The ESPN awards had somewhat of a surprise winner for their “Knockout of the Year” award.ESPN Ringside afforded fans the chance to cast votes for their favourite KO of 2021 and included in the poll were some insane knockouts that happened in the year.Purists are angry after the results were released and Jake Paul’s stoppage of Tyron Woodley came out as the winner. It finished above Tyson Fury’s finish of Deontay Wilder.In a poll that saw more than 68,000 votes cast, the Youtuber received 56 percent of the votes and won by what can be considered a landslide to the 37 percent that Fury won for his late stoppage of Wilder in their trilogy fight.Other nominees for the award included Oscar Valdez’s knockout of Miguel Berchelt and Gabe Rosado’s finish against Bektemir Melikuziev.Some fans of the sport are not pleased with the outcome of the award with various comments showing their anger.p1foajusve145j1tb34rd1h571rs9b.jpgEnter GiveawayOne said: “State of boxing nowadays”.Another felt that Valdez should have won, saying: “It was a brutal KO, but I kinda feel bad for the actual boxers like [Oscar]Valdez who kinda deserve it more IMO”.While yet another felt that Paul shouldn’t even have been in the running, saying “ESPN Ringside turned their back on professional boxers who actually fought their hearts out in Title Fights! For a million-dollar gimmick KO!"

The complaints that Paul should never have been in the running for the award went ahead with Ishe Smith, the former super-welterweight champion disclosing his disgust at the award.

He said: “Honestly, it’s a disgrace y’all even put this on the ballot, A guy who doesn’t fight real boxers and the other guy isn’t a boxer at all.

"Why don’t y’all give Rocky the lifetime achievement award next?”

He added that: “No hate on [YouTuber], but there was some great KOs this year from real fighters.

"But we give a guy who has yet to fight one real fighter KO of the year. As I said previously, boxing is in a peculiar place right now. Quite frankly, it sucks!”