By Lem Satterfield

LAS VEGAS - For southpaw middleweight Sergio Martinez, May 6 was a milestone.

For that was the night that Martinez was named Fighter of The Year for 2010 by the Boxing Writers' Association of America during the organization's dinner at the MGM Grand Hotel.

The 36-year-old Martinez (47-2-2, 26 knockouts) was honored as a result of his consecutive victories in April, and, December of 2010 that dethroned WBC titlist Kelly Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs) by unanimous decision and avenged an earlier loss to southpaw Paul Williams (39-2, 27 KOs) by second-round knockout.

"I really and truly believe that he is one of the best three fighters in the world. There's no doubt about it. He's 36 years old, but he's a young 36 years old," said Martinez's promoter, Lou DiBella.

"He's never been beaten up, and he doesn't have a lot of miles on him, and he's one of the nicest guys that you'll ever meet," said DiBella. "What you see is what you get. He's genuine, he's honest, and he's just a good guy."

But Martinez's kindness outside of the ring does not extend to his opponents inside of it.

For in March, Martinez scored five knock downs during an eighth-round knockout of previously unbeaten WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-1, 23 KOs), who was stopped for the first time in his career.

"This kid is a phenom because he never put on boxing gloves before he was 20, and he never had an amateur fight, and what he's done in the last year has been phenomenal," said DiBella, whose stable has included former undisputed middleweight titlist Jermain Taylor and former WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto.

"I'm thrilled for Sergio. I've never had a fighter who is as good an athlete. I mean, Jermaine Taylor was a good athlete, but this kid is phenomenal," said DiBella

"I've been around for a while, and to finally have a Fighter of The Year is nice thing," said DiBella. "It was like the first time that I had a guy go from zero and zero to a world champion with Jermain Taylor."

Martinez received his award the night before eight-division titlist, Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 Kos) made a successful defense of his WBO welterweight belt with a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) at the MGM.

"I feel very good about it, receiving the most important award that any fighter can have. You know, this is probably the best night that any boxer can have," said Martinez, who ended Pacquiao's streak of having been named the recepient of the award for three straight years.

"Now, we have a competition, so Pacquiao should be prepared for similar competition over the next year," said Martinez. "Because I'm going to continue to work hard to do even better against my next opponent, no matter who that is."

In January, Martinez was basically stripped of his WBC crown and declared the organization's Emeritus Champion. In  addition, the WBC elevated to the status of full champion, Germany's Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 knockouts), whom it also mandated to face Mexico's junior middleweight and middleweight contender, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (42-0-1, 30 KOs).

Zbik-Chavez is slated for June 4 at The Staples Center in Los Angelex, with Martinez set to take on the winner.