 10-70-2 Ernie Smith, Alvin Versey for getting knocked out by Anthony Ivory, Marquette Penelton for resurfacing in Iowa and recording another first-round KO loss despite having been "retired" by the Missouri Commission in April, and Ken Murphy, who was disqualified for non-stop holding in his bout against Tomasz Bonin. (Murphy has now gone 1-21-1 from 1999 onward, with the win being a split-decision victory over Donnie Penelton.)
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Anton Lascek, Peter Simko, Peter Buckley, Imrich Parlagi.
Week of November 14-20, 2004:
FOW -- Ronnie Copeland, now 8-4, for dropping a decision to 9-57-3 Fighter of the Year candidate Caseny Truesdale.
Dishonorable mention -- Clarence Vinson, for losing again despite his opponent getting docked two points for low blows, and Joel Viney, who followed up his May loss to 70-time loser Nigel Senior by getting outpointed by 3-45 Jason Nesbitt.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Keith Jones, Karl Taylor, Howard Clarke.
Week of November 7-13, 2004:
FOW -- 11-2 Mike Wood, for responding to excessive holding on the part of his 8-38 opponent by trying to kick him in the head. (The fight ended in a double disqualification.)
Dishonorable mention -- Bumkiller Stephen Spartacus, for losing again, and bigger bumkiller Matt Vanda, for beating an 8-2-1 fighter by only split decision.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Gabriel Botos, Lee "The Quickster" Cargle, Keith Jones, Howard Clarke, Ernie Smith, Stefan Stanko, Donnie "The Black Battle Cat" Penelton, Verdell Smith, Peter Buckley.
Week of October 31 - November 6, 2004:
FOW -- 4-24 Peter Allen, for losing an 18-second fight to 1-0 Damian Owen.
Dishonorable mention -- Frank Böhme, for getting blown out in two rounds in his WAA "championship" bout against 8-9-2 Gene Pukall (Böhme qualified for the title shot by losing all seven of his fights since mid-April 2000), Greg Dickson for continuing his highly unsuccessful comeback by losing a decision to 1-10-1 Walter Gilliam, and Charles Brewer for getting absolutely dominated by Mario Veit.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Ernie Smith, Lester Yarbrough, Brian Coleman, Anton Glofak, Ivan Vavrecan.
Week of October 24-30, 2004:
FOW -- Gary Connelly, who put himself into Fighter of the Year contention by suffering a fifth-round KO loss to 9-80-4 Arv Mittoo in his pro debut. (Mittoo rode a 47-bout winless streak into the contest.)
Dishonorable mention -- John Sargent, John Sargent Jr., Syrus Sargent, and Brian Sargent, for teaming up to record four first-round KO losses on the 29th of October (total time of the fights: six minutes and thirty-two seconds), and, in a clash of names list candidates, Jungstar Min for getting demolished in 23 seconds by 2-5 Ranee Ganoy.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Simko, and Peter Buckley, who after a slow summer now seems to be making an all-out push to crack the 200-loss barrier before the new year.
Week of October 17-23, 2004:
FOW -- Russell Chasteen, for attempting to bite China Smith in the main event of a card dubbed "The Backlot Charity Brawl." (The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported: "Chasteen lumbered across the ring, and with mouth open, lunged at Smith's ear and neck. [The referee] immediately stopped the fight as Smith's handlers climbed into the ring, staring at Chasteen, who denied trying to grab a quick snack.")
Dishonorable mention -- None.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Buckley, Brian Coleman, Ernie Smith, Jerry Smith, Gabriel Botos, Caseny Truesdale.
Week of October 10-16, 2004:
FOW -- Patrik Prokopecz, for getting fought to a draw by 1-54-4 Anton Glofak on the Laszlo Paszterko-promoted premiere show of the non-EBU-affiliated "SLOVAK UNION of Professional Boxing."
Dishonorable mention -- Warren Moore, for getting floored six times in four rounds by a comebacking, 171-pound Jose Luis Lopez (on a card that also featured two WBE title fights). According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Moore was "frightened and appallingly outclassed," and the final two knockdowns he suffered came about as the result of "hardly any contact."
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Buckley, Caseny Truesdale, Anton Kubov.
Week of October 3-9, 2004:
FOW -- Tye Fields, for scoring his 31st career win at the expense of a 6-24 fighter coming off a loss to Butterbean.
Dishonorable mention -- None. Slow week.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Lourival da Silva, Lee "The Quickster" Cargle, Brian Coleman, Caseny Truesdale, Reggie Strickland.
Week of September 26 - October 2, 2004:
FOW -- "Cocky" Kevin Watts, now 18-7, for getting destroyed in one round by 13-42 Dennis Burley.
Dishonorable mention -- Bumkiller Wayne Martell, for hitting the canvas five times in his PPV-televised first-round KO loss to Zab Judah, and previously undefeated Tyrone Roberts for dropping a unanimous decision to "The Reggie" (the latter of whom was having his second bout in the space of five days).
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Karl Taylor, Strickland, Brian Coleman, Howard Clarke, Marris "Midnight" Virgil.
Week of September 19-25, 2004:
FOW -- Herbie Hide, who won an unprecedented third FOW award this week when he was arrested for failing to appear in court to answer to various driving-related charges. ("The Dancing Destroyer" had apparently been cited on two separate occasions in 2003 for driving two different vehicles without insurance, but had skipped out on the resulting six scheduled court dates in 2004, including his sentencing hearing in April. Hide's attorney told the court that he had no idea why his client had failed to appear.)
Dishonorable mention -- Alvaro Aguilar, 17-0 and reportedly "out of shape" going into his fight against 12-10 Noel Cortez, for getting counted out while he sat on the canvas protesting alleged rabbit punching, Terrence Cauthen for losing by split decision to a guy who had been KO'd in four of his last five fights (with one of those losses coming against a fighter who was 0-14 at the time), and Robert Gacek, for getting knocked out in his pro debut by Peter Simko KO victim Marcin Najman.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Brian Coleman (in a bout referreed by HOS member Dean Bramhald), Howard Clarke, Keith Jones, Peter Buckley, Joszef Kubovsky/Lakatos.
Week of September 12-18, 2004:
FOW -- Sami "Market Street's Tyson" Tikkinen, for turning in exactly the type of performance that the FOW award was meant to canonize when he was KO'd in two rounds on his home turf by 1-24 Peter Simko.
Dishonorable mention -- The heavyweight version of Reggie Strickland, for getting knocked out in one round in his first outing in 3-1/2 years, and going on indefinite suspension as a result.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Donnie "The Black Battle Cat" Penelton, Peter Buckley, Anton Kubov, Karl Taylor, Gabriel Botos, Anton Lascek, in addition to the real Reggie Strickland.
Week of September 5-11, 2004:
FOW -- Arsenio Reyes, for crying on the premiere episode of "The Next Great Champ." According to this review of the show, the "bawling" Reyes came off as "more like an accountant than a would-be fighter."
Dishonorable mention -- 26-1 Mark Riggs, for losing to an 1-0-1 guy, Leif O. D. Larsen for scoring a 20-second KO win over a Slovakian heavyweight (the fifth Slovak that O. D. has faced in his five-fight career), and Ross "The Boss" Thompson for pulling out of his scheduled fight against Aslan Kodzoev, allegedly because he was 32 pounds over the contract weight approximately one week before fight time.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Keith Jones, Peter Buckley, Ivan Vavrecan, Scott Sala (down 5 times in 4 rounds in his first fight in 3 years), Reggie Strickland.
Week of August 29 - September 4, 2004:
FOW -- Rito Ruvalcaba, for getting blown out in 38 seconds on the Arce-Rubillar undercard.
Dishonorable mention -- Ashittey Machine. You know why.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Buckley, Ernie Smith, Keith Jones, Karl Taylor, Imrich Parlagi.
Week of August 22-28, 2004:
FOWs -- Clifton Rubin and Wade Lewis, for having their bout stopped in the fourth round and ruled a double disqualification due to a "lack of fighting." (The Louisiana Boxing Commission went on to order that losses should indeed appear on the records of both boxers.)
Dishonorable mention -- US Olympian Jason Estrada, for turning in such a reproachful effort in his quarterfinal bout against Michel Lopez Nunez, and then explaining himself afterward by saying: "If I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose getting hit as little as possible....I'd rather not get hit at all. This is just one part of my life," in addition to Reggie Nash, for becoming the latest in a growing series of fighters to weigh in for a bout, only to be nowhere in sight on fight night, and Hector Camacho Jr. for getting fought to a draw by Marteze Logan. (Special mention also goes out to the WBE for allowing a loser of 20 consecutive fights and a guy who had been knocked out eight straight times to fight for two of its titles this week.)
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Csaba Oláh.
Week of August 15-21, 2004:
FOW -- Matt Vanda, whose first career loss finally arrived (about seven months behind schedule -- see the details of The Predator's previous FOW award) when he was stopped in eight rounds on national TV by Armando Velardez.
Dishonorable mention -- Edson Nascimento, now 47-0-1, for winning the "UBC Ibero-American Lightweight Title" by beating an unlicensed 3-23 fighter who had last fought in April 1998. (Also, on the same card, a possibly-related chap named Carlos "The Butcher" Nascimento captured a UBC belt of his own by scoring a first-round KO over an 0-5 fighter who hadn't fought in nearly three years.)
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Caseny Truesdale.
Week of August 8-14, 2004:
FOW -- Ricardo Williams Jr., for getting indicted on charges of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Eyebrows were evidently raised when, authorities claim, $750,000 worth of cocaine was FedExed from California to Cincinnati, and Williams was detected calling various associates of his on his cell phone to arrange for pickup of the goods.
Dishonorable mention -- Juan Carlos Gómez for getting knocked out in under two minutes by Yamplier Azcuy, and Said Ouali for becoming the latest victim of Manning Galloway.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- None.
Week of August 1-7, 2004:
FOW -- Mario Cawley, for going down four times in 7-1/2 minutes against Larry Donald, then getting hit with an indefinite suspension (in addition to being fined 10% of his purse) for "lack of effort."
Dishonorable mention -- Mike Arnaoutis, for having so ridiculous a poem published under his name on Boxing Central, and Rashid "Snakeboy" Matumla, former IBU titleholder, for coming up with the brilliant idea of quitting in the 8th round of his fight against 4-0 Ahmed Mustafa to protest what he claimed was poor officiating by the referee.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Lester Yarbrough, David McCluskey.
Week of July 25-31, 2004:
FOW -- Lee "The Quickster" Cargle, who was docked four points, and ultimately disqualified, for constant holding in his fight against 45-3 bumkiller Chad Broussard. (Also, Cargle's trainer was ejected from the ring area by the local boxing commissioner after entering the ring and screaming at the referee between rounds five and six.)
Dishonorable mention -- Aneudi Santos for once again losing to Sam Reese, and Arthur Williams for getting dropped by, and losing a wide unanimous decision to, 7-8-1 Charles Davis. (Davis had last fought more than two years ago at super middleweight, and had won only one of his last nine fights dating back to the fall of 1997.)
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Brian Coleman, Ernie Smith, Anton Vontszemu.
Week of July 18-24, 2004:
FOW -- Timothy "Hooter" Crane, for putting on so putrid a performance in an ESPN-televised swing bout (log) that he was indefinitely suspended by the Missouri state commission, and his manager posted a public apology to the sport of boxing on the Boxrec forum.
Dishonorable mention -- Madman LookporKhun for obvious reasons, and "Smiling" Joe Davies and Elisara Sii Uta for knocking each other down a combined eight times in less than three rounds.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- José Carlos Amaral, Anton Vontszemu.
Week of July 11-17, 2004:
FOW -- José Miguel Torres Tafur, for getting disqualified in the third round of his fight against Wilmer Gomez for biting Gomez's neck and chest.
Dishonorable mention -- Jimmy "The Fightin' School Teacher" Holmes, for both his nickname and the fact that he got fought to a draw by Reggie Strickland, clothes salesman Ever Guzman for putting on such an atrocious performance in his ESPN-televised pro debut, Faruq Chris Herring, whose fight with Vince Calio was stopped when he was knocked through the ropes and onto the scorers' table, Jukka "Rambo" Jarvinen, for failing to show up for his scheduled fight against 3-17 Vladislav Druso despite having managed to appear at the weigh-in, Wes Keene for returning to action after a 9-year layoff and getting disqualified for shoving his opponent out of the ring, and of course Kevin "Big Dog" Montiy, for signing a promotional contract with Don King, and then thanking his new promoter by getting destroyed in 61 seconds by 7-6 Willie Perryman on yet another card billed as "Kronk's Return to Glory."
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- John Basil Jackson, Caseny Truesdale.
Week of July 4-10, 2004:
FOW -- Richard Swallow, for suffering a one-punch KO loss to Brian Coleman. (Going into the match, Coleman was 1-39 in his last 40 fights and, in his 162 previous career bouts, had scored a grand total of 4 knockouts.)
Dishonorable mention -- Courtney Burton, for "beating" Emanuel Augustus via thoroughly asinine decision, and then claiming, in all seriousness, that he really did win nine of the bout's ten rounds, Keith Hendryx for his dreadful performance on that same card, Anthony Henry for getting stopped in 37 seconds (without being hit with a meaningful punch) on another ESPN2 show, Larry "Earthquake" Simmons for weighing in at an apparent career-low of 357 pounds for his first-round KO loss to Roger Cargill, and lastly Faruq Saleem, for fighting Marvin Hunt.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Ernie Smith.
Week of June 27 - July 3, 2004:
FOW -- Noel Arambulet, who weighed in 3/4 of a pound over the limit for his 105-lb. title fight against Yutaka Niida, and then immediately began drinking water before making an effort to shed the excess weight and weigh in again. As the mighty Joe Koizumi described the situation: "Impulsively and irrationally did Arambulet abandon himself in despair and drink water after his first failure in the weigh-in. Having been persuaded, the Venezuelan attempted to make the weight again....[but what] he could reduce with a two-hour exertion was just a quarter pound that he drank inexplicably."
Dishonorable mention -- Former FOW Mike Stone, who was stopped in 76 seconds in his bid to capture the NABC Americas middlweight title, Robert Howard for earning an indefinite suspension from the Colorado State Boxing Commission following his first-round KO loss to Mike Alvarado, and Glenn Danzig for getting KO'd in about four seconds backstage at a concert in Arizona.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Lourival da Silva, Gabriel Botos, Arv Mittoo, Keith Jones (who picked up his 84th loss in a Frank Warren-promoted battle for the Welsh welterweight title), Peter Buckley.
Week of June 20-26, 2004:
FOW -- Aaron Brink, who was disqualified in the first round of his fight with Randy Brown for kneeing his opponent in the stomach. (In his only other known bout, in 2001, Brink was disqualified in the second round for committing the same offense.)
Dishonorable mention -- Presley James for getting KO'd in 14 seconds by "JOVANN."
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Manuel Fatima-Dias, Reggie Strickland.
Week of June 13-19, 2004:
FOW -- Sandro de Jesus, who immediately became a Fighter of the Year candidate after he made his professional debut against 0-30 HOS candidate Lourival da Silva and came away a majority decision loser.
Dishonorable mention -- Frankie Gonzales, who made his own strong bid for Fighter of the Year honors when he was disqualified in round two of his fight against Jonathan Ochoa for running not only out of the ring, but out of the arena during the bout, Rudy Cisneros for getting KO'd in one round by 4-30 Ed Humes, Rydell Booker for weighing in at 229 pounds for a fight that was originally supposed to be for a cruiserweight belt, and then beating Tipton Walker by only split decision, Jason Ross for losing to 14-52-1 Eric Rhinehart, Rob Calloway for his poor effort against Hasim Rahman (and Maxboxing for webcasting it), and Kendall Holt, who had been proclaimed "the second coming of Meldrick Taylor" by his manager Lou Duva, for getting iced in a single round by 8-1 Tom Davis on the FNF undercard.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Howard Clarke, Arv Mittoo, Nigel Senior.
Week of June 6-12, 2004:
FOW -- José Celaya, for getting floored three times and stopped in the sixth round by 10-3-2 Eduardo Sánchez, thus costing himself the #1 spot in the WBO welterweight rankings.
Dishonorable mention -- Tyrone Muex for getting knocked out in his WBE heavyweight title fight against Otis Tisdale (Muex qualified for the title shot by getting stopped in 31 seconds by Rowland Bryant), and David Womack, who stepped in as a late replacement for Bilai Burns on a card in Plymouth, Massachusetts and was dropped four times en route to a first-round KO loss in his pro debut.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Michael Pinnock, Nigel Senior, and Jerry Smith, who was once again disqualified for excessive holding, this time against former FOW Martin Thornton.
Week of May 30 - June 5, 2004:
FOW -- Nathan "The Weasel" Martin: With less than a minute to go in his fight against Miguel Hernandez, Martin was docked a point for low blows. Martin responded by throwing his mouthpiece into the crowd and walking out of the ring, leaving Hernandez the victor by DQ.
Dishonorable mention -- Ultra-bumkiller Adnan Amar for getting stopped in his first career fight against an opponent with a winning record, and Jimmie Thomas for getting knocked out in one round in a fight in St. Louis and then getting indefinitely suspended for (in the opinion of the Missouri Athletic Commission) having "no boxing skills."
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Nigel Senior, Lester Yarbrough, Keith Jones, Howard Clarke, Peter Buckley, William Webster, Doug Davis, Dave Hinds.
Week of May 23-29, 2004:
FOW -- James Lee: At an event billed as "Kronk's Return to Glory," Fightnews reported that "Kronk's James Lee lost his pro debut by disqualification. Lee became frustrated in the second round, applied a single leg take down, then initiated a 'ground and pound' to Daniel Whetcel (1-1). The referee had no choice but to disqualify Lee."
Dishonorable mention -- Billy Outley, whose boxing record is almost as amazing as Jeff Holcomb's, for getting stopped by the now red-hot Mack Willis, and Gary "Bring Da Pain" Bell for drawing with 5-4 Patrick Smith.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Ernie Smith.
Week of May 16-22, 2004:
FOW -- Justin Juuko, who was sent sprawling by a short jab 10 seconds into his fight against Michael Gomez, and subsequently TKO'd in the second round when he stumbled backwards after landing a pair of hooks, prompting the referee to step in.
Dishonorable mention -- Ryan Davis (15-2-2) for losing to Anthony Ivory (28-70-4), Joel Viney (8-30) for losing to Nigel Senior (20-67-5), and Fitz Vanderpool, for getting floored three times and knocked out in 102 seconds by Marco Antonio Rubio on the Chavez-Randall III undercard.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Marris "Midnight" Virgil, Joszef Kubovsky/Lakatos, Vlado Varhegi, Manuel Fatima-Dias, Karl Taylor.
Week of May 9-15, 2004:
FOW -- James Crayton, who prior to his fight against Armando Santa Cruz proclaimed: "As far as me losing a fight, I dont feel as if I am going to lose any fights any time soon. I dont care who I fight, no matter what, I am going to knock them down. I am on a mission this year, 2004 is the return of James Crayton." Crayton then proceeded to lose to Santa Cruz by the scores of 100-90 on all cards.
Dishonorable mention -- None.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Buckley, Tomas Besc, Verdell Smith.
Week of May 2-8, 2004:
FOW -- Eduard Jakubov, for getting knocked out by a guy who had lost to both Vlado Varhegi and Ivan Vavrecan.
Dishonorable mention -- Geir Inge Jorgensen, for fighting another horrible bum (and having his manager Steffen Tangstad say afterward that "I have received offers already about title fights for him but I feel that he needs to learn a little bit more before we take that crucial step"), James Butler for fighting Reggie Strickland, Enrique (Yaqui) Ruiz, NABC Latino Heavyweight titleholder, for losing a unanimous decision to former FOW Wallace McDaniel, and Jeff Holcomb, owner of one of the most astounding boxing records known to man, for coming up short in his WBE Cruiserweight Title bout against Shelby "Bonetown Brawler" Gross.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Buckley, Karl Taylor, Strickland, Michael Pinnock, Brian Coleman, Howard Clarke.
Week of April 25 - May 1, 2004:
FOW -- Jonathan "J.J." Corn, for losing to the massive bumkiller Chris Lytle. Corn thus becomes the third fighter in history to win two FOW awards.
Dishonorable mention -- Undefeated Leonard Pierre Anasta, for getting floored by Reggie Strickland.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Gabriel Botos, Donnie "The Black Battle Cat" Penelton, The Reggie, Brian Coleman, Caseny Truesdale, William Webster.
Week of April 18-24, 2004:
FOW -- Jerry Smith: Smith reportedly threw about 10 punches in the first two minutes of his fight against super-bumkiller Vinroy Barrett, then began holding constantly until he was finally disqualified in the second round for one last clinch that lasted a good 10-15 seconds and threatened to send both fighters over the top rope.
Dishonorable mention -- Andres Arellano for returning to action after a six-and-a-half-year layoff and losing to the 8-33-2 Mack Willis, and Allan Smith for getting hit with a Billy Mofford body shot, and then going down (supposedly as a result of it) 15 seconds later. (Thanks to Dumpster2 and gboxrec for providing the details of the above fights.)
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Gabriel Botos, Csaba Oláh, Brian Coleman, Peter Buckley, William Webster, Bilai Burns, Stefan Stanko.
Week of April 11-17, 2004:
FOW -- Anthony DeBarbaladin, for continually slipping on and complaining about the canvas throughout the 115-second duration of his fight against Joe Johnson. When the referee finally asked him if he wanted to keep fighting, DeBarbaladin simply continued to complain about the canvas and was disqualified.
Dishonorable mention -- Ultra-bumkiller Mario Cawley for his woeful outing against Hasim Rahman (and Maxboxing for bothering to webcast it), Wayne Llewelyn for his embarrassing performance against Jameel McCline on Shobox, China Smith for getting floored twice in his fight against Shawn Robinson, Angel Manfredy for crying after his points loss to Craig Weber, and lastly John Ruiz and Fres Oquendo for putting on such a disgusting show on the Byrd-Golota PPV undercard.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- William Webster, Peter Buckley, Brian Coleman, Arv Mittoo, Michael Pinnock, Anton Vontszemu, Anton Glofak, Reggie Strickland.
Week of April 4-10, 2004:
FOW -- Toris Smith (1-12), for getting totally dominated and knocked out in five rounds by Reggie Strickland. (Fightnews reported that Smith "seemed helpless to do anything but watch the display of speed.")
Dishonorable mention -- Stan Johnson-managed Marquette Penelton for getting knocked out in 63 seconds by Francisco Diaz and then having his license revoked by the Missouri State Commission for the "poor boxing skills" he displayed in the fight, and Terry Christian for returning to action after a 12-1/2 year layoff and losing to 21-82-4 HOS member Jim Kaczmarek.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Keith Jones, Walter Wiggins (now up to 0-15), Vlado Varhegi, Howard Clarke, Csaba Oláh.
Week of March 28 - April 3rd, 2004:
FOW -- Ricardo Williams Jr., who with any luck got himself barred from ever appearing on HBO again by dropping an eight-round split decision to 43-year old Manning Galloway.
Dishonorable mention -- Brooke Wellby, for scoring his 4th career win over Jim Kaczmarek, and Rubin "Mr. Hollywood" Williams for beating fellow bumkiller Kenny Bowman by only majority decision.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Kaczmarek, Marris "Midnight" Virgil, Peter Buckley, Howard Clarke, Michael Pinnock.
Week of March 21-27, 2004:
FOW -- 5-31 Stan Johnson-trained Harold Johnson, for getting disqualified in the second round of his fight with Byron Polley when he "appeared to act in a threatening way" towards the referee after rising from a knockdown.
Dishonorable mention -- Tibor Rafael, for losing to Vlado Varhegi, former world title holder Yosam Choi for losing to a sub-.500 fighter, and Tomasz Gorski for getting knocked out in two rounds by Peter Simko KO victim Marcin Najman.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Donnie "The Black Battle Cat" Penelton, Keith Jones, Arv Mittoo, Karl Taylor and Reggie Strickland.
Week of March 14-20, 2004:
FOW -- Nate Campbell, who prior to his IBF elimination bout against Robbie Peden had announced: "You have not seen the best of Nate Campbell....I'm the Marvin Hagler of the division. I'm the best fighter in the 130 pound division. I can taste championship gold," for getting dropped for a 10-count by Peden after (intentionally) putting his hands below his waist and leaving them there for several seconds.
Dishonorable mention -- Donnell Wiggins for not making it out of the first round of his Showtime-televised fight against Rico Hoye, previously undefeated bumkillers Nick Cook and Ramon Arellano, both of whom also suffered KO losses, Randall Bailey for fighting Lester Yarbrough, and of course Tonya Harding, for citing taunts made by her opponent at the weigh-in for their fight as one of the reasons she had to pull out of it at the last second.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Reggie Strickland and Yarbrough.
Week of March 7-13, 2004:
FOW -- Rodney Moore: After the second round of his fight with Conal McPhee, Moore claimed to have suffered a thumb injury, falling to the canvas and rolling around in alleged pain. Fightnews reported that "[a]fter a brief time on the canvas, ringside doctors would move Moore to his corner stool where he would double over in pain for many more minutes" and then posed the burning question: "The curious factor about the injury is how Moore was able to injure his thumb when he barely threw any punches through the first two rounds?"
Dishonorable mention -- Rico Cason, for turning in what Fightnews described as a "completely unenthusiastic" performance against Carl Daniels (shortly before the second-round stoppage, Cason reportedly "began to retreat and...grimace without even being touched") as well as Manuel Lee Ossie, now 31-4. for agreeing to take on 3-61-3 HOS member Csaba Oláh, and Dante Craig for losing for the second time in less than a month.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Harry Butler, Csaba Oláh.
Week of February 29 - March 6, 2004:
FOW -- Christian Bladt (now 28-3), for losing to 12-22 Romanian Vasile Surcica.
Dishonorable mention -- Geir Inge Jorgensen, for beating another tomato can (and stating afterwards that "I boxed the fight of my life, and have never gotten my technique to flow like this before. Everything I attempted connected. All that was missing was knocking my opponent down"), as well as Jeff Pegues for getting KO'd in 35 seconds by Shannon Briggs and Julio "The Cuban Lover" Garcia for getting blasted out in one round by Verno Phillips in the FNF main event and costing gboxrec 35,000 virtual dollars. (Log)
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Harry Butler, Brian Coleman, Peter Buckley, William Webster, Keith Jones.
Week of February 22-28, 2004:
FOW -- Eric Holland: Holland was scheduled to fight a rematch against Kirino Garcia in Juarez, Mexico, but just minutes before he was due to leave for the arena (according to his trainer Joe Hidalgo), Holland packed up his belongings, jumped into his car and drove back to New Mexico without mentioning to anyone that he intended to do so, leaving Hidalgo behind to experience what he called "the most humiliation and embarrassment I've ever felt in my life."
Dishonorable mention -- Roberto Ortega, for dropping Cesar Bazan with three blatant low blows and then, as the referee was in the process of disqualifying him, standing over Bazan and urging him to get up and continue fighting, and Anthony "The Messenger" Thompson for suffering a one-punch knockout loss to 15-8 Grady Brewer.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Verdell Smith.
Week of February 15-21, 2004:
FOW -- Former Anton Kubov conqueror Reidar Walstad, who lost his unbeaten record when he was stopped in one round by 4-3 Mongolian Shinny Bayaar. (One website offered the following description of the fight: "Reidar got stunned almost immediately by the superbly boxing Bayaar, who very much represented the classic upright Mongolian style that we have seen so many times before, hard, accurate and very stylish.")
Dishonorable mention -- David Pearson, for losing to HOS member Brian Coleman, and Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis, for getting arrested in Guyana on charges of "recklessly firing a gun in a public place."
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Peter Buckley, Nelson Hernandez, Donnie "The Black Battle Cat" Penelton, Nigel Senior and Arv Mittoo.
Week of February 8-14, 2004:
FOW -- Caseny Truesdale, who put in a very strong bid for Fighter of the Year honors this week when he barfed in the middle of the ring during his fight with Curtis Taylor. Fightnews reported that Taylor hit Truesdale "so hard that Truesdale lost his lunch....Truesdale was swinging from the fences hoping to score one big shot against the much bigger Taylor. It wasn't to be and Truesdale left a mess in the middle of the ring. Ref Bill Clancy called a stop to the bout at 1:34 of the fourth."
Dishonorable mention -- Alexander Pektovic for getting knocked out in eight rounds by 12-5-2 Baldwin "The Black Stone" Hlongwane, and Dante Craig for losing yet again.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Joszef Lakatos and Ivan Vavrecan.
Week of February 1-7, 2004:
FOW -- Igor Krbusic, for getting knocked out in two rounds by 58-time loser Vlado Varhegi at some place called the "Laser Show Hall" in the Czech Republic.
Dishonorable mention -- Wayne Alexander, who followed up his KO loss to 9-19-1 Delroy Mellis last December by getting knocked down by Howard Clarke in the first round of their fight, and John Basil Jackson for reportedly fighting (and getting knocked out in three rounds without throwing a punch) while seriously drunk.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Reggie Strickland (twice), Lester Yarbrough (now the loser of 30 straight), Clarke (now the loser of 33 of his last 34) and JBJ.
Week of January 25-31, 2004:
FOW -- Steven Spartacus, whose bumkilling ways finally came to an end this week when he lost a 6-rounder to the 3-3 Ovill McKenzie. Spartacus thus becomes the second-ever repeat-FOW, along with Herbie Hide.
Dishonorable mention -- Aneudi Santos, who was 10-0 going into his fight with the sub-.500 Sam Reese, yet ended up losing a majority decision.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Vlado Varhegi, Karl Taylor, Reggie Strickland, Jerry Smith, Gabriel Botos, Bilai Burns, and lastly Manuel Fatima-Dias, who in his recent comeback has upped his record to 2-42-2 in practically no time at all, and now appears very likely to be inducted into the HOS in the near future.
Week of January 18-24, 2004:
FOW -- Belgian welterweight Georges Dujardin, for getting knocked out in one round by 13-46-5 journeyman Pascal Montulet. Montulet had won 2 of his last 25 bouts going into their fight, and it was only his second career KO win.
Dishonorable mention -- Richard Starnino and former FOW Martin Thornton for engaging in an ESPN-televised four-rounder so terrible that gboxrec called for both fighters to be gunned down from the rafters of the Foxwoods Resort, and Ebony Teague, for both being named Ebony and getting KO'd in one round by Elizabeth Kerin at the Ramada Inn in Rosemont, Illinois for the second time in two months.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- None.
Week of January 11-17, 2004:
FOW -- Matt Vanda, for getting handed an outrageous decision that redefined the word "gift" following his mediocre fight with Sam Garr, and then making asinine statements like this: "I thought it was a hell of a fight! I thought I clearly won the fight....It was a close fight. It was back and forth. Hell, it might be fight of the year. I have to go home and watch the tape though."
Dishonorable mention -- Sascha Friedrich, for reportedly getting a gift decision of his own following his fight with Gabriel Botos (a fight in which, Boxrec also notes, Friedrich was "shaked four times" in four rounds), and Arturo Barraza for getting hammered from pillar-to-post by a 6-3 fighter on premium cable TV.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Botos, Peter Buckley, and Lester Yarbrough. (Yarbrough has now lost 29 consecutive fights dating back to September 1990.)
Week of January 4-10, 2004:
FOW -- Jorge Kahwagi: For getting dropped twice in the first round of his "title" fight with Dwayne Swift. Swift apparently qualified for this title shot by (1) not fighting in over three years, (2) once losing to Reggie Strickland, and (3) posting his last win in 1995 at the expense of 25-42 Kenneth Kidd. (Kidd, meanwhile, fought numerous fights under a fake name and lost twice to Strickland, twice to Richard Wilson, once apiece to Verdell Smith, Walter Cowans and 3-28 Tim Bonds, and also participated in one of the most remarkable fights ever -- his 10-round decision win over one Howard Stern at T. Michael's Dance Club in Goodlettsville, TN, a bout in which one judge scored 9 rounds even.)
Dishonorable mention -- ESPN, for airing a main event in which Jermain Taylor entered the ring a -10000 favorite (shockingly, the fight lasted 53 seconds), and William Joppy for getting arrested on charges of breaking the jaw of a guy who was in the process of repossessing his car.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Sadly, none.
Week of December 28, 2003 - January 3rd, 2004:
FOW -- Medgoen 3-K Battery: For (1) being the former WBC 112-lb. champ, (2) having a knockout win over Manny Pacquiao and (3) being 33-2 going into his fight against 4-13-2 Joven Jorda, yet getting KO'd in four rounds despite all that.
Dishonorable mention -- Andrej Ivieuk, for losing on points to the 1-23-2 Gabriel Botos.
High-profile tomato cans who also lost -- Vlado Varhegi and Verdell Smith.