Toughness of mind and skill in facing toughest oppositions are equal to gallantry. It is the virtue most supreme and compatible to boxing as a combat sport. Thus beyond ring performances, gallantry should be topmost as criteria in choosing the Fighter (not “Fighter”) of the Year award.
How can a boxer who avoids toughest oppositions ever be thought of being “so good” to be considered Fighter of the Year for 2013 or any year? How can he be awarded as the best from the year he started shying away from solidly genuine challenges up to the year he refuses to fight a fellow boxer that the entire world has been longing to see him fight, for as long as the fight makes sense and matters?
Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KO’s) is expecting big things if he can get past 32-year-old former WBA World welterweight champion Luis Collazo (34-5, 17 KO’s) next month in their scheduled 10 round fight on January 30th at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. 
Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants to rebuild little Mayweather [Adrien Broner] by keeping him away from Marcos Maidana, by moving him down to 140, and having him fight on his next pay-per-view card on May 3rd. Mayweather thinks Broner can be brought back to his former status as one of boxing’s youngest up and coming stars, but he feels that he needs to be in the right weight class. If Broner can win a world title at 140 against someone like IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson, Broner would be a 4 division world champion. 
Dan Rafael of ESPN pointed out recently that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) with his fame and fortune will never be able to have a legacy because he’s failed to fight Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s). I’m not sure that a fight against Pacquiao is really needed for Mayweather to cement his legacy. 
Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) was hoping to cash in with a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. following his upset victory over Adrien Broner earlier this month on December 14th in San Antonio, Texas. But the chances of Maidana getting a fight against Mayweather are slim at best, and he might not even get a rematch against Broner. It’s doubtful that Golden Boy Promotions will let Broner fight Maidana again unless he forces the issue against their advice for him to move on. 
Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) told the media on Monday in Puerto Rico that he wants to fight WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) next. Cotto is targeting the 38-year-old Sergio because he wants to win his belt and capture his 4th division world title in the process. 
Floyd Mayweather Jr. said this past week that he won’t bother fighting Manny Pacquiao as long as he’s still being promoted by Bob Arum of Top Rank. Mayweather simply doesn’t want to work with Arum for some reason. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is coming out saying that there won’t be a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight until Pacquiao is no longer with Top Rank. 
I believe that most of us had expected to hear Vitali Klitschko announcing his retirement from boxing sometime soon. And exactly this happened, as Vitali’s political agenda and involvement in Ukraine swiftly took a turn, and required an entirety of his time and attention. Not only is Vitali dealing with a vicious wave of protests, but is also trying to win over the people and the majority vote that would land him in the presidential office.
As fans know, Vitali Klitschko recently vacated his WBC heavyweight title and declared how he “cannot imagine” a ring return “as things stand now.” So, it seems there is a good chance that at age 42, the elder Klitschko brother has fought his last fight in the ring and can now retire from boxing, his contributions to the sport in the history books.