The Ring magazine Upset of the Year explained

The Ring magazine was established in 1922 and has since named an Upset of the Year since 1970. The award, based on the magazine's writers' criteria, is given to a fight that resulted in an outcome that was highly contrary to general expectations.^[1]

Upsets of the Year by decade

1970s

• 1970 Billy Backus KO 4 Jose Napoles
• 1971 Alfredo Marcano KO 10 Hiroshi Kobayashi
• 1972 Esteban De Jesús W 10 Roberto Durán
• 1973 Ken Norton W 12 Muhammad Ali
• 1974 Muhammad Ali KO 8 George Foreman
• 1975 John H. Stracey KO 6 Jose Napoles
• 1976 Wilfred Benítez W 15 Antonio Cervantes
• 1977 Jorge Luján KO 10 Alfonso Zamora
• 1978 Leon Spinks W 15 Muhammad Ali
• 1979 Vito Antuofermo D 15 Marvin Hagler

1980s

• 1980 Yasutsune Uehara KO 6 Samuel Serrano
• 1981 Roger Stafford W 10 Pipino Cuevas
• 1982 Kirkland Laing W 10 Roberto Durán
• 1983 Gerrie Coetzee KO 10 Michael Dokes
• 1984 Gene Hatcher TKO 11 Johnny Bumphus
• 1985 Michael Spinks W 15 Larry Holmes
• 1986 Lloyd Honeyghan RTD 6 Donald Curry
• 1987 Sugar Ray Leonard W 12 Marvelous Marvin Hagler
• 1988 Iran Barkley TKO 3 Thomas Hearns
• 1989 Rene Jacquot W 12 Donald Curry

1990s

• 1990 James Douglas KO 10 Mike Tyson
• 1991No award given
• 1992 Azumah Nelson KO 8 Jeff Fenech
• 1993 Simon Brown KO 4 Terry Norris
• 1994 Vuyani Bungu W 12 Kennedy McKinney
• 1995 Willy Salazar KO 7 Danny Romero
• 1996 Evander Holyfield TKO 11 Mike Tyson
• 1997 Vince Phillips KO 10 Kostya Tszyu
• 1998 Ivan Robinson W 10 Arturo Gatti
• 1999 Willy Wise W 10 Julio César Chávez

2000s

• 2000 José Luis Castillo W 12 Stevie Johnston
• 2001 Hasim Rahman KO 5 Lennox Lewis
• 2002 Juan Carlos Rubio W 10 Francisco Bojado
• 2003 Corrie Sanders ТKO 2 Wladimir Klitschko
• 2004 Glen Johnson KO 9 Roy Jones Jr.
• 2005 Zahir Raheem W 12 Erik Morales
• 2006 Carlos Manuel Baldomir W 12 Zab Judah
• 2007 Nonito Donaire KO 5 Vic Darchinyan
• 2008 Bernard Hopkins W 12 Kelly Pavlik
• 2009 Juan Carlos Salgado KO 1 Jorge Linares

2010s

• 2010 Jason Litzau W 10 Celestino Caballero
• 2011 Nobuhiro Ishida KO 1 James Kirkland
• 2012 Sonny Boy Jaro TKO 6 Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
• 2013 Marcos Maidana W 12 Adrien Broner
• 2014 Chris Algieri W 12 Ruslan Provodnikov
• 2015 Tyson Fury W 12 Wladimir Klitschko
• 2016 Joe Smith Jr. TKO 1 Andrzej Fonfara
• 2017 Sadam Ali W 12 Miguel Cotto
• 2018 Cristofer Rosales TKO 9 Daigo Higa
• 2019 Andy Ruiz Jr. TKO 7 Anthony Joshua

2020s

• 2020 Teófimo López W 12 Vasiliy Lomachenko
• 2021 George Kambosos Jr W 12 Teófimo López
• 2022 Jai Opetaia W 12 Mairis Briedis
• 2023 Rafael Espinoza W 12 Robeisy Ramírez

Notes and References

1. PAST WINNERS OF THE RING'S YEAR-END AWARDS. February 24, 2012. The Ring. March 11, 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130307004617/http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/171651-past-winners-of-the-rings-year-end-awards. March 7, 2013. mdy-all.