Carl Frampton picked as Fighter of the Year for 2016

By Boxing News - 01/17/2017 - Comments

Image: Carl Frampton picked as Fighter of the Year for 2016

By Scott Gilfoid: For his wins over Leo Santa Cruz and Scott Quigg, Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) has been picked out as Ring Magazine’s Fighter of the Year for 2016. I’m not sure that I agree with the selection though, as I had Frampton losing to Santa Cruz last July. At best, I thought Frampton vs. Santa Cruz was a 12 round draw.

Frampton didn’t shine against Quigg either. I had that fight scored as a draw as well. Quigg rallied like crazy in the last six rounds against a tired looking Frampton.

When you pick a Fighter of the Year, you want to select someone that actually dominates, don’t you? I’m sorry, but I don’t think Frampton dominated his opposition. He had MAJOR problems against Santa Cruz and Quigg. The fighters that DID dominate his opponents in 2016 was Vasyl Lomahenko, the WBO super featherweight champion. Lomachenko looked out of this world good in stopping Roman “Rocky” Martinez in 5 rounds, and former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters in 7 rounds. Believe me, there was nothing close about either of Lomachenko’s wins in 2016.

Some boxing fans might look at Ring Magazine’s choice of picking Frampton rather than Lomachenko and see it a politically motivated choice. Lomachenko is promoted by Top Rank. I don’t know. But for me, Lomachenko deserve the Fighter of the Year award for 2016 a heck of a lot more than Frampton. I would pick Frampton in a second for the award if he dominated Quigg and Santa Cruz. If I thought were total domination jobs by Frampton over those two fighters, and then I would give him the pick as the best guy in 2016. That’s not what happened though. Frampton built up early leads against Quigg and Santa Cruz, but then ran out of gas and struggled in the second half of those fights. I was not impressed with the way that Frampton fell apart in the last six rounds against both of those guys.

“Obviously it’s a huge honor,” Frampton said. “Toward the end of the year I picked up fighter of the year on some websites but THE RING Magazine, that’s the one. I’m very, very proud of that.”

If Frampton loses to Santa Cruz in their rematch on January 28, then it won’t say much about him having been picked as Fighter of the Year, will it?

I think there needs to be some common sense involved when organizations like Ring Magazine picks Fighters of the Year. If a fighter is struggling to in controversial decisions over more than one fighter during the year, then I don’t think they should be given the award. I’m just saying. The Fighter of the Year award should go to fighters that DOMINATE their competition, not beating them by questionable decisions like Frampton did.