One final award for the 2009 year as we get set to kick off 2010 in boxing. Can you guess who the Fighter of the Year was?
In summary: Duh.
Honorable Mentions
In a non-Pacquiao world, these guys would have been solid contenders for the award.
Vitali Klitschko: His three wins over Juan Carlos Gomez, Cristobal Arreola and Kevin Johnson weren't always pretty (to put it nicely), but he dominated all of them, and two of them were definite top ten guys at the time. Vitali's ambition is pretty admirable, no matter how you feel about his style or lack thereof.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.: However you want to frame it, Floyd came back to shut out a pound-for-pound contender and true Mexican warrior, and even with the fight being called a mismatch, it sold a million pay-per-views. I know that at this point some people might feel differently, but Mayweather returning is nothing but good for boxing. He's a phenomenal boxer, a blue moon-level talent, and he drives interest in the sport.
Shane Mosley: If only he'd fought more than one time this year, but his destruction of Antonio Margarito was really something else.
Paul Williams: Tall Paul routed a returning Winky Wright, giving Wink the absolute worst beating of his career, and then edged past Sergio Martinez in a Fight of the Year contender in December.
Jean Pascal: A true darkhorse, as none of his fights made major waves outside of Canada or beyond the hardcore boxing fans, but two wins over Adrian Diaconu and a win over decent contender Silvio Branco amounts to a pretty damn good year.
Yonnhy Perez: A couple of phenomenal wins broke him into the very elite of the 118-pound ranks.