By Jake Donovan

Carl Frampton’s win over Leo Santa Cruz has gained yet another historic footnote.

The unbeaten two-division titlist was named as the Boxing Writer Association of America (BWAA) 2016 Fighter of the Year, organization president Joseph Santoloquito announced on Friday. The feat earns Frampton the distinction of becoming the first-ever boxer from Northern Ireland to have been bestowed such honors in the 79-year history of the award.

Fittingly, the feat comes on the heels of his aforementioned win over Santa Cruz last July to become his nation’s first-ever two division world champion.

“I’m very honored by this,” Frampton said in a statement released by the BWAA. “It was a great year, 2016.”

Frampton (23-0, 14KOs) began his year in a strange way, having sat on the pine since a 12-round points win over the late Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. in July ’15 (Gonzalez Jr. was murdered last December) in his U.S debut.

The seven-month ring break was well worth the wait for “The Jackal”, who came away with a well-earned 12-round win over longtime bitter rival Scott Quigg last February in front of a standing room only crowd at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

While the super bantamweight title unification clash itself didn’t live up to the fight in terms of ring action, the final result itself put things in motion for the eventual Fighter of the Year.

“A lot was made of that fight. The fight maybe didn’t live up to expectations, but I showed my class in that fight and I think I won it pretty convincingly,” Frampton said. “The atmosphere is what I remember most. It was a night that I’ll never forget.”

The bout also served as his debut on American premium cable outlet Showtime, which served as the U.S. feed in conjunction with U.K. Sky Box Office (Sky Sports’ Pay-Per-View arm). Five months later came his return to the network and to United States, where he would register the biggest win of his career and in far more thrilling fashion all while moving up in weight.

Frampton’s win over Santa Cruz became an instant classic, with the action fierce and non-stop from the opening bell. Despite traveling across the pond for the bout, Frampton was able to unearth plenty of support both from home as well as the overflowing Irish-American community in New York, as his adoring fans poured into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

There wasn’t a single fan in attendance nor viewer at home whom felt cheated, as the 12-round war ultimately landed in the running for 2016 Fight of the Year.

“Against Santa Cruz, I know I was a big underdog,” Frampton fondly recalls. “It was my first fight at featherweight and no one really expected me to do much. A lot of people were just hopeful I would put on a good performance and would be enough and Leo would get the win. But I was confident that I was going to beat him. I thought I was the stronger fighter and I thought I would be better at featherweight than I was at 122.”

With the victory, Frampton achieved something his manager, Hall of Fame former featherweight king Barry McGuigan was unable to claim - winning a title in a second weight class.

“Winning the BWAA Fighter of the Year is like the Holy Grail for fighters,” said McGuigan, whose son Shane earned 2016 Trainer of the Year honors thanks to his work with Carl. “We won other awards this year (including BoxingScene.com 2016 Fighter of the Year), but this is the big one, which includes all of the boxing writers that know and follow the sport.

“For Carl to become the first Irish fighter to win this award is incredible. I keep saying Carl has the potential to be one of the best Irish fighters of all-time, so winning this creates a first. This is magnificent news for Carl. I have three sons and Carl is like my fourth son. He’s effectively become the worldwide fighter of the year, beyond dispute, and that’s what I think has been so special about this. The BWAA comes from the writers, which is the greatest honor he can get. It’s the Holy Grail of boxing awards and we’re absolutely thrilled with it.”

In earning this year’s honors, Frampton edged out a talent-laden field which included:

- Unbeaten World super lightweight king Terence Crawford, who won the award in 2014 and enjoyed a three-victory campaign in 2016, including a World championship-crowning near shutout of previously unbeaten Viktor Postol along with one-sided stoppage wins over Hank Lundy and John Molina Jr;

- Undefeated pound-for-pound king Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, whose two wins on the year included a major title in a fourth weight class with a 12-round nod over previously unbeaten Carlos Caudras, with their September ’16 war also landing in the Fight of the Year running;

- Vasyl Lomachenko, the two-time Olympic Gold medalist and arguably the greatest amateur boxer in history who – just eight fights into his career became a two-division champion following a savage 5th round knockout of Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez last June, followed by his forcing former featherweight titlist Nicholas Walters to curl up and quit on his stool in a one-sided beatdown last November;

- Three-time BWAA Fighter of the Year Manny Pacquiao, who concluded his trilogy with Timothy Bradley with a landslide win in their World welterweight championship last April, followed by a convincing victory over Jessie Vargas last November, and;

- Blue-collar Joe Smith JR., a union laborer by day and upset king by night, as evidenced by his shocking knockout wins over Andrzej Fonfara and future Hall of Fame former two-division world champion Bernard Hopkins. merited serious consideration.

“The boxing writers choosing me is like winning an Oscar as an actor,” Frampton said. “It was a great year, but to be the first Irishman to win this is huge. There are a lot of great fighters to come out of Ireland, so it means a lot.”

Frampton has a chance to build towards repeating such honors as he takes on Santa Cruz in their featherweight title fight rematch to begin his 2017 campaign. The bout takes place Saturday evening at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, his first time appearing in the boxing capital of the world.

Regardless of how the bout plays out, Frampton will be honored for the year that was in 2016 at the 92nd annual BWAA awards dinner on Thursday, March 16, at Capitale, on 130 Bowery, in New York, New York. Fittingly, the event falls of the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.

Just call it luck of the Irish – combined with plenty of will and skill to produce such an incredible year of in-ring achievements.

 

Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2