[JKidd]

Alrighty... fighter of the year candidates.

1. Nonito Donaire
Body of work:
-SD 12 over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr
-UD 12 over Jeffrey Mathebula
-TKO 9 over Toshiaki Nishioka
-KO3 over Jorge Arce

Donaire simply dominated his opposition. He knocked all 4 opponents down, stopped two of them, and aside from a Texas scoring against Vazquez, was simply dominant against all comers. He proved his dominance against top level opposition as each one of his opponents was ranked in the top 10 by Boxrec, the Ring or ESPN.

2. Danny Garcia
Body of work:
-UD 12 over Erik Morales
-TKO 4 over Amir Khan
-KO 4 over Erik Morales

Danny exploded on the scene not with the first win over Morales, but when he took the Khan fight on short notice, was a massive underdog, got busted up early, and then landed one punch that shook the boxing world - and sent Khan's career into rebuild mode again. He didn't stop there, letting El Terrible have his rematch, only to retire the Mexican legend with a massive left hook.

3. Leo Santa Cruz
Body of work:
-RTD 4 over Alejandro Hernandez
-Shut out UD 12 over Vusi Malinga
-RTD 5 over Eric Morel
-TKO 9 over Victor Zaleta
-UD 12 over Alberto Guevara

No other titlist fought as much as Leo. No other boxer through as many punches either. Averaging well over a 1000 each time out, this little whirl wind of lefts and rights snagged a vacant title against the favored Vusi Malinga by systematically wearing him down with body punching. He then retired the veteran war horse Eric Morel with a punishing display, and capped the year by going to war with two Mexican contenders.

HM: Robert Guerrero, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Brian Viloria

The winner: Nonito Donaire.
The body of work, against top level opposition each time out, and the results he created are just far greater than anyone else this year.

Tomorrow, we'll dig into everyone's favorite.. KO of the year.