FLOYD MAYWEATHER NOMINATED FOR ATHLETE OF THE DECADE BY YAHOO! SPORTS

Posted on | December 10, 2009 | 1 Comment

Winner to be announced tomorrow, Friday, December 11

LAS VEGAS, NV (December 10, 2009)…December 31 marks the end of the first decade in the new millennium. While much can be said about the last 10 years in and out of the sports world, Yahoo! Sports has chosen their candidates for “Athlete of the Decade”, and representing the sport of boxing is Floyd Mayweather, heralded as one of the greatest fighters ever to compete in the sweet science. Mayweather joins fellow nominees Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps (amongst others) as those who have defined sports in the last 10 years. The winner will be revealed tomorrow, Friday, December 11 on the Yahoo! Sports homepage (www.sports.yahoo.com).

Mayweather, who is known for his boxing prowess and unbelievable athleticism, has long been recognized as an extraordinary athlete. With each fight, it becomes more and more apparent that Mayweather belongs among the ranks of top athletes in all of sports. While Mayweather’s professional fights in the beginning of the decade solidified his place as the brightest rising boxing star, Mayweather had his true coming out party in 2007-shattering every boxing (and in some cases sports) record in the book-that included his must-see May 5 mega-fight against Oscar de la Hoya and his tenth round knockout against Ricky Hatton in December of that same year.

In June, 2008, the Wall Street Journal recognized Mayweather as one of the world’s greatest athletes saying, “Boxers may be contained to 576 square feet, but our judges graded the sport as the most demanding. Boxers move constantly and punching is the upper-body equivalent of a sprint. Mr. Mayweather, undefeated since turning pro, combines speed, strength and the ability to endure pain.”

Mayweather stepped away from the sport in the Spring of 2008, but he returned to the ring in September 2009 as if he had never left with a dominant performance over the number one Mexican fighter in the world Juan Manuel Marquez.

Win or lose, the fact that the experts at Yahoo! Sports have recognized Mayweather’s status as a great athlete of this decade and have placed him alongside these other major names of recent sports history is indicative of what he has been able to achieve and what is yet to come.

Comments