Obviously, it's early, and a lot is to be resolved, but let's discuss who could become fighter of the year for 2015:
Possible Candidates:
Golovkin: If he knocks out Lemieux impressively, he will have KO wins over Murray, Monroe, and Lemieux...all top 10 middleweights, and 2 top 5 middleweights, all while truly becoming a star in 2015.
Lemieux: If he were to KO Golovkin, he will be the fighter of the year, for sure.
Matthysse: An impressive KO of Postol would give him 2 very good wins this year. Unfortunately, 2 fights seems kind of light.
Mayweather: He is a candidate but choosing Berto will ultimately disqualify him..what a pathetic choice.
Porter: A December win against someone like Thurman could make Porter an excellent choice.
Canelo: The Kirkland fight may have been a mismatch, but it was exciting and a good performance. A knockout against Cotto could propel Canelo to fighter of the year. I don't think Cotto would be a great candidate because of how he almost killed Geale with his unnecessary catch-weight.
Who else is in the running?
The opposition probably hasn't been good enough to place Kovalev, Stevenson, Danny Garcia, Wilder, and Roman Gonzalez in the mix and then there are several excellent fighters that weren't active enough and didn't face the best opposition this year like Lomachenko and Crawford. Even with a KO victory against Fury, I don't believe Klitschko will be able to do enough.
I want to agree with you there but he picked Berto instead of a legit ranked WW like Thurman , Khan, Brook or Porter. So I don't think he will win it. I voted Mayweather boxer of the month here when he defeated Pacquiao, because I think he deserve it. But for the whole year, I think Golovkin will win it if he defeats Lemiuex in ko, just like what TS said.
3KOs streak against rank MW sounds good to me.
Yeah, Berto was the worst choice possible but still, he beat Pacquiao. It's still the best win all year and personally I think Canelo/Cotto and Fury if he beats Wlad are better than everything GGG has done this year. Kovalev beating Pascal trumps him too.
Seriously, Fury beating Wlad might even trump May beating Pacquiao.
Cause Thurman and Porter already have 1 good win on the year. Forgot about fury but canelo or cotto shouldn't win it. That win won't be better than pacquiao
Doesn't matter, Fury would have beaten the only truly legitimate heavyweight champion in 15 years and done so as a massive underdog.
Canelo beating Cotto is huge, dunno if it's bigger than beating Pacquiao.
Porter and Thurman are very far down the pecking order. If Fury does beat Wlad, this is how my shortlist would look:
Fury
Mayweather
Kovalev
GGG
So beating Adrien Broner is considered a "good win" huh?
Is he a good fighter? Debatable, Maidana took his soul and he's never been the same ever since.
Was he even a belt holder at the time Porter fought him? No.
It's a win over a former hype job who has never been that good to begin with.
It's an OK win at best.
Would this even be a question if the roles were reversed and Manny beat Mayweather
Mayweather won the biggest financial fight in boxing history, won the fight deciding who would be remembered as the best of this era(The fight everyone begged for, for years) and also won a gimme against Berto
Mayweather is 2015 fighter of the year....the ESPY's was on some B.S.....
What is the criteria for fighter of the year? Best wins would have to go to Mayweather, nothing beats beating Pacquiao unless Fury beats Wlad or Kovalev/Stevenson had happened. A past it Pacquiao is still better than beating Ruslan or Thurman or Peterson.
It's been a pretty mediocre year for boxing, hopefully Canelo/Cotto turn that around and Canelo could possibly be in the running in terms of achievements, wining the lineal MW title.
Fury v Wlad is another one, what an upset that could be.
I want to agree with you there but he picked Berto instead of a legit ranked WW like Thurman , Khan, Brook or Porter. So I don't think he will win it. I voted Mayweather boxer of the month here when he defeated Pacquiao, because I think he deserve it. But for the whole year, I think Golovkin will win it if he defeats Lemiuex in ko, just like what TS said.
3KOs streak against rank MW sounds good to me.
How is that better than Fury beating Wlad or Canelo beating Cotto?
Cause Thurman and Porter already have 1 good win on the year. Forgot about fury but canelo or cotto shouldn't win it. That win won't be better than pacquiao
if porter beat thurman he'd be in a very strong position. golovkin and gonzalez will have the popular vote. mayweather may get it out of respect for his career, even though the pacquiao fight disappointed many people
Nobody will have a better win than Floyd. But if Porter and Thurman fight that person could win
How is that better than Fury beating Wlad or Canelo beating Cotto?
What is the criteria for fighter of the year? Best wins would have to go to Mayweather, nothing beats beating Pacquiao unless Fury beats Wlad or Kovalev/Stevenson had happened. A past it Pacquiao is still better than beating Ruslan or Thurman or Peterson.
It's been a pretty mediocre year for boxing, hopefully Canelo/Cotto turn that around and Canelo could possibly be in the running in terms of achievements, wining the lineal MW title.
Fury v Wlad is another one, what an upset that could be.