Boxing experts around the world have been filling out their ballots over the past few weeks, and the early exit polls would appear to reveal two lead-pipe cinches – Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo I is everyone’s Fight of the Year, and Vitali Klitschko is nobody’s Fighter of the Year.

An interesting byproduct of the former is that, despite the in-ring fireworks, a dramatic conclusion, and a subsequent lively rematch, neither Corrales nor Castillo is likely to get much Fighter of the Year support, either, mainly because Jose apparently ingested way too many frijoles between the end of I and the weigh-in for II. The short list in that category would appear instead to come down to Ricky Hatton, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Antonio Tarver, Jermain Taylor, and Winky Wright.

Hatton authored the most significant upset when he demolished Kostya Tszyu, proving to doubters (including this one) that he was for real, and subsequently added the WBA title by stopping Carlos Maussa. Mayweather won all three of his 2005 fights, but strength of schedule isn’t on his side. He beat three guys – Henry Bruseles, Arturo Gatti, and Sharmba Mitchell – he should have beaten. Taylor won back-to-back fights against a boxing legend, but it was a 40-year-old legend and there are some people who watched from a distance of ten paces who still aren’t convinced he won either of them. Winky had a huge win over Felix Trinidad, but probably didn’t help his chances with his showing against Sam Soliman in December. Tarver, on the other hand, solidified divisional supremacy by knocking off the two next-best light-heavyweights in the world. In our view it comes down to Hatton and Tarver, and we’ll go with Hatton by a nose.

If James Toney had used a Whizzonator after his April fight with John Ruiz, Freddie Roach would be the hands-down selection for Trainer of the Year. Since there is absolutely no indication that Roach was even aware of Toney’s steroid use, should he be penalized for his fighter’s miscalculation? Alas, he probably will be. The Toney drug scandal will overshadow Roach’s work with Manny Pacquiao and Israel Vasquez. Pat Burns (Taylor), Billy Graham (Hatton) and Buddy McGirt (Tarver and Arturo Gatti) will get some support, and personally, I’d add the name of another former Trainer of the Year – Goody Petronelli. (Say what you will about the matchup, but we know this much: Goody had Kevin McBride ready to go at least six rounds, which is more than Jeff Fenech could do for Mike Tyson.)

Dan Birmingham’s chances won’t be helped by the Soliman fight, in which he had no more ready answers for the Aussie’s unconventional game plan than did the Winkster himself, but Wright’s and Jeff Lacy’s performances over the year should be enough to put him over the top for a second straight win as Trainer of the Year.

The selection of Manager of the Year would be the easiest call of all, except that the obvious choice dislikes being described as a manager. Since getting into the boxing business Lou DiBella has rejected traditional roles and maintained that he didn’t want to function as either a manager or a promoter. DiBella may be neither fish nor fowl, but who else did more for his fighter(s) in 2005?

Upset of the Year? There were some significant ones: McBride over Tyson, Hatton over Tszyu, and Wright over Trindad, Carlos Maussa over Vivian Harris, but was there a bigger shocker anywhere than Zahir Raheem over Erik Morales?

George Kimball writes for the Boston Herald, New England Ringside, The Irish Times and The Sweet Science. To read more of his work