Pacquiao, Roach top picks for BWAA's honors

Manny Pacquiao has just primed himself for a third Fighter of the Year title in the aftermath of his two sensational wins in 2009. Trainer Freddie Roach believes Pacquiao’s brutal second round knockout win over Ricky Hatton in May, followed by his 12-round stoppage of Miguel Cotto just a week ago are enough to consider the Filipino as 2009’s best boxer.

Those victories also put Roach in line for a shot at a fourth Trainer of the Year award. Last year, the 30-year old Pacquiao sat atop the boxing world with his string of victories fashioned out against the likes of former world champions Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz, and boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya. The feat was enough for the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) to name him the 2008 Fighter of the Year, an award first bestowed on the pound-for-pound king in 2006. Following his brutal second round knockout of Hatton, the popular boxer from Manchester and a two-time junior welterweight champion, last May, the BWAA, in its website, www.bwaa.org, wrote that Pacquiao may well be another leading contender for the Fighter of the Year award. "It was Pacquiao's second BWAA award, and he just might be on the way to a third, judging by his sensational 2009 stoppage of Ricky Hatton," the BWAA article read during its annual award dinner in New York last June where the Filipino southpaw personally accepted his trophy. Pacquiao further solidified his case for the annual honor with the smashing technical knockout he scored over the 29-year old Cotto last week in Las Vegas to wrest the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown. His win over the dethroned champion from Caguas, Puerto Rico allowed the General Santos City native to become the first boxer to reign in seven different weight classes. Roach admitted another recognition from the BWAA would not be possible without the accomplishment of the fighter he describes as “one of the greatest in his era." "I might win Trainer of the Year (award) four times because of Manny Pacquiao," said Roach, who also bagged the title last year, in 2006 and 2003. "We’ve got two great wins, and had Amir Khan," he said, referring to the former Olympian from United Kingdon, who also won his first world title this year with a 12-round unanimous decision against Andriy Kotelnik to wrest the World Boxing Association (WBA) light-welterweight title. From the looks of it, Roach considers Nazim Richardson, the chief trainer of WBA welterweight king Shane Mosley and former undisputed middleweight title holder Bernard Hopkins, as his most fierce rival for the Trainer of the Year title. Richardson was credited for Mosley’s upset of Mexican Antonio Margarito, whom he stopped in the ninth round of their title fight last January. But Roach believes Pacquiao’s two wins this year had the most impact of them all. "That one guy (Richardson) has Shane Mosley and had Bernard Hopkins, two great wins. But I think, mine was the bigger. I hope I win it again." – GMANews.TV