This is the last installment of our 2009 year end awards.

Friend of FGB and great boxing blogger, Tim Starks joined us with his awards. Tim writes for The Queensberry Rules.

Boxing

Boxer Of The Year
Big D – Manny Pacquiao

Destroyed everybody and proved to be the biggest draw in the sport.

Duan – Amir Khan

I gave this to Pacquiao last year, and he is an absolute certainty for it again in 2009. So with that in mind, I have decided to pick for the next best instead. 15 months ago, Amir Khan’s career lay in tatters after a first round mauling at the hands of Breidis Prescott. In 2009 he rebuilt himself under the tutelage of Freddie Roach; scoring 3 wins and capturing the WBA title in the process. There’s no shortage of quality opponents for him at Light Welterweight, and at just 23 years old the sky is the limit.

Tim – Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao captured his record fourth lineal true championship in his fourth division, his record seventh major belt in his seventh division, and massacred two pound-for-pound top-10 boxers in junior welterweight Ricky Hatton and welterweight Miguel Cotto to warrant discussion as one of the 20 best boxers ever. Just as importantly, he became the face of boxing and got people excited about the sport more than any single boxer has done in a long time.

Cactus Jim – Manny Pacquiao

He’s walked through every fighter that was supposed to be able to stop or at least slow him, and he just captured a title in his seventh weight class. While I have been slowly getting back into boxing over the last year or so, I’ve went out of my way to see his fights. I think the numbers show the same is true for a lot of other viewers.

GG – Manny Pacquiao

It’s very hard to pick against him. He’s been on a terror these last two years.

Fight Of The Year Continue Reading »

This is the MMA installment of our 2009 year end awards. We gave out the pro wrestling awards on Tuesday. We’ll hand out the boxing awards next.

Friend of FGB, JP joined us with his awards.

MMA

Fighter Of The Year
Big D – Jose Aldo

The man is a machine. Had Lyoto not lost to Shogun, he would’ve secured this spot.

Alan – Jose Aldo

Fought more than most other contenders and looked spectacular every time out. Win over Mike Brown cemented him as legit.

Duan – Lyoto Machida

Machida went 3-0 against top competition in 2009, and picked up the UFC light heavyweight title along the way. He proved himself as the division’s best by outclassing Silva and Evans. A near perfect year was only marred by a disappointing performance against Rua in October, but he still left with his undefeated record intact.

JP – Lyoto Machida

The Dragon and B.J. Penn were the only two champions to fight three times in 2009 and Machida won all three of his matches. He showed he had knockout power when he handed both Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans their first career losses by way of KO. Then he won a close decision against Shogun Rua in one of the most technically astounding fights I’ve seen. 2009 saw Machida claim the belt, defeat three talented opponents, and has put Lyoto into the Greatest Ever debate.

Cactus Jim – Gegard Mousasi

3-0 this year, not just beating, but finishing Hunt, Sobral and Sokoudjou. He won the Strikeforce LH title and successfully defended. This man may be part terminator.

GG – Georges St. Pierre

He only fought twice because of injury, but he fought the most dominant rounds of the year. And I think his star hasn’t peaked yet.

Fight Of The Year Continue Reading »

First, Big D and I remember Dr. Death Steve Williams who passed away last night.

Then we talk about the latest in the absolutely silly Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao negotiations.

We also try to book Bret Hart’s storyline and argue about how to do it and finally, we talk UFC 108.

Listen below.

Right click to download.

I am extremely sad to report that one of my favorite, most bad-ass wrestlers of all time, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams has sadly lost his battle with cancer and passed away last night at the age of 49.

Steve Williams will be remembered by the hardcore fans for his series of incredible matches in All Japan Pro Wrestling during it’s heyday in the mid 90s. Traditional fans of the sport will remember his runs in ECW, teaming with the late Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy. In addition, he had a few shorter runs in WCW In 1992 and then again in 1999, and for the WWF as Jim Ross’ protege in 1998 and 1999.

We would like to send our condolences to the family of Steve Williams.

The only solace is that Doc and Gordy are suplexing each other around in Heaven…

Source Credit: PWInsider.com

This is the pro wrestling installment of our 2009 year end awards. Later in the week, we’ll give out awards in MMA and pro boxing.

Pro Wrestling

Wrestler Of The Year
Big D – Christopher Daniels

Consistent tremendous matches and great promos in a company which is usually ridiculous and proving that he belongs in the main event by having two match of the year candidates back to back makes Chris Daniels my pick for the Wrestler of 2009.

Alan – KENTA

Fairly simple reasoning. No other wrestler has entertained me as much as this man did before he got injured in October. An absolutely stunning year from not only my Wrestler Of The Year, but my Wrestler Of The Decade.

Duan – Chris Jericho

It was a blessing having Jericho on both shows for the last several months, and his series of matches with Mysterio earlier in the year was my favourite thing in WWE.

GG – Chris Jericho

He didn’t need any world title to be significant, was the most entertaining wrestler in the company so they stuck him on two shows, and single-handedly made the tag belts meaningful again.

Match Of The Year Continue Reading »

I’ve added my two cents about the Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather drug testing situation a couple of times recently (here and here) and I have a possible solution that may pacify both camps.

The latest word that I’ve read comes from Dan Rafael.

When HBO televised “Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7″ — the four-part series that followed the buildup to Pacquiao’s second-round knockout of Ricky Hatton to win the junior welterweight title in Las Vegas last May — it aired footage of Pacquiao taking a routine blood test as part of his pre-fight medical exam in Los Angeles.

The blood test was conducted approximately 14 days before the fight; it punches holes in Pacquiao’s argument that giving blood inside 30 days of a fight negatively impacts his performance.

The time line of all of this so far has been odd to say the least.
Continue Reading »