Barak Bess chose Sebastian Fundora vs. Erickson Lubin as his fight of 2022.
The pair were contesting the WBC interim super welterweight championship in Las Vegas, and the pair exchanged hundreds of blows, a knockdown each, before Lubin retired.
Bess explained why Fundora's victory was his pick, and not the consensus vote amongst others of Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano.
"I didn’t go into Jose Zepeda vs. Ivan Baranchyk saying, ‘This is a great build-up, this means a lot.’
“None of that, I just went into a fight not knowing we were going to get eight knockdowns.
“That became [a previous] fight of the year for me, the rest didn’t matter. This fight, Erickson Lubin vs. Sebastian Fundora. I believe that is the fight of the year. Why? Because there’s never been a fight of the year without knockdowns. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano was a brilliant fight but there were no knockdowns.
“There were knockdowns in the second round, as a matter of fact Fundora was wobbled in the first round, then it’s back and forth, then Lubin was knocked down in the second round, then Fundora was knocked down in the seventh round. Eighth round and the ninth round - Fundora took over.
“Brutal beating, Lubin had a fractured nose and separated something in his shoulder. It was a brutal fight for both of them, it was their toughest fight, and that’s why I think it was the fight of the year.”