Anyone Disagree w/ Terence Crawford Winning ESPN's Fighter of the Year???

It was an incredibly weak lightweight division Crawford ran through. My vote would go for Naoya Inoue if he beats Narvaez or Amnat Ruenroeng for shooting up the flyweight rankings with three quality wins (Fuentes, Ioka, Arroyo).

No chance would I vote for Kovalev. He has ONE quality win. If one win is all it takes then Manny Pacquiao is the runaway winner for beating pound-for-pound No. 3 Tim Bradley.

 

Except Bradley isn't very good, and never really has been.

 

when he takes the lineal title and beats a good opponent at 168 like you said, then we can give him fighter of the year.

Beating Adama, Rubio and Geale isn't going to get you fighter of the year.

Beating Akira Y., Gamboa, or Hopkins could though.

 

I can't speak on the little guys, I didn't watch all those fights. Maybe its one of them. I would say Pacquiao. He beat the best fighter, which was Bradley. He put in two stellar performances, one of which was against a guy that handily beat Marquez, most would say deserved the W vs Chaves, and is simply a very high level fighter. I can see the argument for Kov though, his performances the way he went about his business, and Hopkins is a very dangerous foe, and he got handled. GGG for the way he stomped everyone out was great. Herrera definitely is in the mix for defeating Garcia and Benavides plus his other win the only one they gave him lol. All in all you have to factor in level of opposition, and when you do that I think it comes down to Pac and Kovalev. But you can make an argument for Crawford because part of the reason he can be looked over is that the beating he gave Gamboa was what affirmed what we already suspected, Gamboa has no business at the weight or at that level. But it was Crawford that did the affirming for us.

However, we already know Bradley and Hopkins are legit.

Picking Crawford is a "glamour" pick because Crawford just busted onto the big scene. Pac has been around for ages. However, Pac handily defeated one of the best in Bradley. It is a boring pic but I think it might be the right one. But I can see Kovalev too.

 

Of the 3 popular choices....

Crawford captured the imagination of the boxing world this year. And his fights with Gamboa and Beltran were both exciting and satisfying. The kid is the truth and he is not afraid to test himself. He deserved fighter of the year.

Kovalev would be the next choice. He had a breakout year, with a dominant win over an ATG, to put a stamp on it. His wins over Agnew and Caparello were routine defenses...dominant, impressive KO wins, but, not against really notable opponents.

Pac had a good win over Bradley. But, to give him FOTY would be giving him too much credit for beating someone he supposedly beat easily the first time. If he was robbed the first fight (I thought he was), he did what he was supposed to do the second time. And that Algeri fight was an absolute joke. I guess these were good auditions for a Mayweather fight. But, the two guys above did more.

 

Yes...because, he already fought him and most feel he won easily the first time. Pac was the favorite against Bradley in the first fight too.

Kovalev and Crawford took more risks and made more of an impression on the sport this year. Hopkins is 49 yo. But, he's beating guys 1/2 his age. Kovalev was just too much for this version of Hopkins. But, no one knew too what degree, because, Kovalev had never faced anyone with Hopkins' pedigree.

 

it depends if someone who is a candidate for the award and he's gonna fight till the end of this year.

 

1. Ruenroeng
2. Gonzalez
3. Crawford
4. Pacquiao
5. Kovalev
6. Walters
(big gap)

* If Inoue decisively beats Narvaez, he will steal the FOTY on the last day of the year. He would be 3-0 while defeating the 108 lb. #1 Hernandez and the 115 lb. #1 Narvaez...

Ruenroeng and Gonzalez are darn close. Can't decide. I hope Inoue settles it for me.

 

Ranking their wins, it goes:
1. wide UD Bradley
(gap)
2. wide UD Beltran
3. TKO9 Gamboa
(gap)
4. wide UD Burns
5. wide UD Algieri

Top ten opponents faced:
1. 2 top ten LW's faced (1 unranked from inactivity)
2. 1 top ten WW faced (1 unranked from inexperience)

Ranking their on paper accomplishments:
1. 3-0 with 1 KO... won Lineal title 135, won WBO title 135, defended WBO twice
2. 2-0... won WBO 147, defended WBO once

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That is why I think I prefer Crawford over Pacquiao.

Either way, both are being overrated relative to Roman Gonzalez and Amnat Ruenroeng.