2010 Fighter of the Year
Published Dec 24 2010 by: Jake Emen | Follow us on Facebook & on Twitter
Who was Boxing's Fighter of the Year for 2010?
In many years you can make a case for a few different fighters who could be the Fighter of the Year, and you wouldn't get too much argument one way or the other. However, 2010 was a bit different, and one fighter clearly stood above his boxing brethren as the man. That man is, of course, Sergio Martinez, who put on two fantastic displays in big time fights to claim the 2010 Fighter of the Year award from ProBoxing-Fans.com.
Photo credit: Craig Bennett/Goossen Tutor Promotions
The instant that an overhand left from Sergio Martinez cracked the jaw of Paul Williams in their rematch, sending him careening to the canvas unconscious, the 2010 Fighter of the Year award was signed, sealed and delivered. It was the Knockout of the Year, and it came against one of the top 5 pound for pound fighters on the planet.
The performance, a defense of the middleweight title that Martinez captured from Kelly Pavlik in April, boosted Martinez to the #3 slot in the pound for pound list, and firmly established his place in the game after a long and twisting journey to the upper echelons of the sport.
Let's not merely breeze past Martinez's win over Pavlik back in April either. Martinez stormed out to an early lead over the champion, whose only previous loss was at 170 lbs against Bernard Hopkins, controlling the action with his speed, precision and footwork. Pavlik came back in the middle rounds, but the tide was turned for good when Martinez opened up a nasty cut on Pavlik. With his opponent bloodied, Martinez had a field day, sweeping the final rounds to take home the championship. After losing a disputed decision to Williams in their first fight in December of 2009, and somehow ending up with a draw against Kermit Cintron earlier in that year, in one of the oddest outcomes in a boxing match ever, the middleweight title was all of the justification that Martinez could ask for.
But nobody could have predicted the way that his rematch with Williams ended. The match was seen as a pick-'em contest between two of the top 5 pound for pound boxers on the planet and the two best middleweights in the world, with either fighter capable of pulling out the W.
Martinez just wasn't going to give Williams that chance though. The shorter punch lands first every time, and Martinez knew Williams would be wide open for it. So when Williams opened up with his own left, Martinez quickly ducked to the right and then launched that perfect, crushing left hook from over his head. Timber. Game over. Knockout of the Year, Fighter of the Year... it's all yours, Sergio.
Martinez Over Pacquiao for 2010 Fighter of the Year?
Last year, Manny Pacquiao was the Fighter of the Year. His fans would argue that he deserves that recognition again in 2010, as the results of our latest poll show. 75% of people voted for Pacquiao, with 20% voting for Martinez and just 5% voting for other fighters. However, that perspective is at best flawed, and at worst, is blinded to what actually took place in boxing this year.
Either of Martinez's wins are better than either of Pacquiao's wins, and the competition in both of his fights was better than Pacquiao's was in either of his. Yes, Pacquiao captured a title in the "junior middleweight" division, but the award isn't for which fighter has advanced through the most weight classes during a career, it's for which fighter performed the best, against the best. In 2010, hands down, it was Maravilla, Sergio Martinez.
Now that you've viewed the 2010 Fighter of the Year award from ProBoxing-Fans.com, be sure to take a look through the rest of the 2010 boxing awards, and see which ones you agree or disagree with there as well!
C’mon guys Manny is not greedy & couldn’t care less if he’s FOTY. He’d already had that award a couple of times or so, so lets just give chance to others. Even he doesn’t win that he had already proved his greatness. Give to the 1st timers…Peace out!!!!
It’s not that you disqualify a fighter because he has won that award three times before, it is the weight and the significance to what has transpired in the sport in the particular year. Disqualifying a person from the award for that simple reason removes the importance of the title to the recipient…….
It was not the knock out that makes you the fighter of the year (you can have the KO of the year for that), but, it was how you completely dominated your opponents in the ring, and the great significance of the wins to the sports in that particular year. With this, I go for Manny’s complete domination of two very much bigger and elite opponents (in Clottey and Margarito) and his winning of the 8th world championships in as many weight divisions, the first in the history of boxing, therefore making him deserve a Fighter of the Year award for Manny Pacquiao for 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what the? MArtinez? why? not so fast…. is just because he got almost lost to an alcoholic pavlik, got lucky punch to Williams in a catch weight? not so impressive yet, he must get tested to his own size in his division there are lots of un-bitten fighters out there like Pirog of russia and others.
Agree with you kiddo, though I like Martinez too.
pacman dont really care about who’s the best in this years fighter of 2010 because pacman won them all already especially fighter of the decade!!!!!!!!!they can have it!!!!!!!!!!!!pacman should recieve an award for being the most humbling fighter who cares for his opponent whenever he fights!!!!!!thats what pacmans need!
For Martinez to be fighter of the year he has to beat any of the heavyweights.
Martinez did have a great year, however, be a little more objective. Manny Pacquiao set the bar too high for himself so that most of people cant be objective. Pacman walks around at 145 lbs. He can easily fight at lightweight, or even super featherweight. He went up to welterweight and fought at light middleweight against a tall opponent who outweighs him by 17 lbs. Imagine Maravilla fighting Antonio Tarver!
Manny is still the best choice as fighter of the year for 2010 because of his last two achivements in winning both bigger opponent in Clottey and Margarito. Merry Christmas to all!
MARTINEZ IS NOT A TOTAL FIGHTER AT ALL! HE RECOGNIZED HIS LAST FIGHT AGAINST PAUL WILLIAMS VIA KNOCKOUT! IN FACT, MARTINEZ NEEDS A LEGITIMATE FIGHTER OR ELITE BOXER! MARTINEZ IS MATURED ENOUGH BUT NOT TOTALLY SEASONED FIGHTER!
PACQUIAO IS THE BEST “FIGHTER OF THE YEAR” BECAUSE HIS LAST TWO FIGHTS GOES TO THE FULL TWELVE ROUNDS WITH A CONSTANT SPEED AND POWER EVENTHOUGH HE IS FAILED TO KNOCK THEM OUT.
Will you pactards give it a rest already? This is hardly the only boxing website or magazine that gave Sergio Martinez their FOTY for 2010. By b*tching about it, do you know how you pactards look? Like crybabies who resent the success of ANYONE other than your idol/god.
Because Pacman really deserve to be the “Fighter of the Year”.
You can make the argument for Martinez, but he beat fighters who are “true” middleweights like himself. Many boxing afficinados feel it is more amazing seeing a guy who used to fight at 105 lbs years ago evolve into a legitimate welterweight, super welterweight/jr middleweight and dominate guys much bigger than him.. Ring Magazine, more prestigious then ProBoxing(who the heck is Jake Emen?LOL) and has been naming “Fighter of the Year” since the 1920′s gives it to Manny Pacquaio for 2010. PacMan deserves it. Like Emmanuel Steward said live during one of Manny’s recent fights, “I have to place him(Manny) with the greats Ali, Robinson”