Hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall, who is not currently ranked by The Ring or any of the four major sanctioning bodies, the big winners on the night were Olivia Dean and Sam Fender, neither of which have a fight scheduled in the remainder of 2026.

So who really cares about any of that? What's really important this week is the below list of accolades, known affectionately as the HIT Awards - which admittedly needs some work - drawn from the last 12 months in the wonderful world of British boxing.

Although I wouldn’t back them to make much of a splash in the charts, there is no denying the most impressive collective in this country has been British heavyweights. There has never been the same strength in depth on the domestic scene as there is now and with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, British boxing’s answer to Jedward, both set to return this year, that extra star appeal will come back too. The best part is that they are all fighting each other and Fabio Wardley’s WBO world title defence against Daniel Dubois on May 9 looks like it could be a classic.

Although The Ring is unable to confirm or deny whether this man has released an actual studio album since the start of 2025, the overall body of work produced by Conah Walker has gone down well with the critics. Off the back of a thrilling smash-and-grab 11th-round stoppage win over Harry Scarff in January 2025, Walker then stopped Liam Taylor in June before his stunning last-round KO of red-hot favourite Pat McCormack in Monaco a few weeks before Christmas. 

In the wake of his highly controversial DQ victory over Paddy Donovan in March last year, there were very few people tipping Lewis Crocker to triumph in their rematch at Windsor Park six months later. But, with the vacant IBF title on the line following Jaron Ennis’ ascension to junior middleweight, Crocker boxed brilliantly against Donovan, scoring two knockdowns to claim a unanimous decision and the biggest win of his career. Belfast man Crocker (22-0, 11 KOs) has often operated in the shadows, despite some notable wins, but some huge nights will now follow with his IBF belt in tow.

Given he arrived from Moldova less than eight years ago without any money, a job or a single word of English in his lexicon, 25-year-old Ursu is a shoe-in for this one. The adopted son of Plymouth won the British title on Saturday night against Cooper after big wins against Eithan James and Ryan Amos in 2025. As for one single international ‘act’, it’s hard to look past Dalton Smith’s memorable victory over Subriel Matias in Brooklyn, New York on January 10 which clinched the WBC junior welterweight title and a seat at the division’s top table.

Oasis’ incredible 2025 tour may have provided one of the most important moments in British pop culture this century - but did either of the Gallagher brothers lose half their bodyweight in order to do so? No. But that’s exactly what Mitchell Smith did in order to take part in his first 10-round fight for a decade in October. At his heaviest, the 33-year-old weighed in 252 pounds but he made the lightweight limit in order to drop and outpoint the previously undefeated Arnie Dawson at O2 Arena. He has not boxed since but promoter Frank Warren has confirmed he hopes to put Smith on another of his shows at some point this year.

In the interest of musical integrity, this award goes to none other than 50 Cent. To the astonishment of the crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on November 15, Big Curtis James Jackson III emerged alongside Chris Eubank Jr. as he made his way to the ring for the Conor Benn rematch. However, not even "Fiddy" could inspire Eubank to victory that night and when The Ring asked Benn about his feelings towards his rival’s ring walk he said: “Well, what’s 50 Cent gonna do?”

A bit of poetic license on the meaning of the word ‘alternative’ here but our winner is former electrician Josh Padley. In February last year, he had famously been at work when news of Floyd Schofield’s withdrawal from his scheduled fight with Shakur Stevenson filtered through. Next thing he knew, "Paddy" was on a flight to Riyadh as a last-gasp alternative to Schofield and, although he was stopped by Stevenson, he received enormous credit for stepping in at such late notice. As a result of that outing, Padley was awarded a promotional contract with Matchroom just six days later and he has since won three on the spin, claiming the European junior lightweight title in the process.

There was no shortage of storylines when Eubank and Benn met for the first time in April after nearly three years of bad blood. But one of the most bizarre moments came before the fight, down a corridor deep in the bowels of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Benn, looking to unsettle his opponent, had employed another of Eubank's bitter rivals, Billy Joe Saunders, to inspect the hand-wrapping process on his behalf. But Eubank's towering manager Elliott Amoakoh, aka "Napper", stood in front of the door and blocked the two-weight world champion’s entrance.

Admittedly, given these are boxing awards, there are slim pickings in this category but following on from the last award, this one goes to "Napper" himself. This might just be the only song directly released as a result of a British boxing match in the last 12 months. During his altercation with Saunders, Amoakoh told the 36-year-old southpaw “you ain’t coming inside, I guarantee you ain’t coming inside.” So Napper’s old friend Lethal Bizzle, of More Fire Crew, no less, used his old friend’s words as the chorus for his song "You Ain’t." During the song, Napper says “fat boy tried it, got denied and got sent back to the B-side.” Ouch.

This was the year that Everton Red Triangle head coach Paul Stevenson finally started getting the sort of widespread credit he deserves for his production (get it?) of talent up in Liverpool. Of course former featherweight champion Nick Ball has been at the heart of that but the likes of Peter and Joe McGrail, Andrew Cain, Brad Strand and many others have been rising through the ranks too. With Stevenson and his team of coaches, Ball will come again after losing his title to Brandon Figueroa and ERT, which has been open for more than 100 years, will continue to thrive.