This is the last installment of our 2009 year end awards.

Friend of FGB and great boxing blogger, Tim Starks joined us with his awards. Tim writes for The Queensberry Rules.

Boxing

Boxer Of The Year
Big D – Manny Pacquiao

Destroyed everybody and proved to be the biggest draw in the sport.

Duan – Amir Khan

I gave this to Pacquiao last year, and he is an absolute certainty for it again in 2009. So with that in mind, I have decided to pick for the next best instead. 15 months ago, Amir Khan’s career lay in tatters after a first round mauling at the hands of Breidis Prescott. In 2009 he rebuilt himself under the tutelage of Freddie Roach; scoring 3 wins and capturing the WBA title in the process. There’s no shortage of quality opponents for him at Light Welterweight, and at just 23 years old the sky is the limit.

Tim – Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao captured his record fourth lineal true championship in his fourth division, his record seventh major belt in his seventh division, and massacred two pound-for-pound top-10 boxers in junior welterweight Ricky Hatton and welterweight Miguel Cotto to warrant discussion as one of the 20 best boxers ever. Just as importantly, he became the face of boxing and got people excited about the sport more than any single boxer has done in a long time.

Cactus Jim – Manny Pacquiao

He’s walked through every fighter that was supposed to be able to stop or at least slow him, and he just captured a title in his seventh weight class. While I have been slowly getting back into boxing over the last year or so, I’ve went out of my way to see his fights. I think the numbers show the same is true for a lot of other viewers.

GG – Manny Pacquiao

It’s very hard to pick against him. He’s been on a terror these last two years.

Fight Of The Year
Big D – Andre Dirrell vs. Carl Froch

An awesome war in the Super Six World Boxing Classic.

Duan – Bernard Dunne vs. Ricardo Cordoba

Six knockdowns spread over eleven brutal rounds, an absolutely electric atmosphere, and an underdog title win. This was professional boxing at its very finest.

Tim – Paul Williams vs. Sergio Martinez

In a deep pool of excellent fights, no one scrap stood out much above all the others. But I went with the middleweight battle in December between Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez, which started off with both men trading knockdowns in the 1st round, trading momentum several times throughout, and trading punches with an intoxicating mixture of acumen and ferocity.

GG – Juan Diaz vs. Juan Manuel Marquez

The hand speed in this fight was amazing. The first half saw the young lion peppering the old warrior until the old warrior rightfully claimed the fight his. Some fights were close to this one for me, but this was my favorite fight of the year.

Most Memorable Moment Of The Year
Big D – Manny Pacquiao’s left hand of death to Ricky Hatton

Great for the same reason the Dan Henderson KO (over Michael Bisping at UFC 100) was great; a trash-talking Brit got stole.

Duan – Shane Mosley’s upset of Antonio Margarito

Shane proved that he still has a lot to offer the sport even at 38. Here’s hoping that 2010 delivers the big fights that he deserves.

Tim – Other than Juan Manuel Marquez drinking his own urine on HBO’s “24/7” show? It has to be the unbelievable left hook Pacquiao landed in the 2nd round to knock out Hatton, a punch that quickly entered the pantheon of some of the all-time best one-punch KOs in boxing history.

Cactus Jim – Manny Pacquiao flattening Ricky Hatton in the second round of their fight in May.

I think that KO helped demonstrate that he was the real deal (moving up in weight), whereas the De La Hoya fight proved more about Oscar’s diminished skills than Manny’s potential success at that weight.

GG – Shane Mosley’s upset of Antonio Margarito

I have to agree with Duan. It was so exciting because I couldn’t believe it was happening in the way it was happening. And the fact that Margarito’s gloves were tainted even made it even more memorable after the fact.

Thanks for reading the 2009 Fight Game Blog Awards. See you in 2010.

2008 Fight Game Blog Awards
2009 Fight Game Blog Awards – Pro Wrestling
2009 Fight Game Blog Awards – MMA

Photo of Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach taken by Frederick Manligas Nacino and shared via creative commons