Pacquiao awarded as Fighter of the Year 2008

Manny Pacquiao have received the 2008 Fighter of the Year award Friday evening in New York. He will be joining the ranks of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard and Evander Holyfield if he continues to shine in the year 2009.

So far Ali, Frazier, Leonard and Holyfield are he only fighters to have won the award three times since the Boxing Writers Association of America started giving the award in 1938, the year heavyweight Jack Dempsey won it.

Pacquiao was BWAA top fighter in 2006, when he knocked out Erik Morales twice, and was named the best for 2008, the year he defeated Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz and Oscar dela Hoya in different weight classes.

No fighter in history has won the BWAA top plum four times such as Manny.

Mannny Pacquiao thanked the Filipino nation, his family, his promoter Bob Arum, trainer Freddie Roach, and members of Team Pacquiao.

He stated, “I also hope that this award will serve as an example and an inspiration for the young fighters to believe in themselves and keep on dreaming big. Always remember, your dreams will always be inside you. No one can take it away."

Watch Pacquiao when he knocked out Hatton..