Pacquiao top choice of fans, scribes: Fighter of year a third time

MANILA, Philippines - Pound-for-pound world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao continued to reap honors, getting the nod of BoxingScene.com and ring fans from the world over as Fighter of the Year.

Pacquiao was the runaway winner of the award for the second straight year for his sensational wins over Ricky Hatton in May and over Miguel Cotto in November.

The Filipino ring hero received 88.5 percent of the voting of ring fans and no other fighter got more than 8.5 percent. The other fighters getting votes were Vitali Klitschko, Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley.

The Ring Magazine, which conducted the poll, said there was little doubt that Pacquiao would be voted as 2009 RING FAN POLLS Fighter of the Year as “he elevated himself in 2009.”

“First, he scored one of the most-spectacular knockouts in history when he rendered the supposedly stronger Ricky Hatton unconscious with a mighty left to the chin in the second round of their fight on May 5 in Las Vegas, inspiring awe from everyone who saw it,” said writer Michael Rosenthal.

“That triggered the comparisons to Henry Armstrong, who once held the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight titles simultaneously. Pacquiao seemed to fit that mold, a little man who moved up in weight and destroyed capable bigger men,” Rosenthal added.

“And then Pacquiao outdid himself. On Nov. 14, also in Las Vegas, he fought talented veteran Miguel Cotto. The Puerto Rican put up a good fight for a few rounds but was hurt in the fourth round and Pacquiao took over from there, ultimately scoring a 12th-round knockout.”

With his conquest of Cotto, Pacquiao made history by winning a major title in a seventh weight division.

The BoxingScene.com also had Pacquiao as the runaway winner of the award with Klitschko, Bradley and Ward getting honorable mention.

Pacquiao was Fighter of the Year by BoxingScene.com for the third time in the last four years.

“The old phrase ‘third time’s a charm’ isn’t exactly applicable here, as it’s normally reserved for those who’ve twice fallen short of a particular goal before getting it right on the third try. For Manny Pacquiao, the third Fighter of the Year honor stands above his previous two because 2009 was about making history,” the BoxingScene.com said.

BoxingScene.com considered this:

“In most other years, fighters such as Vitali Klitschko, Tim Bradley and Andre Ward warrant consideration for top honors for the campaigns each have led in the past 12 months.

“But 2009 was not like most other years. It was a year in which terrific fights were made and the history books were rewritten.

“The latter has everything to do with the Fighter of the Year category slowly but surely becoming a one-man race as the year unfolded, despite what on paper appeared to be stiff competition from the aforementioned fighters.

“But when all was said and done, the names on that list were no match for Manny Pacquiao.”