The process of selecting a Fighter of the Year comes down to two factors: level of opposition and results.
A number of elite fighters faced high-level foes and had favorable results. That would include Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao, Naoya Inoue, Errol Spence Jr., Josh Taylor and a few others. A case can be made for each.
For this post, Boxing Junkie staff members selected their personal Fighter of the Year. And if majority rules, we came up with a collective winner: Alvarez.
Here are our choices for Fighter of the Year and thoughts:
MICHAEL ROSENTHAL
Choice: Canelo Alvarez
Results: Daniel Jacobs (UD 12), Sergey Kovalev (KO 11)
Alvarez defeated Jacobs by a unanimous decision in May, although the fight was close. And he closed out the year by moving up two divisions and knocking out Kovalev in the 11th round last month.
That’s a strong year.
Alvarez’s performance against Kovalev wasn’t great – the fight was tight on the cards at the time of the stoppage – but the ending was spectacular.
I think Alvarez’s principal rival for the award is the ageless Pacquiao, who, at 40 years old, easily outpointed Adrien Broner and then defeated Keith Thurman by a unanimous decision.
That’s a fine year but, if we want to quibble, the smallish Broner has never performed well at welterweight and Thurman was still in the process of coming back from a long layoff, although the latter victory by Pacquiao was still special.
SEAN NAM
Choice: Canelo Alvarez
Sure, Sergey Kovalev was past his prime, but how many fighters would skip two weight classes to challenge perhaps the most accomplished light heavyweight of the past half decade?
Alvarez did exactly that and did not disappoint, applying methodical pressure before scoring a vicious 11th round knockout last month.
And at middleweight Alvarez outpointed top contender Danny Jacobs.
NORM FRAUENHEIM
Choice: Naoya Inoue
Results: Emmanuel Rodriguez (KO 2), Nonito Donaire (UD 12)
Inoue gets the nod over Alvarez because of just one fight. Inoue’s dramatic victory over Nonito Donaire was one for the ages, a Fight of the Year in just about any year.
Canelo had a good year, beating Danny Jacobs, who in retrospect might have been drained in his battle to make weight. On the morning of the bout, he missed a weight mandated by a dehydration clause. Against Sergey Kovalev, Canelo was a finisher – meaning he ended any debate in a 11th-round stoppage. Yet it often looked as if Kovalev was there only to pick up a paycheck.
In Inoue-Donaire, there were no questions, no doubt in either corner about what had transpired. On every level, it was a classic. Win it, and you are Fighter of the Year.