Carl Frampton and the shifting Fighter of the Year criteria

Carl Frampton, who scored two significant victories in 2016, is worthy of being named Fighter of the Year. Frampton’s ability to distinguish himself in this regard, though, also reflects major shifts in boxing’s politically polarized landscape.

By contemporary standards, Carl Frampton did indeed have a banner year. Despite only fighting twice, Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) made both bouts count, scoring a split decision win in a rabidly anticipated unification clash against rival Scott Quigg, which he followed up by moving to featherweight and decisioning Leo Santa Cruz to become a two-weight champion in one of 2016’s most compelling contests.

Also, don’t discount the fact that Frampton was willing to fight Quigg in Manchester — instead of insisting that the bout be held in Belfast — and challenge Santa Cruz in the United States. Like James DeGale, Frampton is championing a new trend of boxers from the United Kingdom and Ireland spending more of their primes fighting abroad.

By besting Quigg in what many viewed, perhaps incorrectly, as a pick ’em match-up, Frampton separated himself from a slew of elite contenders and titlists at 122 pounds. While the fact that Frampton moved up in weight before facing Guillermo Rigondeaux undermines the claim that he was the best super bantamweight in the world, he still earns high marks for unifying two belts against a then-undefeated foe.

Defeating Leo Santa Cruz in a thrilling fight that featured the ideal blend of elite boxing skills and pockets of raw slugging, though, put Carl Frampton over the top. Indeed, this victory accomplished three crucial things: first, by winning the WBA featherweight title, Frampton became a multi-weight champion; second, he proved, despite height and reach disadvantages, that he could outbox and outfight an elite champion who throws a smothering volume of punches; and third, what Frampton added to his resume in 2016 arguably already makes him the greatest ever fighter Northern Ireland has produced.

That said, the criteria for selecting the Fighter of the Year has narrowed due to the reality that elite fighters rarely campaign more than two or three times in a twelve-month span. This, coupled with boxing’s maddening political landscape, means that a disproportionate amount of weight is placed on fights that are imbued with fabricated significance and standards.

Carl Frampton was able to easily circumvent this unfortunate trend because both Quigg and Santa Cruz were excellent opponents in their athletic primes. However, an example worth revisiting is Canelo Avlarez’s win over Miguel Cotto.

Because of his overall standing in the sport, Canelo Alvarez will almost always be in fringe consideration for Fighter of the Year honors (although not this year, thankfully). When Canelo beat Miguel Cotto, it was correctly viewed as a significant victory for the young Mexican. However, it was also trumpeted as a the defining moment of Canelo’s “triumphant” 2015 campaign, which saw him claim Fighter of the Year honors from the likes of ESPN. (ESPN selected Carl Frampton this year.)

Canelo did impress against Cotto, but the great Puerto Rican, despite coming into the fight seemingly rejuvenated under the tutelage of Freddie Roach, was past his best. And Canelo’s only other win that year? A spectacular knockout of a woefully overmatched James Kirkland. It seemed that Canelo winning Fighter of the Year in 2015 from certain outlets boiled down to star power (to a large extent).

A fascinating litmus test for 2016 would have been Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward — had the fight unfolded differently. If Kovalev had capitalized on his second-round flooring of Ward and stopped the American, he would have been an easy choice for Fighter of the Year, with wins over Jean Pascal and Isaac Chilemba supporting a defining triumph. Kovalev, though, lost controversially.

And yet, had Ward claimed a non-disputed decision, he likely would have claimed Fighter of the Year honors, which means his campaign would have been defined by a single bout (wins over Sullivan Barrera and especially Alexander Brand were essentially irrelevant). Sure, Kovalev-Ward was boxing’s best match-up in a decade, but the fact that a clear Ward win would have made him Fighter of the Year-worthy reveals plenty about what fans have come to expect from elite fighters.

Vasyl Lomachenko also had a stellar year, but Rocky Martinez was a faded, limited foe and Nicholas Walters’ quit job, unfortunately, has gotten as much press as the virtuoso performance from the transcendent Ukrainian that made the Jamaican give up. Had Lomachenko fought a third bout, he may have separated himself from Frampton. And speaking of volume, Terence Crawford was seen three times in 2016, but his win over Viktor Postol failed to match either of Frampton’s victories, and both Hank Lundy and John Molina Jr. were opponents that failed to move the proverbial needle.

Next: Bernard Hopkins and the fallacy of fulfillment

So, while Carl Frampton heartily deserves to be named 2016’s Fighter of the Year, the award’s ultimately subjective criteria and boxing’s shrinking number of marquee match-ups means that debates will continue to rage. It’s completely untenable for boxers to fight as often as they did two generations ago, but credit must still be given for substance  over style.