- The beautiful Caribbean island of Martinique is more known for paradise-like beaches rather than great prizefights – but it was Martinique who hosted on March 31 the most dramatic WBF world title fight of 2017 when Michel Mothmora’s middleweight crown was ripped off him by Argentinian underdog Diego Diaz Gallardo.

It was Mothmora’s inaugural defense, but Diaz Gallardo meant business from the start, knocking the champion down with a big right to the chin in the very first round. From the second on-wards, the Frenchman successfully suppressed his desire to slug it out and – albeit narrowly – started to win rounds.

But Diego’s pressure never ceased and slowly took its toll. After the seventh, the champ still led 66:63 on all scorecards. That said, the match had already turned back into a slug-fest towards the end of the previous round.

Diaz Gallardo’s pressure had already forced Mothmora to the floor twice for 8-counts, but he came back with such force that it was the South American who staggered back to his corner on shaky legs. However, the WBF world champion was sold and simply tired out from his herculean effort in round seven.

Twice he went down early in the eighth before referee Christophe Hembert crowned Diego Diaz Gallardo the new titleholder by ending what was to become the WBF Fight of the Year 2017 thanks to a most outstanding effort of these two warriors.

- When 25-year-old Bukiwe Nonina dared to get into the ring against the vastly more experienced German veteran Alesia Graf, not many put her money on the South African bantamweight champion.

Considering that Nonina was just 9-3-1 with her best win coming in a national title fight against a 3-0 challenger, this seemed reasonable assessment.

After all, Graf had a decade more of ring experience and was a former world champion with a stellar 29-5 record. And Alesia didn’t perform bad nor had an off-night that March 31 night in Khayelitsha, a small township close to Cape Town, more the opposite.

It was the fact that Nonina rose to the occasion that made this a very memorable fight, outstanding enough to be our WBF Female Fight of the Year 2017.

Graf was the aggressor, while Nonina put in a masterful display of boxing and in the end it was so close that if one round would have been scored differently, the vacant WBF Womens world bantamweight championship would have remained vacant.

As it was, Nonina won a razor-thin but deserved 10-round decision, but in reality both girl warriors came out winners, what to say about the fans who witnessed a great battle.

- At the start of last year, Kosovo-born Morina was a “so-what?” beginner with three wins over three guys that anyone would be expected to beat with ease. He ended 2017 at 6-0, the WBF International welterweight title around his waist and our Newcomer of the Year award – quite some metamorphosis.

His step up began in just his fourth pro fight with a KO 4 over Allan Kamote (26-10-5) and finished with an impressive 8th-round stoppage over Tanzanian champion Saidi Mundi, who had lost just four times in 25 previous bouts.

If Sherif Morina continues to develop at this pace, a successful 2018 looms for him…and quite likely more championship belts.

- Once again, like in the previous year, the Female Newcomer of the Year award goes to the North of France, this time in the person of Oshin Derieuw – and don’t be surprised if like last year’s winner Segolene Lefebvre, the 30-year-old Derieuw goes on to become a world champion in 2018.

Here’s a short recap of the unbeaten Oshin’s body of work over the previous 12 months: It started in April with a 6-round points win against undefeated Aleksandra Vujovic. One month later, Derieuw beat French rival Marion Montanari on a 10-round shutout to get her hands on the WBF International lightwelterweight belt.

Finally, in November she rematched Vujovic with the vacant WBF Intercontinental title on the line. The performance Derieuw put in that night is the essence of why she is a top candidate for higher honors.

She moved and boxed, she feinted and weaved, she showed an array of punches from a variety of angles, what to speak of superb ring generalship, and finished the fight, after scoring an earlier knockdown, with a clean KO in the seventh round. Keep an eye on Oshin, 7-0 (4), this year. It promises to be worth it.