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Boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao again established his global popularity after being nominated in two major categories for the 2009 Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards or ESPY.

Nominees for the annual event organized by famed American cable television network ESPN had already been announced, and Pacquiao is among the prominent athletes in the list of the top personalities in the world of sports.

Pacquiao had been nominated twice – in the “Best Fighter” and “Best Play” categories.

The nomination came in the heels of Pacquiao’s earlier achievements as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine and as a member of the richest athletes in the world today according to Forbes magazine.

The Filipino boxing idol’s brutal second round knockout of Briton Ricky Hatton last May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas made it to the “Best Play’ category, where also vying for honor are Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin’s

MANILA, Philippines – Ricky Hatton was upset at the way he fought Manny Pacquiao, but he didn’t mind losing to a fighter whom he referred to as “terrific.”

The day after absorbing his first defeat – and worst overall – as a junior welterweight, Hatton readily extended apology to his throng of British fans who expected him to overrun the less stronger Pacquiao.

Unfortunately, the 30-year-old Englishman only lasted two rounds with the Filipino, who knocked him out cold on his back behind a solid left hook to the jaw.

“I am desperately sorry for all my fans who came over and everyone who watched on TV,” he said. “It’s really tough to take this defeat, very hard.”

Lawyer Garreth Williams, head of Hatton Promotions, admitted how down the Manchester native was following the humbling setback.

“He was in a somber mood. I have

Manny Pacquiao returned to a champions welcome today from his latest victory in Las Vegas, and shared a cake in the shape of a boxing glove with the president.Pacquiao beat his bigger and more famous opponent Oscar De La Hoya over the weekend, giving his countrymen an early Christmas gift at a time when many in the Philippines are struggling to make ends meet amid financial worries.

“My victory is a victory for all of us,” the 29-year-old Pacquiao said in a television talk show, shortly after meeting President  Arroyo in her official residence. read full story

LAS VEGAS — By the seventh round, his trainer was telling him to press the action, to finish the job. But Manny Pacquiao’s mind was telling him something else.

He could sense what everyone else could plainly see, that Oscar De La Hoya, his left eye swollen shut, his reflexes gone, more than likely was fighting his last fight.

“I felt pity for him,” Pacquiao said.

Moments later, the fight was over. And quite possibly, a career.

De La Hoya, his face a puffy and purple mass, failed to answer the bell for the ninth round, providing Pacquiao a lopsided TKO victory Saturday night in front of a crowd of 16,000 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

It was a mismatch from the opening bell, only not the one many in the media had forecast.

De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) was supposed to be too big and too strong for Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs), who