Manny Pacquiao is Sports Illustrated Magazine Top Boxing Story of 2010

Pound-for-pound King Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao was chosed by Sports Illustrated, the world’s most respected and oldest sports magazine, as as the No. 1 boxing story for 2010.

The 32-year-old Filipino champion (52-3-2 win-loss-draw record with 38 knockouts) was cited for his incredible feats for the year that’s about to end, which the mother of all sports magazines has labeled as “The Year of Pacquiao.”

“Already boxing’s most exciting fighter, Manny Pacquiao became a global phenomeon in 2010, penetrating the American sporting mainstream like no Asian-born athlete in history,” according to Sports Illustrated’s columnist Bryan Armen Graham.

Graham also said in his recent column that “2010 is the year of Pacquiao,” the Filipino boxing icon having won eight titles in as many weight classes from various boxing-sanctioning bodies.

The heavy-handed southpaw crushed Joshua Clottey in March, then Antonio Margarito in November. In May, he was elected congressman in the lone district of his home province, Sarangani.

Pacman ranked 17th in the American magazine’s top male athletes of the decade, Tiger Woods of golf, Roger Federer of tennis and Michael Phelps of swimming occupying the top 3 positions.

But as far as boxing is concerned, Pacman is Sport Illustrated’s top choice for 2010.

The sports magazine that has 3.5 million subscribers cited Pacman for having won eight world titles in as many weight divisions, or nearly half of the 17 weight classifications there is in boxing.

In 2010, Pacman was everywhere. He was on 60 Minutes, Time Magazine, BIOgraphy Channel, Jimmy Kimmel Show, and was honored by the Boxing Writers Association of American as its Fighter of the Decade.

Despite all the accolades, Pacman remained down to earth.

“I’m just an ordinary boxer trying to make the people happy,” he said, adding that he’s not after all the awards because to him, giving his best in every fight is the most important thing.

“It’s the only way I can give it back to the fans,” he’d often say.

Ranked second, behind Pacman’s success story was Floyd Mayweather, whom others still consider as the pound-for-pound champion, but not much for his victory over Shane Mosley last May.

Graham mentioned Mayweather’s personal battles, including a domestic violence case that could keep him in jail until he grows old, and a “profanity-laced and racially-charged” online tirade against Pacman.

“I’ll make that mother f----- make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice,” was part of Mayweather’s verbal flurry that was caught on video, He did apologize, saying he was just having fun.

Incidentally, the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, the superfight that just wouldn’t happen, was Sport Illustrated’s No. 10 boxing story for the year. It was supposed to take place last May, but never did.

“The megafight that didn’t happen. This was the year we all learned much more than we cared to know about Olympic-style drug testing,” wrote Graham in his compilation.

“Unfortunately, Mayweather-Pacquiao is no longer a dream matchup, it’s an obligation: a fight the public has made. It wouldn’t just be a showdown between the sport’s two best pound-for-pound fighters.

“(I)t’d be the most delicious clash of styles boxing fans have seen in ages: Pacquiao’s oppressive, offensive force against Mayweather, the foremost defensive tactician of our generation,” Graham continued.

On December 24, Sports Illustrated’s Georgina Turner listed the campaign of the Philippines’ men’s football team in the Suzuki Cup as the No. 10 football story of year.

The Filipinos, fondly called “Azkals” (street dogs) and considered minnows in Asian football, upset reigning champion Vietnam, 2-0, to make it to the semifinals of the tournament organized by the Asean Football Federation.

It was the farthest that a Philippine football team had reached in a major tournament in decades.