Tyson Fury
Fury became the first British heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in November. AFP

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has been named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 2015 following his unanimous points victory over Wladimir Klitschko.

The Manchester-born fighter becomes just the second British recipient of the award after Ricky Hatton, which is voted for by the editors of the prestigious American boxing publication.

The 27-year-old ended Klitschko's 11-year unbeaten run in Dusseldorf with victory by a unanimous points decision to win the WBA, WBO, RING and IBF titles – though he has since been stripped of the latter – and became the first universally-recognised British heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis.

Fury fought off competition from the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin and Roman Gonzalez to become the 86<sup>th winner of the prize and now hopes to unify the division in 2016 with a fight against Deontay Wilder following a rematch with Klitschko. His victory over the Ukrainian was also named Upset of the Year.

Fellow Briton Anthony Crolla was also recognised as he prevailed in the Most Inspirational category after he recovered from being knocked unconscious during an attack with a concrete block to win the WBA world lightweight title with victory over Darleys Perez. The 29-year-old's coach Joe Gallagher was also named Trainer of the year.

Other award winners include Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao for Event of the Year after their record-breaking bout in Las Vegas, while Badou Jack won Comeback of the Year following his surprise win over Anthony Dirrell to claim the WBC super-middleweight title. He would later defend his crown against George Groves.

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