By David Martinez / dmboxing.com

I have assembled my personal choices in boxing for the past year 2016 in the five major categories, and my “pound for pound” ranking for the year ending 2016. Picks are solely my opinion, as I sincerely respect and welcome the opinions of others – thank you!

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: Vasyl Lomachenko

Roman Martinez (KO 5)

June 11, 2016 / WBO Super Featherweight Championship

Madison Square Garden, New York

Nicholas Walters (RTD 7)

November 26, 2016 / WBO Super Featherweight Championship

Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, Nevada

*** Runner Up: Carl Frampton

Scott Quigg (SD 12)

February 27, 2016 / IBF and WBA Featherweight Championship

Manchester Arena, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Leo Santa Cruz (MD 12)

July 30, 2016 / WBA Featherweight Championship

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York

FIGHT OF THE YEAR: Francisco Vargas vs. Orlando Solis (Draw 12)

June 4, 2016 / WBC Super Featherweight Championship

StubHub Center, Carson, California

*** Runner Up: Shinsuke Yamanaka vs. Anselmo Moreno (KO 7)

September 16, 2016 / WBC Bantamweight Championship

EDION Area, Osaka, Japan

ROUND OF THE YEAR: Leo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton (Round 6)

July 30, 2016 / WBA Featherweight Championship

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York

*** Runner Up: Sam Eggington vs. Frankie Gavin (Round 6)

October 22, 2016 / Welterweights

Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR: Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan (KO 6)

May 7, 2016 / WBC Middleweight Championship

T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

*** Runner Up: Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Roman Martinez (KO 5)

June 11, 2016 / WBO Super Featherweight Championship

Madison Garden Theater , New York

UPSET OF THE YEAR: Joe Smith Jr. vs. Andrzej Fonfara (KO 1)

June 18, 2016 / Light Heavyweights

UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois

*** Runner Up: Andrew Hernandez vs. Anif Magomedov (W 10)

May 21, 2016 / Middleweights

Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, Las Vegas , Nevada

There are a lot of upcoming young prospects in boxing today, here are five names coming into 2017 to keep an eye on: Oleksandr Gvozdyk (12-0 / 10 by KO) … Andrew Selby (7-0 / 5 by KO) … Ryan Karl (13-0 / 9 by KO) … Daigo Higa (11-0 / 11 by KO) … Callum Smith (22-0 / 17 by KO).

My top (12) dozen “Pound For Pound” ranking ending December 31, 2016

1) Roman Gonzalez (46-0 / 38 by KO)

2) Gennady Golovkin (36-0 / 33 by KO)

3) Andre Ward (31-0 / 15 by KO)

4) Vasyl Lomachenko (7-1 / 5 by KO)

5) Sergy Kovalev (30-1-1 / 26 by KO)

6) Terence Crawford (30-0 / 21 by KO)

7) Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1 / 34 by KO)

8) Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0 / 11 by KO)

9) Shinsuke Yamanaka (26-0-2 / 18 by KO)

10) Naoya Inoue (12-0 / 10 by KO)

11) Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2 / 38 by KO)

12) Danny Garcia (33-0 / 19 by KO)

Five (in order) Honorable Mention: Carl Frampton (23-0 / 14 by KO) … Donnie Nietes (39-1-4 / 22 by KO … Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1 / 18 by KO) … Keith Thurman (27-0 / 22 by KO) … Carlos Cuadras (35-1-1 / 27 by KO).