Doesn't matter what we think, Andre Ward is going to win hands down. Foregone conclusion as far as most with a vote are concerned. Had Brandon Rios made weight for his last fight, he'd have deserved a legit look. Instead, he's honorable mention. Brian Viloria deserves consideration, especially beating Segura the way he did. Tyson Marquez had a heck of a year. And of course, Lamont Peterson's upset over Amir Khan makes him a late entry for Honorable Mention section.
Nonito deserves honorable mention as well. His last fight was so forgettable... that I literally forgot all about him. He was leading candidate on strength of Montiel KO, but the Narvaez fight - even in winning basically 12-0 - left a lot to be desired.
These. If midgets count, Tepparith Kokietgym had a very good year, and Nonito wasn't bad either (KO2 over Montiel is perhaps the best result of the year for anyone, added to a shutout against another world class opponent)
Is that the guy who just beat Kameda (not Koki but his brother) last week? If so... well, I don't know who else he fought and beat this year, but had he fought and beaten Koki, that'd go much further in garnering consideration. I'm still not 100% that Ward is the FOTY. The more I think about it, Nonito's win over Narvaez wasn't any less impressive than Ward beating Abraham, who had barely won more than three rounds in his previous two meaningful fights. Ward's win over Froch will probably hold more weight than Nonito's KO over Montiel (esp. with Montiel having since lost a stay-busy fight), but it's not necessarily the way I see it.
Nowadays, the top fighters fighting once or maybe twice a year tops, if the calendar falls just right. What an irrelevant award. Ward should win it based on his resume in the Super 6 over the past 3 years.
Not to mention how much more recent Ward's win was. You have to figure that'll influence voting at least a little.
First off, definitely Ward for FOTY. Brandon Rios though? He hasn't fought anyone, in this year or any other year.
It's a shame Montiel lost some random fight, as it can't help but take a bit of the steam off that win. At the time it was a pretty awesome win, due to how ridiculously easy and brutal it was. Not sure why Pacquiao was mentioned. He looked fairly crap against both Shane and Marquez, and arguably lost to Marquez, in a fight he was supposed to dominate. It seems like it should be Ward by default, but it's only Frock that's a great win really, the Arabham win wasn't exactly impressive. However - due to having higher profile opponents, Ward is going to win this clearly, it's a no contest.
Acosta is better than Arabham. He's beaten 3 solid fighters this year, none of them were scrubs. Only Murray was considered scrubby, but even he isn't that bad.
viloria beating segura was the best win. i thought for sure that segura was going to pound him badly and stop him late.
He's fought nobody! Acosta? Since then he beat some scrub and lost his fight after that. Antillion was coming off a loss to Soto. These guys may not be scrubs, but Rios has yet to face anyone good.
Just because they're not big names doesn't mean they're scrubs. It's weird Acosta lost to some unknown Panamanian, but maybe he just had a bad night, or underestimated him. Have you seen Acosta fight? He's a solid boxer puncher, with decent power, speed, counter punching etc. Again, he's better than Arabham, one of the 2 guys that Ward, your FOTY, beat to get this FOTY status. Even Urban Antelope is probably on par with Arabham. He also beat Peterson's brother, who was favoured to beat him. They're all "good" fighters, they're not elite, and they're not big names but they're all "good", not scrubs. You can't say he's faced no good fighters, because he has, and won convincingly, what he hasn't faced is an elite fighter, or someone as established and solid as Frock for example.
They aren't scrubs, but they aren't the best guys at LW that's for sure. Rios has yet to beat an actual elite fighter. Ward has at least faced one.
Fair enough. He definitely hasn't beaten an elite fighter. I'd like to see him against Guerrero for example, who is an entry level elite fighter like Frock. Probably better than Frock actually.
Not this year. Kessler is by far the best guy he's beaten though, and he's worlds betteer than anyone Rios has faced.