Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao was named for the second time as the ESPY Fighter of the Year (2011) Award. He got the same award way back 2009. The WBO Champion and pound-for-pound king had vested other nominees such as light-heavyweight Bernard Hopkins and middleweight Sergio Martinez. He vested also Jon Jones and Georges St. Pierre of the mixed martial arts.
It was the fourth nominations given to the 8 division world champion having won the 2009 and recently the 2011 editions. ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) was an award given by America’s sporting authority ESPN Network. The award for the Fighter of the Year started on 2007.
The ESPY Fighter of the Year was a closed fight between two of the most promising and famous boxer of our era. Floyd Mayweather Jr. had won the awards three times while Manny Pacquiao had won two times since its inception. Mayweather Jr. had won the 2007, 2008 and 2010 edition while Manny Pacquiao had won the 2009 and 2011 edition.
On this years ESPY Fighter of the Year Award, Pacquiao had won against hall of famer and the oldest boxer to win a major world title. The emergence of the Ultimate Fighting Championships or the mixed martial arts have also given a challenge to the dominance of boxing in the Fighter of the year category. Mixed martial artists had already a huge following not only in the US but also in different countries who loved fighting as a sport.
Manny Pacquiao despite fighting only once during this year against Sugar Shane Mosley, had once again proved to the world how popular he is in the world of boxing. During his fight against Mosley he had once again showed his dominance over the veteran fighter. One thing that impressed the ESPN’s sports analyst was his dominance against Margarito last November 2010.
Pacquiao was scheduled to fight against his arch-rival Manuel Marquez this coming November. Pacquiao had already garnered some of the world’s most popular awards from different award-giving bodies in the United States and the Philippines as well.
The 2011 Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly was held at the at the Nokia Center in Los Angeles on July 13 (US Time). The show was hosted by Saturday Night Comedian Seth Meyers for the second time. He started out with a joke of the NBA and NFL lockouts.