Legendary boxing commentator and Hall Of Famer, ‘The Colonel’ Bob Sheridan is looking forward to the new year of boxing. After a 2016 that did not deliver a lot of the fights fans wanted to see, the new year holds promise and Bob Sheridan will have a front row seat to all the action. Sheridan has been calling fights for over forty years and hopes to add to his legacy of calling the biggest events in boxing history.

In my interview with Bob Sheridan, I get his views on who was the 2016 fighter of the year and who were some of the leading contenders. Sheridan also talks about a fight between IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and Rong champion Canelo Alvarez. Additionally, Bob gives his thoughts on a potential Crawford-Pacquiao bout and some of the other fights we could see in 2017. Here is what Bob Sheridan had to say.

(Click play to listen to the full interview with Bob Sheridan)

Robert Brown: Bob, now that we are done with 2016, who was your fighter of the year?

Bob Sheridan: I have to go with Golovkin. There’s a strong case for Andre Ward, there’s a strong case for Terence Crawford. Also Roman Gonzalez who is 46-0, he’s a tremendous fighter and I think he has to be mentioned on the pound-for-pound and fighter of the year talk. Those are some of my choices.

Robert Brown: The fight that fans hope to see happen in 2017 is Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Alvarez. If it does happen, who are you favoring?

Bob Sheridan: I tell you this, it’s a fight that has been highly anticipated, a lot of people have been saying that Canelo Alvarez has been ducking him but that’s not so, that’s the business end of boxing. The promoters of Canelo, who happens to be Oscar De La Hoya, they know how to milk a title and how to make the maximum amount of money. They sold out the huge dome in Dallas, Texas, they had about sixty thousand people for that fight. So why rush the Gennady Golovkin fight?

The Golovkin fight if it’s close and a good fight, that could be a series of throwback of the great three fight series. But if it’s a blast out by one guy or the other, that takes that drama away. For sure the Golovkin-Alvarez fight will be one of the most highly touted fights of the year, and it’s pretty much talked about that it’s going to be on the big Mexican holiday weekend on the first weekend of September. We look forward for that being either in Las Vegas or maybe back to Dallas where they can fill that big stadium again.

Robert Brown: Who would you be favoring in that bout?

Bob Sheridan: I’d be slightly favoring Canelo Alvarez, I think he’s a little bit bigger. It’s a strong thing to say against Golovkin, but right now until I see how everything comes together, I’d be slightly favoring Canelo Alvarez.

Robert Brown: Do you think there’s a chance that the Manny Pacquiao vs. Terence Crawford fight takes place in 2017?

Bob Sheridan: I think there’s an excellent chance of it happening. You have a kid in Australia named Jeff Horn who is a welterweight and he has signed a promotional agreement with Top Rank Boxing and Top Rank has several good fighters. He’s going to get one fight over here to see how good he is and I know his people want to fight Tim Bradley. I think that’s a bad move, I think Bradley might be tough on him. I think he could fight Jessie Vargas and I think he he would have a better shot at beating him.

If Jeff Horn gets by whoever he fights in his next fight, he may very well get the shot at Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao and Crawford, I would lean towards Crawford in that fight because of the age of Pacquiao, but any time I lean the other way away from Pacquiao, he surprises me because he’s a phenomenal athlete and when you talk about the best of the best, sometimes they come up with the shocking performances that you just wouldn’t otherwise believe. Pacquiao ranks as one of the best of the best.

Robert Brown: Which fighters do you think will make the jump from prospects to stars in this year?

Bob Sheridan: I want to see what Jeff Horn does. He hasn’t really fought the caliber of fighters that you talk about in the welterweight division but everybody that you put in front of him he’s been able to perform and get the job done. He’s a very tough guy, even when he gets knocked down, he has tremendous recuperative power. He’s a guy you want to keep a good eye on because if he raises to the occasion to beat someone like Jessie Vargas or Tim Bradley and gets a shot at Manny Pacquiao, he’s going to rise up.

You got guys like Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook, Amir Khan and Errol Spence, who could gain superstar status. Varyl Lomachenko could possibly gain superstar status this year when people realize what an unbelievable boxer he is. I think that he’s certainly got a chance to move on to superstar status. I don’t think the Anthony Joshua-Joseph Parker fight will take place in the next twelve months, I think thats a couple of years away, but the rise of Joshua and Parker will be interesting to see.