What a year 2017 has been for boxing.

There were 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London for Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko. Floyd Mayweather and UFC star Conor McGregor made the world stop. Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin threw down in the superfight that everyone wanted to see.

And that was just the tip of the enswell.

For the first time in recent memory our editorial staff struggled to shortlist almost every one of our 10 categories. There was disagreement (there always is) but we’ve now managed to pull together five official nominees per category for year-end honors.

The categories are: Fighter of the Year, Fight of the Year, Knockout of the Year, Trainer of the Year, Upset of the Year, Event of the Year, Comeback of the Year, Round of the Year, Prospect of the Year and Most Inspirational.

Leading up to revealing the winners, we will present nominees in two categories each day. As always, we would love to hear your opinions: Category 7: Trainer of the Year

The finalists (in alphabetical order) are:

Robert Garcia: Acclaimed coach and former IBF junior lightweight titleholder took younger brother Mikey Garcia to a third divisional title when he destroyed the previously unbeaten WBC belt holder Dejan Zlaticanin. Garcia would also post a punch-perfect 12-round unanimous decision over Adrien Broner at 140 pounds. Garcia’s California gym is a breeding ground for top-quality talent.

Virgil Hunter: A cerebral and protective force in the corner, Hunter has been an invaluable asset to former two-time world champion Andre Ward, who never looked better than in his eighth-round destruction of Sergey Kovalev in June. Ward retired as pound-for-pound king, but Hunter remains highly sought after. He currently works with unbeaten Olympic stars Tony Yoka and Nicola Adams, as well as former world titleholders Amir Khan and Andre Berto.

Derrick James: A former professional fighter, Dallas’ Derrick James took WBC junior middleweight titleholder Jermell Charlo to new heights in 2017 with a brace of stunning knockout wins over Charles Hatley and Erickson Lubin. As well as that, James orchestrated the game plan which saw Errol Spence lift the IBF welterweight title from Kell Brook with an 11th-round stoppage in Sheffield, England.

Anatoly Lomachenko: Father and trainer of Vasyl Lomachenko had another standout year. Three more fighters: Jason Sosa, Miguel Marriaga and Guillermo Rigondeaux quit in the face of Lomachenko’s pound-for-pound wrath. The diligent Ukrainian coach also took fearsome WBO cruiserweight titleholder Oleksander Usyk to a pair of impressive wins, including a WBSS quarter-final victory over Marco Huck.

Andre Rozier: With middleweight contender Danny Jacobs, Rozier came within touching distance of becoming the first trainer to hold a victory over unified middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin. And the New York-based coach proved that it was no fluke, taking Sergiy Derevyanchenko to a dominating TKO over Tureano Johnson and Sadam Ali to a stunning world title victory over Miguel Cotto earlier this month.

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