Manny Pacquiao’s strangle hold on The Ring magazine’s Fighter of the Year award may have come to an end on Saturday night.
Sergio Martinez scored a violent second round knock-out against the much heralded American Paul Williams. The victory avenges a December, 2009 majority decision loss to Paul Williams and is the second victory of the year for Martinez; in April Martinez took a unanimous decision against Kelly Pavlik.
Going into the fight Williams was ranked number five in The Ring magazine’s Pound for Pound rankings and Martinez held the number six spot.
A fight that was tough to call for many, ended with one punch that left Williams out cold on the canvas for several minutes. Williams was considered one of the top fighters in the world for ping-ponging between the welterweight and middleweight divisions with ease.
Pacquiao earned fighter of the year in 2006, 2008, and 2009. This year Pacquiao scored two unanimous decision victories, one against Joshua Clottey and the other against Antonio Margarito. A solid year for Pacquiao, but it is unlikely it will sway voters to pick the Filipino over Martinez.
If Martinez were to capture The Ring’s Fighter of the Year award, he would be the first boxer from Argentina to do so since Carlos Monzon shared the honor with Muhammad Ali in 1972.
