Floyd Mayweather named fighter of the decade by BWAA
Retired American boxer, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been named Fighter of The Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).
In a report sighted by YEN.com.gh on ESPN.com, on Friday, January 17, 2020, balloting results were announced and Mayweather was voted the winner of the Joe Louis Fighter of the Decade award and Alvarez, a fighter of the decade nominee, won the 2019 Sugar Ray Robinson Fighter of the Year award.
The reports further stressed that they will be honored, along with the rest of the award winners, at the 95th annual BWAA awards dinner in the spring at a site to be determined.
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Mayweather, who outpointed Alvarez in a 2013 junior middleweight world title unification fight that was, at the time, the highest-grossing pay-per-view event in history, went 10-0 from 2010 to 2019 in a series of megafights.
Mayweather retired in 2015, returning for a 2017 knockout of UFC star Conor McCregor when he crossed over to boxing, before retiring again -- though he has hinted about making another comeback this year.
But even though five-division champion Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) essentially fought for only half the decade, his performances were so dominant and such massive events that he claimed the award. He was the only two-time BWAA fighter of the year in the decade, winning it in 2013 and 2015.
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Besides Alvarez, Mayweather also defeated Manny Pacquiao in their long-awaited welterweight unification fight to determine king of their era in 2015 in what remains the highest-grossing fight in history. Other major wins for Mayweather in the decade came against Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and Marcos Maidana (twice).
The other fighter of the decade nominees were Alvarez, Pacquiao, former super middleweight and lightweight world champion Andre Ward and former unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
"Thank you to the Boxing Writers Association of America for voting me Fighter of the Decade," Mayweather said in a statement. "I am honored to be recognized by the media who covered my career throughout its many decades.
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"Boxing has been a part of my life since I was 2 years old and I dedicated my life to it and gave it my all. I trained hard, showed up for every one of my fights and did my job successfully each and every time. To retire undefeated and achieve what I did in the sport is not only a gift to myself but to the fans and, most importantly, my team and family. I certainly didn't do it alone and I appreciate anyone who played a part in it. Hard work and dedication -- something I did for my entire career. I am grateful and humbled by this honor. Thank you so very much."
YEN.com.gh previously reported story of how Mayweather was named as the highest-paid athlete in the world in the last 30 years.
Mayweather shared a video of the list of athletes on his Twitter handle which has been sighted YEN.com.gh as it was researched by David McSweeney of noobnorm.com
The list released by Forbes has Mayweather topping athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, George Foreman, Lebron James, etc.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
