With a dominant twelve round victory over Kelly Pavlik to win the undisputed middleweight championship in April, and a Hollywood-esque knockout of Paul Williams to retain his title in November, it is clear that 2010 was el año de Maravilla. Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez, that is. Tonight at the annual Boxing Writers’ Association of America dinner at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, it will be made official when Martinez is presented with The Sugar Ray Robinson Fighter of the Year honors.
Others being honored include Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana for waging the Fight of the Year, Freddie Roach as 2010’s best trainer, journalist Jack Obermeyer for Long and Meritorious service to boxing, Bill Caplan for being named the Marvin Kohn Good Guy of boxing, Robert Guerrero for winning the Bill Crawford Award for Courage in Overcoming Adversity, writer/tv personality Steve Farhood for excellence in boxing journalism, famed author Pete Hamil for outstanding boxing writing, and “Irish” Micky Ward winning The James A. Farley Award for Honesty and Integrity.
Ward, whose life story was the focus of the 2010 film The Fighter, will not be in attendance. Accepting the award on his behalf will be Lou DiBella, who promoted Ward up until his retirement in 2003.
“I am equally honored to be with middleweight’s grand champion, Sergio Martinez, as he wins Fighter of the Year honors as I am to have been chosen to speak on behalf of Micky Ward,” said DiBella. “Both fighters have embodied what the word champion means with their heart inside
