In order these are my top 5 for fighter of the year.
1. Terence Crawford- I think he clearly deserves this award this year. Three victories against Ricky Burns, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Ray Beltran. I was most impressed with his Beltran performance. I know his Gamboa performance was the most exciting but the skills and ability he showed in the Beltran fight was amazing. I think he should win the award this year.
2. Sergey Kovalev- Also racked up three victories. Although his first two victories were against less than stellar competition kept busy and winning. Cedric Agnew and Blake Caparello are nothing to write home about but Kovalev did what he needed to do. Sergey Kovalev performance against Hopkins was a huge coming out party for him and showed he is more than a one dimensional power puncher.
3. Amir Khan- I think he looked amazing in his two victories against Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander. He is looking real good with Virgil Hunter and I personally think he is the biggest threat in the world to Floyd Mayweather right now.
4. Gennady Golovkin- Three victories against Osumanu Adama, Daniel Geale and Marco Antonio Rubio. Not the strongest opponents but looked impressive in each performance.
5. Errol Spence- Many people might not have him on here but he has been putting on great performances for an up and coming fighter. Really excited to see how he progresses. Best fighter out of the 2012 Olympic Class.
Honorable mentions: Roman Gonzalez, Kell Brook, Manny Pacquiao and Vasyl Lomachenko.
Those are all good fighters with very good years. I like GGG and Pacquiao the best but Crawford might deserve the award with all of his good wins. Khan made a believer out of me with his amazing thrashing of Alexander but Alexander was the only really good fighter he fought all year. Collazo was ranked number 29 by boxrec when he fought Khan so Khan beating him up was really no big deal.
Roman Gonzalez - excellent year and crowned himself WBC and Ring Magazine Champion at 112.
Amnat Ruenroeng - Won a belt against a solid contender in Fuentes, bested hot Japanese star Kazuto Ioka in Japan, and defeated a strong contender in McWilliams Arroyo. Seriously, that is a tough schedule.
Francisco Rodriguez Jr - beat Sarbillo for his belt, unified by going to war in a FOTY candidate against Takayama a few months later and although his most recent fight was a draw 2 weight classes above his championship weight, I personally think he won. Great year for a fighter who just turned 21 this year.
Just adding a few under he radar fighters whom I think made some good noise below 122.
vasyl lomachenko because im a biased fan.
jk
danny garcia for defeating a hungry young lion helluva fighter in rod salka
jk
but andy lee and herrera should be up there hahahahahahaha
Good call on Andy Lee.
Dont worry Vasyl Lomachenko will be up here next year after he whoops Nicholas Walters.
vasyl lomachenko because im a biased fan.
jk
danny garcia for defeating a hungry young lion helluva fighter in rod salka
jk
but andy lee and herrera should be up there hahahahahahaha