Not that I care about the silly award but .. NO Mo Farah was a deserving winner. He has deserved this award before and many times missed out on well deserved top 3 placings, with achievements that far outweigh anything Joshua has done as a professional. Joshua has neither the sporting achievements in 2017 nor any special "personality" that could justify him winning, nor the career achievements yet. He has nice muscles and an incredible advertising portfolio. But I must have missed something if people are saying he achieved some sporting greatness this last 12 months. The fight with Klitschko was a thrilling one but the general public aren't quite stupid enough to think beating a 41 year old FORMER champion coming off a loss was truly great achievement in the world of sport. Most people were already suitable sceptical about the merits of Fury beating the man 18 months earlier when he was REIGNING CHAMPION and a mere 39 years old. And Carlos Takam was nobody to the general public and a borderline top 10 heavyweight at best to boxing hardcore fans. So what's Joshua done to deserve a sporting award ? Mo Farah turns up at Olympics and World Championships in three out of four years, for the last 6 or 7 years, and has generally walked away with a gold medal, usually two of them. In difficult events against the top competitors in the world. He can't handpick his opponents, or pull old has beens off the shelf to run against. He races the best in the world every year. Professional boxers rarely deserve to win these awards, if we're honest. Too much cherry picking, too many dubious rankings and fraudulent titles to take this sport as comparable to some of the others. That's the truth.
Just checked Wikipedia to remind myself ... Mo Farah won two gold medals in the work championships ... AGAIN ! ... In 2017. And he won the Diamond League. At age 34. And his career record is totally sick. Joshua is not in that class yet. He has an Olympic gold based on debatable judging, and a couple of plastic belts in the pros.