The best fighter with the best year. Basically, if you throw out all past history and started over this year, who would have been ranked on top?
Nominees
Derek Boogaard - 10 fights
Key Wins:
D.J. King,
Eric Godard,
Jody Shelley
Key Losses: Edged out by
David Koci and
George Parros early in the year
Donald Brashear - 12 fights
Key Wins: Dominated
Chris Neil,
Riley Cote and
Colton Orr, beat
Shawn Thornton twice
Key Losses: Edged out by
Brian McGrattan
Key Controversy: Got beat up by
Georges Laraque but knocked him down with a wild last punch. What does that mean? Who knows!
D.J. King - 14 fights
Key Wins: Mr. Consistency systematically beat the likes of Parros, Hordichuk, Shelley, and Ivanans plus a great FOTY candidate draw with
Eric Godard
Key Losses:
Derek Boogaard and a surprise slight loss to
Krys Barch
Georges Laraque - 13 fights
Key Wins: Easy wins over McGrattan, Godard, Cote and Barch
Key Losses: None (but see below)
Key Controversy: Was picking #1 contender
Donald Brashear apart before getting floored with a wild last punch.
Colton Orr - 18 fights
Key Wins:
George Parros, Andre Peters,
Riley Cote x2 in great fights, beat down of
Wade Brookbank
Key Losses: Beat up by
Donald Brashear again
My Pick
Orr still has to beat one of the top two, Boogaard had an off year which was injury plagued and
D.J. King is consistently very good but not explosively great yet. That leaves the same two familiar targets. Laraque and Brashear both basically walked over the competition so it comes down to their fight. Last punch aside
I still see Laraque as the more impressive fighter so I'm going to give him the slightest of nods.
Previous Winners
2003-04:
Matt Johnson
2005-06:
Georges Laraque
2006-07:
Derek Boogaard