Pacquiao prepares to receive US accolades

Aside from the Fighter of the Year (2009) award that he will receive this Friday from the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, Manny Pacquiao is also going to be feted by the elite group as the recipient of the Fighter of the Decade honor.

This will be the third time that Pacquiao is getting the coveted BWAA trophy and the Filipino star, who got elected to the Philippine congress last month, is excited personally grace the formal affair.

“To be named Fighter of the Year is already a big honor,” said Pacquiao, who leaves for the US tonight with wife Jinkee and kids, adviser Mike Koncz and perennial training camp assistant Roger Fernandez.

“So, when I learned that I will also be honored as (the BWAA’s) Fighter of the Decade, I felt I was walking on air,” added the 31-year-old fighter, who had also won the BWAA award in 2006 and 2008.

The New York trip is actually two-fold for Pacquiao.

The day after the BWAA event, Pacquiao will be an interested spectator when Miguel Cotto faces Yuri Foreman in a super-welterweight (154 lbs) clash at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

The winner of the Cotto-Foreman bout will be considered as a prime candidate to challenge Pacquiao in the event a deal with Floyd Mayweather for a Nov. 13 fight is not reached by the parties of the two star fighters.

Pacquiao, Cotto, and Foreman all fight under the promotional banner of Top Rank chief Bob Arum.