Donaire vs Arce on Dec.15 Most Likely

[JonnyFolds]

If this fight comes off, Donaire will have fought 4X in 2012. One was for a title in a new division with a top ten fighter; one was a unification fight with a top ten fighter; one was a knockout against the consensus number 1 in the division; and, the last is against a big name. Although Arce is not a compelling match-up for Donaire with the outcome already certain, he has a big fan base, and after three moderately difficult-to-difficult fights, I understand the reason for the fight. Given his activity, assuming he beats Arce, Donaire has to be the frontrunner for fighter of the year. Correct?

not really, the general consensus is that the top 2 front runners for Fighter of the Year are Garcia and Ward again, not saying that Donaire wouldn't be in the running but as of right now nothing is in black and white

I did not even think of Ward or Garcia first. Garcia has not really changed weight or beaten anyone who was ranked for his belt. Garcia beat two people this year in 3 fights. A solid argument could be made that Morales had no reason to share the ring with him after his first performance. And Khan was coming off a loss already.

Black and White even if Donaire didn't fight Arce he would still be 4-5 slots ahead of these two. He straight up outclassed his opposition without ducking a soul and moved up in weight

[ElTerribleMorales]

If this fight comes off, Donaire will have fought 4X in 2012. One was for a title in a new division with a top ten fighter; one was a unification fight with a top ten fighter; one was a knockout against the consensus number 1 in the division; and, the last is against a big name. Although Arce is not a compelling match-up for Donaire with the outcome already certain, he has a big fan base, and after three moderately difficult-to-difficult fights, I understand the reason for the fight. Given his activity, assuming he beats Arce, Donaire has to be the frontrunner for fighter of the year. Correct?

not really, the general consensus is that the top 2 front runners for Fighter of the Year are Garcia and Ward again, not saying that Donaire wouldn't be in the running but as of right now nothing is in black and white

I did not even think of Ward or Garcia first. Garcia has not really changed weight or beaten anyone who was ranked for his belt. Garcia beat two people this year in 3 fights. A solid argument could be made that Morales had no reason to share the ring with him after his first performance. And Khan was coming off a loss already.

Black and White even if Donaire didn't fight Arce he would still be 4-5 slots ahead of these two. He straight up outclassed his opposition without ducking a soul and moved up in weight

what does moving up in weight have to do with it? he (Garcia) basically is the top dog in the division and unified two belts

Donaire looked flat in two of his wins, against Vazquez he took plenty of punishment, and against Mathebula (a relatively unknown) it was a close fight regardless of what the judges say

as for Morales, he had just picked up a strap against the younger kid who just took Malignaggi to the limit, and had his spirited showing against the hard hitting Maidana

sorry just don't see how a guy who hasn't had a really BIG IMPRESSIVE win can be touted as the Fighter of the Year, cause although he won against Nishioka (Donaire's biggest W of the year) he looked flat for the most part of the fight

[Rantcatrat]

If this fight comes off, Donaire will have fought 4X in 2012. One was for a title in a new division with a top ten fighter; one was a unification fight with a top ten fighter; one was a knockout against the consensus number 1 in the division; and, the last is against a big name. Although Arce is not a compelling match-up for Donaire with the outcome already certain, he has a big fan base, and after three moderately difficult-to-difficult fights, I understand the reason for the fight. Given his activity, assuming he beats Arce, Donaire has to be the frontrunner for fighter of the year. Correct?

not really, the general consensus is that the top 2 front runners for Fighter of the Year are Garcia and Ward again, not saying that Donaire wouldn't be in the running but as of right now nothing is in black and white

I did not even think of Ward or Garcia first. Garcia has not really changed weight or beaten anyone who was ranked for his belt. Garcia beat two people this year in 3 fights. A solid argument could be made that Morales had no reason to share the ring with him after his first performance. And Khan was coming off a loss already.

Black and White even if Donaire didn't fight Arce he would still be 4-5 slots ahead of these two. He straight up outclassed his opposition without ducking a soul and moved up in weight

what does moving up in weight have to do with it? he (Garcia) basically is the top dog in the division and unified two belts

Donaire looked flat in two of his wins, against Vazquez he took plenty of punishment, and against Mathebula (a relatively unknown) it was a close fight regardless of what the judges say

as for Morales, he had just picked up a strap against the younger kid who just took Malignaggi to the limit, and had his spirited showing against the hard hitting Maidana

sorry just don't see how a guy who hasn't had a really BIG IMPRESSIVE win can be touted as the Fighter of the Year, cause although he won against Nishioka (Donaire's biggest W of the year) he looked flat for the most part of the fight

I am in agreement that Garcia is on the short list for fighter of the year. Garcia's win over Khan was a big win. Khan was favored and Garcia upset the odds. He also unified titles in that fight. Garcia's win over Morales in their first row was a good win too, although I don't make much of his win in their rematch. In regards to Garcia's performances, I thougt Khan was beating him up the first three (maybe two) rounds and that Morales gave Garcia more problems in their first fight than I expected he would. His knockout in the Morales rematch was spectacular, but somethine along those lines was expected because he was a huge favorite. In sum, he fought three times and unified titles. He had one terrific win, one good win, and one expected win.

With respect to Donaire, there are some similarities. He has one terrific win (Nishioka); he will have one expected win over an aging veteran assuming he beats Arce ( e.g. Morales II for Garcia); he has two good wins over top ten guys in his division, which is comparable to Garcia's first win over Morales, who was top ten at the time they fought; and he unified titles. With regards to Donaire's performances, I thought he looked flatter than he has in the past, but I thought he was in tougher on the whole than Garcia. Like Garcia, he won his biggest fight by knockout, also like Garcia at junior welterweight in his first fight against Morales, he strugged at times against top ten opponents at junior featherweight, Mathebula and Vasquez Jr. What separates him objectively from Garcia are sheer numbers: (1) he will have fought once more and (2) he moved up in weight this year. Thus, for me Donaire edges it out.

Ward can't be on the list with only one fight this year.

[Rantcatrat]

@ElTerribleMorales -

Dougie Fischer says that Garcia and Donaire are front runners. Donaire edges it.

[ElTerribleMorales]

@ElTerribleMorales -

Dougie Fischer says that Garcia and Donaire are front runners. Donaire edges it.

fair enough, but I think we can agree that whoever wins Fighter of the Year hasn't been as impressive as others in the past, Ward, Martinez, Pacquiao, etc. all had more impressive years when they won the honor

[Rantcatrat]

@ElTerribleMorales - yes, i would agree with your statement. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your point is that Donaire had a great year, but the way in which he won fights wasn't as impressive as guys have done it in the past, and that's a pretty fair point.