If O’Shaquie Foster isn’t the 2016 Fighter of the Year, who is?

O’Shaquie Foster collected more than just a super featherweight division in October. Foster, with a record of 26-3 (12 KOs), Foster also delivered a definitive performance in 2026 — and put himself at the top of the conversation for Fighter of the Year.

“Impulse” destroyed Mexico by hard hitting Emanuel Navarrete (40-3-1, 33 KOs) inside a hostile pro-Mexican arena. After dropping the 31-year-old twice in the final round to secure a dominant unanimous decision, Foster added the WBO and IBF titles to his green and gold WBC belt at 130 pounds.

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The union of three world titles is an event in itself. To do this against proven champion Navarrete, while making the controversy so one-sided, is another matter entirely. A fine mix of defense and attack frustrated Navarrete’s offensive instincts as Foster played himself to perfection throughout the thirty minutes of action.

Foster’s second win of the year — and third in 11 months, including wins over Stephen Fulton and Raymond Ford — wasn’t just a successful night at the office. He was said to be claiming a seat at the top of the annual boxing awards.

It is no longer a question of whether Foster belongs in the conference. whether someone else has done enough to make a stronger case.

Foster vs

In fact, the bar of claiming one of boxing’s top individual honors has dropped somewhat over the years. The days when a fighter must have four or five fights a year to qualify are in the rearview mirror. Henry Armstrong’s undefeated streak of 27 fights in 1937 is a mere blip on the horizon.

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You only have to look at the year’s awards, when the team named Terence Crawford as the king of 2025 after a solitary victory over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. In 2024 it happened that Oleksandr Usyk beat the same man (Tyson Fury) twice in a calendar year.

Another fighter, like Foster, who has two record wins in 2026 — the second one, which happened just hours before Foster’s headline act in San Antonio — is Dalton Smith (20-0, 14 KOs), the WBC super lightweight champion.

Smith began his year-long bout by knocking out former 140-pound world champion Subriel Matias over a five-rounder. Smith’s victory from his solo departure in New York sent a super light shock across the country, and saw the 29-year-old Sheffield fighter front the band for one of the shows of the year.

The world title was followed by Matias Ripping’s successful first defense this past weekend. Another former champion at the weight, Albertus Puello, pushed Smith the twelfth round, but ultimately came up short against the fighter’s home training, completing the triangle of fights between this trio of 100 pounds.

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Smith came out on top of both men, making him hard to overlook in a year where two elite level world title victories have become a pretty handy calling card.

Then there is Daniel Dubois (24-3, 23 KOs), who managed to win and defend the world heavyweight title in 2016, both times against Fabius Wardley, both within a span of five months.

Wardley entered the year undefeated and relatively inexperienced, a heavyweight Cinderella story that had beaten its way from white collar obscurity to the top of the game. But the stories of the beast instead twist the machines, with back to the whips of the hands of “Triple D” bringing him back to earth.

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Outside of the soon-to-retire Oleksandr Usyk, Dubois is now the a man at heavyweight. Not yet 30 years old, he is quietly assembling a collection that could soon stand alongside British heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

What other chance?

By dipping into the pound-for-pound top-10s at the end of the year, you can usually find your argument for crowning Fighter of the Year. And if we work for that logic, it’s David Benavidez probably the best for a fighter sitting in the upper echelons of the sport.

Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) returned with a dominant six-round blitzing of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez in May, jumping from light heavyweight to cruiserweight with a submission attached. The 29-year-old “Monster” has well and truly put his hat in the ring to name a legendary new “face”, with the biggest challenger for that mantle probably emerging Ryan Garcia (26-2, 21 KOs), who fought both Mario Barrios and Conor Benn for the WBC welterweight title in 2026.

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However, Benavidez’s argument can be truncated by mid-December if he does not forget the match against Michal Cieslak. Unfortunately for Benavidez, the weight of the name that the opponent feeds into the final formula when trying to distinguish between attempts and by weight classes.

Cieslak has already come up short on the world stage twice against Lawrence Okolie and Ilunga Makabu, losing both by unanimous decisions. He is 37 years old, and mere food and drink are to be had for a man of Benavidez’s talents.

Speaking of cruiserweights, will Zuffa Boxing’s Jai Opetaia (31-0, 24 KOs) be enough to move the needle on wins over Brandon Glanton and Noel Mikaelian? Meh.

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Naoya Inoue over Junto Nakatani received just applause back in May, but for a fighter who made his name in action over the years, it’s hard not to feel short for the Japanese “Monster” in 2026, this man who fought four times in 2025. I understand that we were probably spoiled there.

Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs) is slated for a 2027 clash with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (24-0, 17 KOs) – another man with only one win on his record in 2026, beating Antonio Vargas in six rounds.

Shakur Stevenson and Jaron “Boots” Ennis are two boxers who have shined in 2026 and have the future of the sport in the palm of their hands, but again, the lack of action is a sticking point when considering these two for the Fighter of the Year Award.

Results of the year? Certainly. Back in January, Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) blanked Teofimo Lopez en route, jumping up to lightweight in the process. “Boets” Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs) sent Xander Zayas in brutal fashion, dropping the game, the proud Puerto Rican came three times before the end of the seventh round.

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So who – and more importantly, what – left?

What if Callum Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) upsets Dmitry Bivol (25-1, 12 KOs) in Russia in mid-December? Or just this year’s award winner Tyson Fury (36-2-1, 25 KOs) vs. Should we offer Anthony Joshua (30-4, 27 KOs) as a gesture – much like the WBA is doing by throwing the “super” heavyweight title on the line?

Probably not.

If O’Shaquie Foster doesn’t end up crowned 2016 Boxing Fighter of the Year, then the event really lived up to its nickname: by “Strike”.