The Ring magazine Progress of the Year
The Ring magazine was established in 1922 and gave an award for Progress of the Year from 1953 to 1988. It is given to a boxer who had made significant progress during the preceding year, or had otherwise made the most impressive jump from comparative obscurity to international prominence.
- 1953 – Nino Valdes
- 1954 – Pascual Perez
- 1955 – Chuck Spieser
- 1956 – Eddie Machen
- 1957 – Roy Harris (boxer)
- 1958 – Don Jordan
- 1959 – Charley Scott
- 1960 – Giulio Rinaldi
- 1961:
- 1962:
- 1963:
- 1964 – Vicente Saldivar
- 1965 – Alan Rudkin
- 1966 – Joe Frazier
- 1967 – Jimmy Ellis
- 1968 – Shozo Saijo
- 1969 – Mac Foster
- 1970 – George Foreman
- 1971 – Chris Finnegan
- 1972 – Bert Nabalatan
- 1973 – Santos Luis Rivera
- 1974 – Soo-Hwan Hong
- 1975 – Mike Colbert
- 1976 – Ruben Castillo
- 1977 – Eddie Gazo
- 1978 – Leon Spinks
- 1979 – Chan-Hee Park
- 1980 –
- 1981 –
- 1982 –
- 1983 – John Mugabi
- 1984 – Francisco Quiroz
- 1985 – Lonnie Smith
- 1986 – Samart Payakaroon
- 1987 – Kelvin Seabrooks
- 1988 – Michael Nunn
