Winner of This Fight is Fighter of The Year.

Good post George.

For me, I don't think Sergey would be fighter of the year if he wins (though he does have an argument). In any context, if he wins dominantly, he dominates a 'middleweight' who is an unproven quality at LHW. If he struggles, he struggles against a Middle who is, once again, an unproven quality. Though these situations can make the win look much better in retrospect, depending on what Canelo decides to do afterwards, especially if he somehow had success at LHW.

If Canelo got a legit, dominant win over Sergey, he would clearly be the FOTY. To move up against a skilled, bigger man (even if older) and win convincingly, that takes balls and tremendous skills. However if, which is much more likely IMO, Canelo wins suspiciously, with some form of corruption etc., then people will be quick to discard it, and consequently FOTY status.

And if Donaire wins against Inoue, then he would clearly be my FOTY.

 

Assuming Kov and Inoue win, then it would be between Beterbiev, Pacquaio or Inoue himself.

Gotta consider Taylor, and 'Gallo' Estrada as well, since he actually beat Rungvisai in early 2019.

 

Manny was the underdog but switched to the favorite after

 

If Canelo beats Kova then it has to be him realistically. I wouldn't be against Kova winning it either if he wins this fight.

Taylor would be my choice if neither of those two.

 

Forgot he was in the calendar year...

 

If Yarde had beaten Kovalev would he be FOTY?

 

If he beat Kovalev and went down two divisions to beat Daniel Jacobs, looks like a big yes.

 

Great list.
I agree with it either being Canelo/Kovalev or Ruiz depending on their next fights.

 

If Ruiz wins again it'll be hard to pick against him.

 

LOL OK, So Yarde would have to drain two divisions too, then win.. & then he'd be FOTY?! Ok, If we say Alvarez is a MW.. When has Alvarez fought at 147 recently?! When he was 20! LOL Also consider Yardes huge lack of experience as a pro in comparison to Canelo.. if he DRAINED to 160 from his career start weight of 175 & beat MW Jacobs too.. ok, then yes if he did that too he would have a case.. but Canelo is vastly more experienced than Yarde & his body (aided by peds) is growing UP into new weights.. which tends to happen to fighters as they age.. two different scenarios..

..no one serious would have considered Yarde FOTY if he'd have beat a 2019 Kovalev.. & beating Jacobs makes u a FOTY now does it? When GGG was fighting this guy people were mocking the win! Now he's been beat TWICE & isn't even fighting at the weight anymore it makes cinnamon king of the hill does it? Jacobs won a vacant title on a SD* & lost it in his first defense.. good fighter yes, but there's been better wins in boxing than him this year though..

This fight is just Canelo sticking to script. Another mid 30s name.. Canelos weight jumping might impress u but its built on PEDS.

 

My personal thought is if Canelo wins, he's fighter of the year. If Andy Ruiz wins (again) he's fighter of the year unless Canelo wins as well. Beterbiev, nah. Josh Taylor, nah. Errol Spence, while having 2 high profile wins, nah. Not coming down on the 3, all 3 runs are great runs but they don't hold the weight of a Canelo, Ruiz or Pac's "turn back the clock" win.

Then, Manny's win over Thurman is phenomenal (because of who he is and his age) but I don't think it compares to the significance of if Canelo or Ruiz were to win.

 

Going into said fights: Kovalev = top 3 LHW. Jacobs = top 3 MW

Beating two top-3-fighters two divisions apart in the same year most certainly does qualify one among the very best Fighters of the Year, in any year. I would say it is shocking for someone to state otherwise but this is ESB after all so I'm used to dealing with stupid.

 

I would say it's shocking that you think a juicer who needed to take PEDS for fighting at the smaller weight of 160 will suddenly get a legit win* at 175 making him FOTY ..

Kovalev is ANOTHER 36 yr old & was almost stopped by a ****ing novice fighter in his last fight.. let that sink in.. Keep lapping up that golden boy jungle juice tho bro.. Canelo will be clean for this one, honest..

MOOOOOOOOOO