World Boxing News Fighter of the Year for 2016, Vasyl Lomachenko is in contention to reclaim his crown ahead of the shortlist announcement for 2018.
WBN can reveal polling for the only award voted for by the boxing fans will begin on January 2nd and run until January 18.
Lomachenko won the trophy in 2016 with a whopping 76% after what was a stellar year. ‘Loma’ was beaten in 2017 by the resurgent Gennady Golovkin with 48% of the poll.
Canelo Alvarez, who defeated Golovkin this year, is also vying for the accolade.
This year, Golovkin misses out, whilst Lomachenko secured his place with victory over Jose Pedraza on December 8. Canelo did likewise by avoiding defeating Rocky Fielding in a devastating display.
The full shortlist will be confirmed after the last big night of the year on December 31 in Japan.
The likes of Oleksandr Usyk and Mikey Garcia are set to feature. Whilst a host of other fighters are vying to be part of the voting.
Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, and even Manny Pacquiao could be in with a shout after securing their places in the WBN P4P Top 10 into the New Year.
Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Anthony Joshua, currently ranked at ten and twelve, respectively, may be part of a 12 to the 14-strong gathering.
Further outside the top ten, Miguel Berchelt, Danny Jacobs, and Shawn Porter have enjoyed solid years. Whilst minimumweight star Wanheng Menayothin could be in with a shout of making a list after overtaking Floyd Mayweather on 52-0.
New kids on the block, Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Eleider Alvarez, could well deserve to be in the shake-up as both defeated pound-for-pound champions in Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson.
Winning world titles for the first time in 2018, Isaac Dogboe, Demetrius Andrade, and World Boxing Super Series winner Callum Smith will be hoping to be involved.
A nominee for Comeback of 2018, Nonito Donaire may well find himself announced on the New Year list – at least in a Comeback of the Year capacity. Jarrett Hurd, Josh Warrington, and Hekkie Budler has impressed this year.
Ken Shiro, Kazuto Ioka, and two-time WBN Young Fighter of the Year Kosei Tanaka will be bidding to fly the flag for the Asian continent.
WBN will reveal all award nominees on January 2, 2019.
Below is a list of last year’s winners:
WBN AWARDS 2017
- WBN Fighter of the Year: Gennady Golovkin (48%)
- Editor’s Choice: Gennady Golovkin
- Fight of the Year: Anthony Joshua v Wladimir Klitschko
- Young Fighter of the Year (23 Under): Daigo Higa
- Pound for Pound Breakthrough: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
- Stoppage of 2017: Deontay Wilder (vs. Bermane Stiverne)
- Trainer of the Year: Anatoly Lomachenko
- The comeback of 2017: Floyd Mayweather
- World title prospect of 2018: Nicola Adams