ESPN, Smith Jr made a great case for Fighter of the Year

Boxing’s annual awards season is underway. The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) revealed its list of 2016 nominees on December 27th. Per ESPN boxing Senior Writer, Dan Rafael, BWAA members’ ballots are due back by January 27th, with the award winners to be revealed in February.

ESPN.com already selected its Fighter of the Year – Northern Ireland’s 29-year old two-division world champion Carl “The Jackal” Frampton.

Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) authored a remarkable 2016 campaign, earning a split decision victory against Scott McQuigg in February to unify world titles at super bantamweight, before heading stateside in July to defeat Leo Santa Cruz by majority decision for the WBA Super World featherweight title. Frampton electrified the 9,000 fans in attendance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center with a masterful boxing display that negated Santa Cruz’s pressure style. Santa Cruz only connected with 25% of his 1,000-plus total punches per CompuBox.

No major qualms here with Frampton being named FOTY, but that choice does disregard the rapid rise of workman Joe Smith Jr from Long Island, New York. Light heavyweight Smith Jr. (23-1, 19 KOs) stunned the boxing world in June with a first round KO of Andrzej Fonfara to relieve the durable Poland-born champ of his WBC International title. That upset took place on a Premier Boxing Champions series primetime telecast on network television. In Inglewood, CA ust a week before Christmas eve, Smith Jr. gave first-ballot Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins an unexpected send-off with a punishing 8th round stoppage that concluded with Hopkins receiving a 20-second count ringside on The Forum’s floor. Hopkins surely has reviewed the footage which showed the force of a Smith Jr. left hand forced him through the ropes.

Perhaps Smith Jr. wasn’t named FOTY for the same reason the current Big Ten champions, Penn State’s Nittany Lions, weren’t selected as part of the College Football Playoff National Championship: An earlier KO loss has experts now questioning just how good Smith Jr. really is – especially when looking forward to his potential future match ups.

The light heavyweight division includes its versions of the Alabama Crimson Tide and Ohio State Buckeyes in Andre Ward and Adonis Stevenson, respectively.

Fonfara overcame two knockdowns and a cut over the first half of his 2014 title fight with Stevenson. The outcome was a unanimous decision loss, but the determined Fonfara recovered enough to connect with a right hand early in the ninth round that dropped Stevenson.

Penn State will never know whether its penchant for the dramatic comeback would have worked against CFB’s elite, but Smith Jr. just might get his shot to prove himself in the ring as a great fighter in 2017.

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