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Floyd Mayweather Wins 2010 ESPY Award for Best Fight

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Floyd Mayweather Wins 2010 ESPY Award for Best Fight

While ESPN tries to present its ESPY Awards as the sporting world’s equivalent of the Oscars or Grammys, the truth is that they are simply an excuse for sports stars to hobnob with Hollywood’s elite and attend free parties. The actual ESPY Awards (voted on by ESPN’s viewers) are generally considered to be meaningless, even to the people who win them.

However, the 2010 ESPY Awards had some intrigue to them as it related to the award for Best Fighter, which combines boxing and mixed martial arts combatants into one category. While UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre was one of the three nominees, the real intrigue came down to the other two potential winners: boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. The ESPY Award was a chance to see how the public feels about the two bitter rivals and acknowledged best pound-for-pound boxers in the world.

In the end, it was Mayweather who ruled the day as he claimed the Best Fighter ESPY Award. It was familiar ground for Mayweather, who has won three of the four times that the award has been handed out (Miguel Cotto won in 2009). Along with serving to reinforce that boxing is still considered to be the dominant combat sport in the United States (an MMA fighter has never won the award) it also reinforced the notion that – at least in America – Floyd Mayweather is still the biggest name in boxing.

Of course, there may have been more factors at play than popularity. Based simply on their in-ring exploits in 2010, it would have been difficult to give the award to Pacquiao. His lone fight so far in 2010 has been a unanimous decision victory over Joshua Clottey in March. Clottey was a familiar name for serious boxing fans but a relative unknown to the casual fan. There was little hype going into the fight, which was probably a good thing as the actual bout was a snoozer as Pacquiao relentlessly pressed ahead while Clottey simply covered up and refused to come out of his shell.

Meanwhile, Mayweather’s lone bout so far in 2010 came against a decidedly more well-known opponent when he beat Shane Mosley by unanimous decision in May. Mayweather dominated the fight despite being caught with a solid punch from Mosley in the second round. Even at 38, Mosley is still one of the best-known fighters in the business and Mayweather’s bout against him was a far bigger PPV draw than Pacquiao’s bout against Clottey.

So it likely isn’t shocking that Pacquiao would lose the 2010 ESPY Award to Mayweather. However, Pacquiao has struggled in this popularity contest before. Just one year ago, Pacquiao was the consensus Fighter of the Year after having dispatched Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton within the previous 12 months. But even with Mayweather in temporary retirement, Pacquiao still couldn’t win the award as it went to Cotto (despite his two wins coming against Clottey and Michael Jennings).

Of course, Pacquaio got the last laugh when he beat Cotto in November in their match for the WBO welterweight title and chances are that Pacquiao isn’t that concerned about winning ESPY Awards. Still, Mayweather’s award victory is interesting to note, especially considering that the relative popularity of the two fighters has been a bone of contention in the past. Mayweather reportedly asked for a higher percentage of the revenues from a potential fight with Pacquiao because he said he was a bigger draw in the United States.

That issue was resolved, but Mayweather is apparently passing on inking a contract to fight Pacquiao this November. With no fight between the two on the immediate horizon, events like the ESPY Awards might be the only chance for fight fans to see the two best boxers in the world square off against each other.

Floyd Mayweather Wins 2010 ESPY Award for Best Fight
 
While ESPN tries to present its ESPY Awards as the sporting world’s equivalent of the Oscars or Grammys, the truth is that they are simply an excuse for sports stars to hobnob with Hollywood’s elite and attend free parties. The actual ESPY Awards (voted on by ESPN’s viewers) are generally considered to be meaningless, even to the people who win them.
 
However, the 2010 ESPY Awards had some intrigue to them as it related to the award for Best Fighter, which combines boxing and mixed martial arts combatants into one category. While UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre was one of the three nominees, the real intrigue came down to the other two potential winners: boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. The ESPY Award was a chance to see how the public feels about the two bitter rivals and acknowledged best pound-for-pound boxers in the world.
 
In the end, it was Mayweather who ruled the day as he claimed the Best Fighter ESPY Award. It was familiar ground for Mayweather, who has won three of the four times that the award has been handed out (Miguel Cotto won in 2009). Along with serving to reinforce that boxing is still considered to be the dominant combat sport in the United States (an MMA fighter has never won the award) it also reinforced the notion that – at least in America – Floyd Mayweather is still the biggest name in boxing.
 
Of course, there may have been more factors at play than popularity. Based simply on their in-ring exploits in 2010, it would have been difficult to give the award to Pacquiao. His lone fight so far in 2010 has been a unanimous decision victory over Joshua Clottey in March. Clottey was a familiar name for serious boxing fans but a relative unknown to the casual fan. There was little hype going into the fight, which was probably a good thing as the actual bout was a snoozer as Pacquiao relentlessly pressed ahead while Clottey simply covered up and refused to come out of his shell.
 
Meanwhile, Mayweather’s lone bout so far in 2010 came against a decidedly more well-known opponent when he beat Shane Mosley by unanimous decision in May. Mayweather dominated the fight despite being caught with a solid punch from Mosley in the second round. Even at 38, Mosley is still one of the best-known fighters in the business and Mayweather’s bout against him was a far bigger PPV draw than Pacquiao’s bout against Clottey.
 
So it likely isn’t shocking that Pacquiao would lose the 2010 ESPY Award to Mayweather. However, Pacquiao has struggled in this popularity content before. Just one year ago, Pacquiao was the consensus Fighter of the Year after having dispatched Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton within the previous 12 months. But even with Mayweather in temporary retirement, Pacquiao still couldn’t win the award as it went to Cotto (despite his two wins coming against Clottey and Michael Jennings).
 
Of course, Pacquaio got the last laugh when he beat Cotto in November in their match for the WBO welterweight title and chances are that Pacquiao isn’t that concerned about winning ESPY Awards. Still, Mayweather’s award victory is interesting to note, especially considering that the relative popularity of the two fighters has been a bone of contention in the past. Mayweather reportedly asked for a higher percentage of the revenues from a potential fight with Pacquiao because he said he was a bigger draw in the United States.
 
That issue was resolved, but Mayweather is apparently passing on inking a contract to fight Pacquiao this November. With no fight between the two on the immediate horizon, events like the ESPY Awards might be the only chance for fight fans to see the two best boxers in the world square off against each other.

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