Considering it's pretty much accepted by most boxing fans that Wlad beats everyone in the division easily (exc Bro) he probably wouldn't be considered for fighter of the year unless he beats the absolute best in the division, one after the next. Hard to make happen. Wlad wouldn't care anyway. The guy can comfortably say to himself "no MAN on this planet can beat me in a boxing ring". He's got the biggest, baddest boxers on the planet hiding from him like little bitches and anyone he does get in the ring is pretty much ruined. People think he fights too tame and cautious, but the guy on the end of the punches doesn't think so. Getting caught clean and KO'd early or swarmed and KO'd (by a Tyson, Foreman, Frasier etc) these things are bad but you can learn fast, adjust and continue on with your career with confidence. Getting punched in the face for thirty minutes by a man who does everything better than you and physically makes you feel inferior would be brutal. You are given plenty of time to realise that no amount of training is ever gonna get you past that hurdle. Must be hard on the belief of a boxer to come back from...........oh yeah and the whole time it would be obvious to the fighter that Wlad is on cruise control too. Wlad is sadistic. That's 250 pounds of the fastest, strongest, smartest fighter we've seen. He may not win FOTY but he IS the man.
Wlad's biggest problem is that Cleverly produced an even more dominant victory over a higher quality opponent without home court advantage, plus he has a superior second victory as well over licensed professional Tommy Karpency.
atsch Ward gets credit for indirect victories and his one direct victory at home over a drained Dawson, whilst Cleverly and Wlad have taken on the best within their respective actual divisions multiple times this year.
Mormeck, Thompson II and Wach. Definitely not fighter of the year quality opponents there. Sadly that's what the division has to offer.