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By Cliff Rold - It’s surprising that there is even a debate.
2007, a year that should one day go down as the beginning of a boxing renaissance as long as the sport doesn’t find a way to implode in 2008, produced a number of contentious areas in the annual regurgitation-of-everything-everyone-just-saw period also known as end of the year ‘awards.’ Fighter of the Year really isn’t one of them. It’s the one spot that should be obvious. Like Russian President Vladimir ***** winning Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, the measurement of impact is all that is needed to overcome any sentiment in the decision making process.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was the fighter of 2007.
Certainly the heavy handful of fighters who turned in outstanding, career-making years can all have a case made for them. Mayweather’s in-ring activity after all was no more or less notable than that of a Kelly Pavlik, Miguel Cotto, Takefumi Sakata or Joe Calzaghe. There were excellent wins in each of their stories that could easily cloud one’s judgment. This year in particular, wins are only part of the equation.
That said, Mayweather’s wins alone in 2007, over a still game and dangerous Oscar De La Hoya at Jr. Middleweight to the tune of 2.4 Million Pay-per-view buys and in a knockout defense of his Welterweight crown against the then-undefeated World Jr. Welterweight champion Ricky Hatton to the tune of 850,000 Pay-per-View buys, are enough to make a strong case for him. They don’t stand alone though, and the sales numbers aren’t the whole story either. [details]
2007, a year that should one day go down as the beginning of a boxing renaissance as long as the sport doesn’t find a way to implode in 2008, produced a number of contentious areas in the annual regurgitation-of-everything-everyone-just-saw period also known as end of the year ‘awards.’ Fighter of the Year really isn’t one of them. It’s the one spot that should be obvious. Like Russian President Vladimir ***** winning Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, the measurement of impact is all that is needed to overcome any sentiment in the decision making process.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was the fighter of 2007.
Certainly the heavy handful of fighters who turned in outstanding, career-making years can all have a case made for them. Mayweather’s in-ring activity after all was no more or less notable than that of a Kelly Pavlik, Miguel Cotto, Takefumi Sakata or Joe Calzaghe. There were excellent wins in each of their stories that could easily cloud one’s judgment. This year in particular, wins are only part of the equation.
That said, Mayweather’s wins alone in 2007, over a still game and dangerous Oscar De La Hoya at Jr. Middleweight to the tune of 2.4 Million Pay-per-view buys and in a knockout defense of his Welterweight crown against the then-undefeated World Jr. Welterweight champion Ricky Hatton to the tune of 850,000 Pay-per-View buys, are enough to make a strong case for him. They don’t stand alone though, and the sales numbers aren’t the whole story either. [details]
HATERS!!!
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