By Jake Donovan (photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Manny Pacquiao presently serves as the reigning pound-for-pound king, the defending Fighter of the Year, and is set to star in the first truly big event of the New Year.

It was exactly how things went down in 2009 and history will once again repeat itself this weekend. The best fighter in the world plays center stage in the most visually breathtaking stadium in the country, as he prepares for a dangerous welterweight showdown with Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas (Saturday, HBOPPV, 9PM ET/6PM PT).

Ten months ago, Pacquiao was preparing for his first fight of 2009, against Ricky Hatton in his first (and to date, only) fight at the 140 lb. limit. It was the year’s first major event, a message sent by HBO that their pay-per-view shows would be reserved for the truly big fights.

That same message doesn’t necessarily apply today – HBO already has three PPV shows lined up in the next eight weekends. But what is still applicable is that the sport still rallies hard around its superstars and their ability to reel in the mainstream.

Manny Pacquiao has clearly become that superstar. From the features in Time Magazine, to bringing in major media members that haven’t covered the sports in years, to be one of the few boxers with an endorsement deal with Nike, there’s no question that he has become the face of boxing.

Come Saturday, he will be the first boxer to kick off the event season, as well as the first superstar to play a major American stadium, the latter quickly developing into a trend.

It all has to begin somewhere. For boxing, it begins with Pacquiao.

And why not? The Filipino southpaw has now been named Fighter of the Year three times within the past four years. Such achievements, coupled with his incredible run from 2001 onward – 23-1-2 (20KO), titles in six different weight classes – was enough to make him an overwhelming choice for Fighter of the 2000’s.

Any hopes of repeating honors in the next ten years begins with this weekend’s fight against Clottey (35-3, 20KO), a tough out for any welterweight.

But you don’t capture titles in a record-breaking seven weight classes without running into a tough challenge or two along the way.

However you handle such challenges doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t represent stern tests going in. There were plenty who expected Pacquiao to struggle with his last three opponents – Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton and Oscar de la Hoya, in reverse order – while others stood around waiting for him to lose.

Going 3-0 against the aforementioned trio is an incredible achievement in and of itself. That Pacquiao did while only losing a couple of rounds alone the way only speaks that much more about his God-given ability.

Still, what you’ve done doesn’t always exactly translate to what you will do.

Clottey is as tough as they come, even if he carries the unfortunate reputation of not being able to win the big one. In the past ten years, his only losses have come at the absolute highest level, dropping decisions to top welterweights Cotto and Antonio Margarito.

The Cotto loss was Clottey’s last fight to date, which came last June. Since then, it’s been a series of fights offered on the table, but simply failing to materialize for one reason or another.

He was supposed to face Carlos Quintana, only for that evening’s main event (Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams) to once again fall through. A fight with Shane Mosley late last year was supposed to be the contingency plan, only to have the rug pulled out from under him by HBO, who was apprehensive in airing live boxing on Christmas weekend.

Top Rank – who promotes both Pacquiao and Clottey – continued to scramble for a stay-busy fight for the transplanted Ghanaian now fighting out of the Bronx. One bout which was discussed was a potential crossroads match with undefeated Mike Jones, before being given a crack at serving as the first main event for Top Rank Live, a new series on Fox Sports Net.

Instead, he ultimately settled on the opportunity of a lifetime that comes with manning a corner opposite Pacquiao.

It stands to reason that Pacquiao is in fact in the toughest challenge of his career. Despite having now fought twice in bouts officially classified as welterweight, this will be the first where both he and his opponent have the potential to max out at the 147 lb. limit.

Such was the lone criticism that surrounded last November’s pay-per-view headliner against Cotto. The industry-wide belief was that since Pacquiao was moving up for Cotto’s alphabet rule, that he should’ve come in at the champion’s weight and not force him into a catchweight.

The latter is exactly what Pacquiao requested, and ultimately received. Whether or not Cotto was affected by having to come in at 145 lb. or less is a question only he can answer.

It’s certainly not a question to which Clottey will have to answer. Not only is it expected that he will max out in weight, but also that he will be closer to a middleweight come fight night.

For Pacquiao’s part, he plans to enter the ring at or close to the full welterweight limit, but not entering the right on fight night at any more than 149-150 lb.

Where Pacquiao goes beyond this weekend is anyone’s best guess. The set-in-stone plan calls for a run for office in his native Philippines. Whether or not he’ll return to the sport remains to be seen, as speculation of this being his very last fight forever has widely circulated, although his own camp has seriously downplayed such talks.

Regardless of what’s decided, there still exists the pesky matter of contending with Clottey, the biggest fighter he will have ever faced in his career.

But when it comes to a new year and new challenges, all of it remains old news to a repeat achiever and award-recipient as Manny Pacquiao.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .