Not only did pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao have an incredible year, he had one for the ages.
The Filipino icon's fabulous year harkened back to a time 70 years ago when the great Hall of Famer Henry Armstrong claimed, in order, the world featherweight, welterweight and lightweight championships -- when there were only eight total divisions, instead of today's 17 -- during a 10-month period from October 1937 to August 1938.
What Pacquiao did was about as close as anyone likely will come to that monumental achievement, which is why he was the obvious choice as 2008 ESPN.com Fighter of the Year.
It couldn't have been anyone else, but between Antonio Margarito, Vic Darchinyan, and Joe Calzaghe, there sure were a lot of other guys who had great years.
Also, any boxing fan who wants to take me on in predictions in 2009, here's how we could do it: throw a comment with your pick on the bottom of my fight predictions starting in January, and the person with the highest percentage will win a cheap award at the end 2009, provided they beat my percentage. If you beat me, I'll send you a t-shirt that says "Gancho's Best" or 20 bucks or something. If no one participates, we'll just forget this proposal was ever made.
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