But I understand your frustration with the boxing media. We do nothing but rave about Pacquiao for years, comparing his accomplishments to those of Henry Armstrong, likening his physical prowess and ever-improving technique to some kind of super-combination of Willie Pep and Sugar Ray Robinson. We smooch Freddie Roach’s ass non-stop and hang on his words as though he were the living embodiment of every past great trainer from Jack “Chappie” Blackburn to Eddie Futch.

Then Pacquiao decides to go with promoter Bob Arum’s plan of fighting Shane Mosley and we suddenly drop the Filipino dynamo like a hot potato. We’re disappointed in him and his whole team. We’re “outraged” and “disgusted” by the very thought of the fight with Mosley.

I admit that boxing writers and hardcore fans often come off as a bunch of flighty, over-excitable blowhards, but I also think that Pacquiao, Roach and Arum expected — or should have known — that they would get the mostly negative reaction they received when the Mosley fight was announced.

Both Arum and Roach stated on record their belief that Mosley was basically a spent bullet numerous times during the past year, obviously before the 39-year-old vet “became available” (once separated from Golden Boy Promotions and advisor Judd Burstein) as Pacquiao’s next opponent. These two have been in the fight game a very long time and had to have known that their damning comments about Mosley would be tossed back in their faces by the same media members they made them to.

And I know that Pacquiao is a living legend in the Philippines and basically lives in his own world, but he’s not as clueless as he often portrays. I think he knows the difference between fighting an aging veteran who hasn’t looked good in recent fights and accepting the challenge of a young gun with a perceived chance of beating him (or at least of being competitive).

As I stated in my response to the opening email in Friday’s mailbag, the backlash to Pacquiao-Mosley is mostly due to with the perception of the bout’s competitiveness (or lack of it). Mosley is no longer perceived as a threat by the majority of boxing observers.

You might think he’s got a realistic shot, but you’re in the minority if you do. You and I both think Berto would be totally annihilated if he fought Pacquiao, but there are probably a lot of fans and boxing writers who give the undefeated young titleholder more of a shot to beat Pacquiao than they give Mosley. For that reason alone, Team Pacquiao should have gone with Berto as their first opponent for 2011.

However, Arum, who has forgotten more about the boxing business than I’ll ever learn, believes that he can put on a bigger and more lucrative event with Mosley as an opponent. The old man is probably correct.

(I believe a third fight with Marquez could be promoted into a bigger event than a fight with Mosley, but I agree with you that the 37-year-old lightweight champ would be KTFO in a welterweight bout with Pacquiao).

Still, that doesn’t mean I have to like Arum’s choice of opponent or act as though I’m excited about what’s going down on May 7th.

For the record, I think Pacquiao’s got the right to fight whoever he wants, including Mosley. And I think the old man’s got a shot. Hell, if Antonio Margarito’s slow sleestak-stalking ass can catch and hurt the little badass, you know Mosley can.

But I think it’s a very slim shot. I just don’t care about this fight and I will gladly write about other, more-meaningful (in my opinion) matchups in the weeks leading up to the event.

The only fight involving Pacquiao that I can really get excited about is the Mayweather showdown. I’m obviously not alone this opinion.

I think the collective frustration from the failure of the Mayweather mega-fight being made that was gradually built-up throughout 2010 is the other reason so many boxing people have reacted negatively to Pacquiao-Mosley.

I agree that we can’t be mad at Pacquiao for Mayweather’s unwillingness and/or unavailability to fight, but I don’t believe the Filipino icon wants that showdown as badly as you think he does. He’s repeatedly stated on record that he’s satisfied with his career/legacy and he that doesn’t need a fight with Mayweather. To be honest, after all the bulls__t and grandstanding of 2010, I don’t think either fighter is that anxious to get into the ring with the other, which is why both Mayweather and Pacquiao have fallen a few notches in my view. As I’ve said before (and will continue to state until they agree to fight each other or retire), neither is in the same league as Pernell Whitaker or Julio Cesar Chavez, never mind the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns.

Your end-of-the-year award list is a solid one, as I would expect from a lifelong fan and boxing insider.

I agree 100 percent with your pick of Fighter of the Year. Honestly, only hardcore Pacquiao fans would disagree with Sergio Martinez landing this honor. Pacquiao dominated a top-five welterweight contender and beat up a rugged former beltholder for an unprecedented eighth title in an eighth weight class, but Margarito was unranked (by THE RING), coming off a so-so performance after a more than a year’s inactivity following his thrashing at the hands of Mosley, and the belt they fought for was a vacant trinket that the WBC basically put on sale.

Martinez beat the linear middleweight champ in impressive, dramatic fashion (getting up from a knockdown and rallying down the stretch) and then nearly decapitated Williams, a dude that many American boxing writers ranked No. 3 on their pound-for-pound lists. He was definitely the man in 2010.

I think Soto-Antillon is as good a pick for Fight of the Year as any. It was the perfect matchup between young underrated veteran beltholder vs. hungry younger challenger that produced a scintillating mix of styles — Soto, the versatile technician, pitted his busy combination punching and footwork against the constant pressure and body attack from my man Antillon. It was beautiful in its brutality. It was an honor to witness Soto’s craftsmanship live and it moving to be in the presence of Antillon’s courage.

I believe there were three or four fights that were worthy of this year’s honor and I’m sticking with Marquez-Katsidis. I thought the exchanges between champion and challenger were more intense than those between Soto and Antillon (mainly because Katsidis threw more than one shot at a time) and the fight had the added drama of an aging veteran getting up and battling back from a hard knockdown.

I have no problem with anyone who picked Segura-Calderon or Escalante-Roman.

Trainer of the Year should be Gabriel Sarmiento (he has a name, Sam). He did masterful job with Martinez and he did a very good job with Lucas Matthysse (who almost beat Zab Judah in New Jersey). Freddie Roach did a fine job with Pacquiao, Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (who looked pretty good thrashing John Duddy after training oh, about three weeks at Wild Card), but I think Sarmiento’s fighters were in with bigger threats than Roach’s boys, so the Scott Summers of the boxing world gets the nod from this comic book nerd.

Your pick for Prospect of the Year is biased as all hell. (For those who don’t know, Sam assists his father Max Garcia, who co-trains Eloy Perez with Dean Familton). However, you’re not out line for mentioning him as one of the more accomplished prospects of 2010. Perez had an excellent year as you recapped. I was especially impressed by his 10-round barnburner with Rodela (a fight that all hardcore heads would have been buzzing about had it been televised) and his fifth-round KO of Derrick Campos on Telefutura, but my choice of prospect of the year is between Mikey Garcia or David Lemieux. The 23-year-old featherweight from Oxnard, Calif. and the 22-year-old middleweight from Montreal were just as busy and impressive as Perez but they beat more-accomplished opposition. Garcia’s last two fights were against battle-tested fringe contenders Cornelius Lock and Olivier Lontchi (and he stopped both). Lemieux needed less than a round to ice a former title challenger (Elvin Ayala) who held Sergio Mora to a draw. The Canadian’s power is real and he’s got decent technique to back it up.

If I have to pick one, I’ll go with Garcia (but don’t tell Bob Arum or anyone from Top Rank; I want them to keep thinking I’m a “hater”). The young man is a patient, complete fighter who is on the cusp of real contender-hood (did I just make up a word? Ah, so what, you know what I’m saying).

If anyone’s wondering why didn’t mention the much-Ballyhooed Saul Alvarez, it’s real simple: “Canelo” finished the year as RING-ranked contender (at 154 pounds).

So you’re absolutely right, Haye is a pretty good manager, and while his “title” reign is nothing to write home about the 30-year-old boxer-puncher is not a bad heavyweight, either.

I’ve been critical of Haye in the past and I don’t care for all the s__ttalk and disrespect he’s directed toward the K-Brothers, but I’m not going to be a revisionist writer and say he sucks.

I thought Valuev was going to expose him as a blown-up cruiserweight who has technical flaws, stamina problems and a less-than-world-class chin. I predicted a late stoppage for the 7-foot, 300-pound behemoth. I was wrong. Haye boxed as well as a man his size could against a monstrous boxer with underrated technique and stamina. He proved me wrong and I gave (and will continue to give) him credit for that performance.

The title defense against Ruiz was impressive, too, in my eyes. Yes, the aging Quietman had been inactive and was 3-3 going into the fight with Haye, but those three losses consisted of two close decisions to Valuev (one of them was a majority nod) and split-decision to Chagaev, all of which took place in Germany. Haye was the first fighter to stop Ruiz since David Tua (way back in 1996). So I gotta give the man his props on that.

And one unexpected side effects of Haye’s negative campaign against the Klitschkos was a bump up in respect for the giant Ukrainian gentlemen among fans in both the UK and the US. Many hardcore heads who were completely bored with the Klitschkos got behind the heavyweight rulers after Haye dissed them and then pulled out of fights with both. I think Haye’s seeming unwillingness to fight them added to their reps. At some point last year, it seemed liked everyone, even folks who hate the K-Bros, accepted them as the best in their division and many folks (myself included) added them to their pound-for-pound lists.

I have mixed feelings about HBO’s decision to go with a Sergio Martinez fight over a Miguel Cotto fight. On one hand, I think Martinez has proven to be one of the best and most exciting fighters on the planet with his last three fights (all televised by HBO). I think Martinez delivered compelling fights with his fight of the year candidate first bout vs. Williams, his gutsy middleweight title winning effort over Kelly Pavlik and his breathtaking KO of the Year against P-Will in their rematch. So I can understand the network wanting to showcase the champ’s next fight, which happens to fall on the same date that Arum’s Cotto fight in Las Vegas was scheduled for.

However, I think Arum has a point about all the terrific fights that Cotto has given the network over the years. The Puerto Rican star has been a staple of HBO’s boxing programming but not necessarily exclusive to the network. Cotto’s fight with Paul Malignaggi was a Top Rank PPV and his welterweight title-winning fight against Carlos Quintana was on Showtime.

HBO went with the Antonio Tarver-Bernard Hopkins PPV on the night of Cotto-Malignaggi (and Tarver-Hopkins did more buys than Top Rank’s event in NYC — and for the record, I thought Arum had the better show). I can’t recall if HBO did a show the same night as Cotto-Quintana (Margarito-Clottey was the co-feature), I don’t think so.

Anyway, I think the original fight Arum proposed to HBO (Cotto vs. Vanes Martirosyan) was worth buying (especially at the price Arum claims he offered the network). I don’t think Cotto-Mayorga is worth buying at any price. Arum can do that one on his own, which he will. However, Martinez vs. Lee or his WBC mandatory (Sebastian Zbik) isn’t very compelling TV (although I’ll watch with interest if Lee gets the shot — I thought he was a very talented up-and-comer at one point). I can understand Arum’s rancor over the subject.

The best card for HBO and the fans would have been Martinez vs. Cotto (at a 155-pound catchweight for the middleweight title) and Martirosyan vs. Mayorga in the co-featured bout in the big room of Madison Square Garden (on the regular network, not PPV). I’m dreaming, of course, but hey, someone’s gotta think positive. DiBella tried to make Martinez-Cotto but Arum simply didn’t want to play ball. If the old man wants to continue to only match his stars against fighters from his own stable (or unattached guys such as Mosley) he’s going to have to get used to being turned down by HBO and Showtime (unless the fight is a gem such as the Montiel-Donaire showdown, which HBO happily purchased).

Will HBO’s decision to run with Martinez instead of Cotto on March 12 cause Arum to take his superstar, Manny Pacquiao, elsewhere? I doubt it. Arum might take Cotto and some of his other standouts, such as Juan Manuel Lopez and Brandon Rios, to Showtime out of spite, but when it comes to the Pac-monster he has to appreciate the production costs and marketing muscle HBO contributes to the Filipino hero’s PPV events.

Then again, Arum has gotten to that stage of his life where he’s more than happy to tell anyone to “go f__k themselves.” He’s been known to cut his nose off to spite his face. Remember when he pulled the first Chavez-De La Hoya fight off PPV and only offered it in closed-circuit locations to “teach all the cable box thieves a lesson” back in 1996? All he did was cost himself millions. But the old man has a temper and he’s a little bit crazy, so maybe he is willing to do Pacquiao-Mosley himself or offer it to Showtime.

We’ll see what happens. I know a lot of hardcore fans live and breath inner-industry beefs (Top Rank vs. GBP or HBO, Arum vs. Al Haymon or anyone who happens to piss him off on a given day), but I could care less what Arum does with his fighters in response to HBO’s March 12 choice.

My wife’s sister had passed away from cancer one week before Valero’s fatal meltdown (in fact I was in Ohio for her memorial with my family when I received the texts from Rudy Hernandez informing me of both horrible incidents), so I couldn’t mope around my house in response to the death of an insane wife-murdering fighter but I can’t lie to you — I was devastated, even though I wasn’t fully aware of it and did not admit it at the time.

I knew Valero was a loaded mess of a human being (though not as sick as he turned out to be) but I had hope that he would work through and grow out of his many problems and believed that if he did so, his wayward and sometimes wild personality would be one the elements of the crossover stardom I thought was within his grasp. Regardless of Valero’s sometimes polarizing personality and politics, I had no doubt that he would attract fans with his fighting style just as I had NO DOUBT that he would beat anybody he faced in the ring between 130 and 140 pounds.

What really sucks is that he seemed SO DAMND CLOSE to finally breaking through to boxing’s mainstream after going through all his various trials and tribulations — being medically suspended in the U.S. as a 12-0 prospect, sitting out an entire year, going on his “world tour” in search of a major promoter while extending his first-round KO streak to a then-world record, winning his first major title in a macho-freakin’ barnburner with fellow psychopath Vicente Mosquera, signing with the venerable Mr. Honda’s Teiken Promotions and relocating to Japan, getting his license reinstated in Texas and signing with Top Rank, beating Antonio Pitalua in spectacular fashion for his second major title in a second weight class, and finally, defending that 135-pound belt with an impressive TKO of Antonio DeMarco on Showtime.

It just wasn’t meant to be.

And you’re absolutely right, Gary, had Valero somehow conquered the demons of his addiction and tortured childhood it would have been just the start of his taking control of his inner-fight. Who knows? Perhaps it would have been too much for him to keep it together outside of the ropes while unleashing the beast inside of the ring. And as you noted, maybe his sickness and violent core was the reason he was so successful in the ring.

We’ll never know and it saddens me almost as much as the way he went out.