2020 Fighter Of The Year

[SlimTrae]

Again with the AJ love? He beat an almost 40 year old Pulev. How would he be in consideration at all? There are probably at minimum 20 other fighters who beat better fighters than Pulev and in more impressive fashion.

Lopez to me is pretty easily the FOTY. This year was slow for boxing because of COVID, so fighters this year win off of basically who had the best win. That was easily Lopez. Ring magazine had co winners with Lopez and Fury but let’s be honest, Wilder was a top dog at HW but was extremely limited. He is not even in the same league as Loma.

LOL! I think this is a 1st for me, being considered an AJ fan!


I try to vet all the same. If I use age for him then I have to use that for every fighter. Yet we both know the past 2 decades 40 year old fighters have become the norm in virtually every weight class, from Pac up to Pulev. I also have to factor in he hadn't loss in 1/2 decade?

Not sure how that would vie against a 30something fighter who loses all rounds then wins by KO think Wilder? In other words was Fury's win over Wilder better than AJ's over Pulev?
Do you think FUry would rank higher than AJ in a bid for fighter of the year? I don't.

And for sure I agree, covid put a damper on things, but doesnt negate that those who did fight, should be told to try again next year! LOL!

AJ on this board and many others claimed got exposed. He beat that narrative in top fashion, Now had he been considered a shoe in to win the rematch, I wouldn't have given him the credit as a champ proving he still belonged.

And that BEST HW's or champs period, usually get the fight of their lives from an unexpected foe. Whereas with Ruiz a few here, knew his body type had nothing to do with deciding if he belonged. He proved he did.
Not AJ fault Ruiz ate himself out of contentions. Not his fault the orgs placed Pulev atop and not Fury.

No way does AJ rank Top 3 FOTY. I extended it to 5, but curious if you had to include him would he make your top 10? 20?

Like @TitoFan stated:Teo, not a close 2nd!

Age is definitely a factor, but all ages aren’t equal though. Pulev hasn’t proven anything for a long time and has never even proven that he was ever a top fighter even in his prime. I bring up his age because he was never that good and has gone downhill from there. Someone like Pacquiao may be old but has proven to still be a solid fighter that can beat top guys.

As for better wins than Pulev, there are countless. Inoue beating Maloney, Charlo beating Rosario, other Charlo beating Derevyanchenko, Breidis beating Dorticos, Ramirez beating Postol, etc. There are so many.

The point is that with everyone only having one fight, it should go to the person with the best win. Pulev is nowhere near as good as many fighters who lost this year. Therefore, AJ can’t be anywhere close to the top, no matter how impressive he looked because his opponent was nowhere near as good as other opponents. I mean, you might as well put Crawford on the list for beating an old and damaged Brook.

I've seen a few lists that rank AJ from 3 to 5. Some didnt at all. I think he proved himself to be among the best fighters of 2020.

Again, I can't rank him 2nd, 3rd or 4th, let alone 1st.

Your argument on Pulev is difficult to dispute, but from my perspective, pretty much the entire HW division has flawed HW's, over the hill, weak, chinny, amateurish skills, the list goes on and on IMO as to why every HW ranked can be questioned as a reason for ranking a HW as FOTY.

My big case is how Fury is given 2nd rankings for beating a guy, that has his owns fans who will say he can't box. But he gotta 1-hitter quitter.

I didn't rank AJ over Pulev to give him 2nd place, anymore than I would have ranked Fury 2nd for beating Wilder.
Skill wise Pulev IMO is better than Wilder. But because Wilder had a belt, the win boosted Fury to #2.


Top notch post though, Puncher!

[powerpuncher]

Maybe it’s bias but I generally don’t find many HWs very good. I think that the Ring giving Fury co FOTY was not good. Wilder isn’t awful by any means but he is not the level of many other fighters at lower divisions. I definitely think that Wilder is better than Pulev though. I think that he has easily proven it.

Pulev wasn’t even a top 10 HW IMO.

[Alpha]

Lopez.

Honorable mentions:
The winner of Ioka vs Tanaka.
Canelo.
Fury.
Spence.