Mayweather voted BWAA Fighter of the Year, Miura-Vargas wins Fight of the Year

If Floyd Mayweather has truly retired, then he leaves the sport on top. Not only did he remain undefeated and was still the consensus pound-for-pound No. 1 after his September win over Andre Berto, but he's now been named the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) Fighter of the Year for 2015, the third time he's won the award.

Mayweather (49-0, 26 KO) defeated Manny Pacquiao in a record-breaking blockbuster last May, and followed that with a farewell bout against Berto in September to go 2-0 on the year. He also won the award in 2007 and 2013.

Mayweather, who turns 39 later this month, has seemingly left the door open, at least a crack, for a return, but for now insists he's retired from being an active fighter, and is focusing on building his promotional company, Mayweather Promotions.

The race for 2015 Fighter of the Year was somewhat cluttered, and Mayweather's fame may have played the biggest key in getting the award for a third time. His fight with Pacquiao sold a record 4.6 million pay-per-views, generating astronomical revenue, even if the fight itself was widely panned. Mayweather joins Pacquiao, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield, and Sugar Ray Leonard as the only fighters to win the award on three occasions.

The Fight of the Year award goes to the November 21 war between Takashi Miura and Francisco Vargas, which Vargas won via ninth round TKO on the Cotto-Canelo undercard in Las Vegas. There were plenty of good fights last year, but Miura-Vargas was a true instant classic, a bloody battle with both men knocked down and displaying extreme courage and desire. There's really no arguing the result here -- it was absolutely the best fight of 2015.

Other awards:

• Trainer of the Year: Abel Sanchez. Most noted for his work with top middleweight Gennady Golovkin. This is the first time that Sanchez has won the Eddie Futch Award.
• Manager of the Year: Al Haymon. This marks the fifth time and fourth consecutive year that the secretive Haymon has won the award. The only real quibble might be with whether or not Haymon should be considered a promoter, which is also the main issue in the current Golden Boy lawsuit against Haymon. There's no doubt that Haymon has become the premier manager/adviser/whatever you want to call it in boxing, though.