Manny Pacquiao won the top prize – Fight of the Year for 2008 – at the Boxing Writers Association of America awards banquet Friday night in New York City.

Pacquiao fought three times last year, narrowly outpointing Juan Manuel Marquez in March, stopping David Diaz in the ninth round in June and forcing Oscar De La Hoya to call it quits after the eighth round in December.

The Filipino icon also won the award in 2006.

Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez III was Fight of the Year. The third installment of their thrilling trilogy – won by Vazquez on a split decision – was at least as entertaining as their first two fights.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, won the Trainer of the Year award for the third time. He also won in 2003 and 2006.

Joe Calzaghe, who retired undefeated, won Manager of the Year for the manner in which he handled his own career in his last few fights.

Norm Frauenheim, formerly of the Arizona Republic and a contributor to RingTV.com, won The Nat Fleischer Award for excellence in boxing journalism.

Former boxer Genaro Hernandez and boxing writer George Kimball, both of whom have been battling cancer, received The Bill Crawford Award for courage in overcoming adversity.

Harold Lederman, HBO’s scorekeeper, won The Sam Taub Award for excellence in broadcast journalism.

HBO analyst and writer Larry Merchant, writer Leonard Gardner and the late writer John Lardner won the The A.J. Liebling Award for outstanding boxing journalism.

Alan Hopper, promoter Don King’s longtime public relations director, won The Marvin Kohn “Good Guy” Award.

And Steve Farhood won The James J. Walker Award for long and meritorious service.

In the boxing writing competition, THE RING/RingTV.com won 10 Barney Awards – more than any other publication/website.

Don Stradley, also a contributor to RingTV.com, won first place in boxing features (under 2,500 words) and second in boxing event coverage. Michael Rivest shared the top prize in boxing features (over 2,500 words).

Joseph Santoliquito took second place in boxing features and honorable mention in boxing features. William Dettloff took a third-place award in boxing event coverage. Honorable mention winners were: Eric Raskin, Bobby Cassidy, Nigel Collins and Frauenheim.