Pacquiao earns 2 ESPY award nominations

MANILA, Philippines – 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 goal opposite the New York Rangers during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Santonio Holmes’ winning catch in the Super Bowl XLIII and Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree’s game-winning catch against Texas. That same sensational win by the 30-year old pride of General Santos over Hatton and five months earlier against the great Oscar De La Hoya earned for him a nod among the finalists in the “Best Fighter’ category. Challenging Pacquiao for the award are MMA’s Lyoto Machida, whose KO win over erstwhile unbeaten Rashad Evans clinched for him the light-heavyweight title at UFC98, MMA’s Anderson Silva for his wins against Patrick Cote, Thales Leites and James Irwin, and boxer Shane Mosley for his stunning technical KO victory against Mexican Antonio Margarito. A total of 37 categories are at stake in this year’s ESPY Awards including the “Best Male Athlete’ and “Best International Male Athlete.’ Basketball superstars Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, Jimmie Johnson and 2008 Beijing Olympic hero Michael Phelps are the frontrunners in the “Best Male Athlete’ category, while track demon Usain Bolt, Los Angeles Lakers big man Pau Gasol, Lionel Messi, tennis stalwart Rafael Nadal and football’s Cristiano Ronaldo are the nominees for the international male athlete award. The awards night is set on July 15 at the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles, with actor Samuel Jackson as host. Winners will be determined by the number of votes a nominee gets thru online voting at ESPN’s website at http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/specialsection/espys2009/#/home/. – GMANews.TV