Pacquiao is BWAA’s choice as Fighter of the Decade

Manny Pacquiao was honored as the fighter of the decade by the Boxing Writer’s Association of America on Monday, along with matching Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield by winning his third fighter of the year award.

The president of the Boxing Writers Jack Hirsh says pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao won the “Fighter of the Decade” award by a huge margin.

Although stating he would “rather not give a vote breakdown” of how the members balloting for “Fighter of the Decade” turned out, Hirsch told us “the margin of Pacquiao’s victories were enormous” although he conceded a handful of members voted for someone else.

The respected president of the BWAA said “the decisiveness of Pacquiao’s victory for ‘Fighter of the Decade’ surprised me.”

He said Pacquiao “got more than twice as many votes as the second place finisher, Floyd Mayweather Jr.”

Hirsch said the BWAA was negotiating with Madison Square Garden to have the dinner at the famed venue on June 11 and said he was hoping they could work something out but that “right now it’s no better than 50-50.”

He indicated that after last year’s awards dinner Madison Square Garden had reached out to the association asking to host this year’s dinner and Hirsch said he was hoping MSG would give them “a good enough deal to make this a reality.”

Pacquiao (50-3 with 2 draws and 38 KOs) capped off a remarkable decade by stopping welterweight Miguel Cotto in the final round in November to win a title in a record-setting seventh weight division. Pacquiao will return to the ring in March when he defends his WBO belt against Joshua Clottey at the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

Pacquiao says he will accept his awards haul in person at the 85th boxing writers awards dinner on June 11 in New York City.

The reigning pound-for-pound king was chosen fighter of the decade over Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera.

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, was honored with a record-setting fourth Eddie Futch Award for trainer of the year. Futch once trained Roach, who eventually became his assistant and has gone on to train the likes of Israel Vazquez and James Toney.

Pacquiao was clearly overjoyed and humbled by the honors bestowed upon him and thanked the members of the BWAA for their support and respect for his achievements the past decade where he emerged as the most exciting boxer in the world today and a genuine box office hit.

The awards notwithstanding Pacquiao was in the Wild Card Gym of celebrated trainer Freddie Roach who was named “Trainer of the Year” for the fourth time and cemented his position, like Pacquiao, of being regarded as one of the greatest of all-time.

Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said Pacquiao had another fine day at the gym, going through his regular routine and looking better than ever in preparation for his March 13 showdown with Joshua Clottey at the Dallas Cowboys state-of-the-art $1.2 billion stadium.