Close2013 BWAA Nat Fleischer Award winner for excellence in boxing journalism ESPN.com boxing writer since 2005 Five years at USA Today If you are surprised by the pick for 2009 ESPN.com fighter of the year, well, you haven't paid attention to boxing for the past 12 months. It's Manny Pacquiao, the biggest no-brainer selection since, well, 2008, when Pacquiao was also the obvious pick. In fact, th
![Rafael: Pacquiao as FOY is a no-brainer](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/5efa8ec8d0483b990781611d677e2edf11a8942f/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fa.espncdn.com%2Fcombiner%2Fi%3Fimg%3D%252Fphoto%252F2009%252F1227%252Fboxing_i_mprhts_576.jpg)